One of the last acts of Obama's presidency was to "impose costs" on Russia over election-hacking allegations (so far unproven) by expelling 35 Russian diplomats and seizing two compounds in NY and MD. Putin initially warned of "proportional response" but then surprised many by "refusing to sink to 'kitchen' diplomacy." However, six months later, Reuters reports Russia may seize U.S. diplomatic property in Moscow.
Who better to defend Qatar it is a hotbed of terrorism-funding (as per a recent list released by Saudi Arabia et al according to which 59 individuals and 12 entities in Qatar are terrorist) than the US Attorney General who served during the September 11 attacks, John Ashcroft. At least that's what the government of Qatar is thinking, which hired the former US AG to defend the world's wealthiest (on a GDP/capita basis) nation from accusations by Donald Trump and Arab neighbors that it supports terrorism.
Bill Maher had a pretty bad week - though it’s notable that he somehow managed to keep his job as host of HBO’s “Real Time” after using an offensive racial epithet on air.
But having apologized for using the “n word" during an interview with Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, maybe Maher was just trying to put the incident behind him when he joked that President Trump had it even worse.
“There is someone who had a worse week than me: Donald Trump," Maher said.
Germany's foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel warned that the ongoing isolation of Qatar by Saudi Arabia and its allies could lead to a war in the Gulf region, according to an interview he gave to Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, although he added that he still saw a chance to defuse the tension.
"There is a danger that this dispute could lead to war," Gabriel said citing what he called a "dramatic" harshness in relations between allied and neighbouring countries in the Gulf.
Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
The Comey Congressional testimony was supposed to be a shocker. Instead, it turned out to be a big yawn with Democrats’ dreams of obstruction charges dashed.
Senator McCain who was supposed to ask tough questions apologized for not being coherent due to lack of sleep from watching a late Diamondbacks game.
Headlines range from vindication to impeachment. They both cannot be correct.
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