by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Former FBI Director James Comey
Washington : Former FBI Director James Comey in his first exclusive interview since he was fired last May said that Donald Trump was “morally unfit” to be the President of the US.
In the exclusive ABC News interview on Sunday night, Comey dismissed claims made by some that Trump was medically unfit to hold office.
“I often hear people talk about it. I don’t buy this stuff about him being mentally incompetent or early stages of dementia. He strikes me as a person of above average intelligence who’s tracking conversations and knows what’s going on,” Comey said.
“I don’t think he’s medically unfit to be president. I think he’s morally unfit to be president.
“A person who treats women like they’re pieces of meat, who lies constantly about matters big and small and insists the American people believe it, that person’s not fit to be president of the United States, on moral grounds,” Comey added.
The interview comes ahead of the release of his tell-all book “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership” on Tuesday.
Also a lawyer, Comey told ABC News that he was standing in the middle of the Los Angeles Federal Bureau of Investigation field office on May 9, 2017, thanking employees and the building’s support staff for their hard work, when he saw the televisions on the wall flash “Comey Resigns”.
“One of the many great things about the FBI is we have some hilarious pranksters, and so I thought it was a scam by someone on my staff…”
As the TVs in the bureau started to show the news on other networks, he saw some were displaying the words “Comey Fired”.
“The audience could see my face change,” he said.
Comey said his reaction to the news was disbelief. “That’s crazy… How could that be?”
He received a call from then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly who was “very upset” with the news and was thinking about quitting too.
Comey said he urged Kelly to remain in the administration.
The former FBI Director said that he was “actually nervous” to meet Trump in person.
“I’m about to meet a person who doesn’t know me, who’s just been elected president of the United States… And I’m about to talk to him about allegations that he was involved with prostitutes in Moscow and that the Russians taped it and have leverage over him.
“He had impressively coiffed hair, his tie was too long as it always is, he looked slightly orange up close with small white half-moons under his eyes, which I assume are from tanning goggles,” he said.
When asked if the Russians had something on Trump, Comey said: “I think it’s possible. I don’t know… These are more words I never thought I’d utter about a president of the United States, but it’s possible.”
Comey told ABC News that he knew the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server was going to present a “no-win situation” for him.
Comey revealed that while he did not vote in the 2016 election saying that as the FBI director he was “trying to be outside of politics” and there were a lot of Clinton supporters in his family.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Palestinian protesters wave Syrian and Palestinian flags (file photo of PTI)
Washington/Damascus/Moscow/London : The US, Britain and France launched coordinated strikes against Syria’s research, storage and military targets to “punish” the Bashar al-Assad regime for an apparent chemical attack in Douma that killed over 70 people. The military action was denounced by Damascus and its ally Moscow as a “failure” and “an act of aggression”.
Western allies warned Syria on Saturday that they could launch further attacks if chemical weapons were used again. The strikes on Friday night was intended to show Western resolve in the face of what the leaders of the three nations called “persistent violations of international law”.
US President Donald Trump via a tweet hailed the overnight military strike as “perfectly executed”, adding: “Mission Accomplished”.
The strikes targeted three facilities associated with Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, including a scientific research facility around Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility around Homs alleged to be used for sarin gas and a nearby command post, said the Pentagon.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian Army’s 4th Division and Republican Guard were among the targets. US aircraft including B-1 bombers, naval vessels and about 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles were used in the attack, the Pentagon said.
“The nations of Britain, France and the US have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality,” Trump said in an address after the strike.
“The purpose of our actions is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons…The wave of strikes is the most significant attack against Assad’s government by Western powers in seven years of Syria’s civil war,” he said.
“We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,” he added.
In Syria, the Foreign Ministry described the missile strikes as “barbaric aggression”. Assad said that it reflected the “failure” of Western powers to achieve their goals in Syria after the defeat of the foreign-backed militants.
The Syrian military claimed that its air defences shot down a majority of the 110 missiles launched at dawn by the Western allies and claimed only the research facility in Damascus had been damaged. Russia said that Syrian forces used older Soviet-made air defence systems to intercept incoming missiles.
Civilians and soldiers gathered in Ummayad Square in Damascus for a show of support, waving Syrian flags and dancing to songs that praised the Army.
Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the US and its allies, saying that Washington was “increasingly exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria” and called for an immediate UN Security Council meeting to discuss the “an act of aggression”.
He said the US used a “staged chemical attack” against civilians to carry out the latest strike, adding that Russian military experts did not find any traces of chlorine gas or other poisonous substances in Douma.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “the action against Syria came precisely at the moment when the country received a chance for a peaceful future”.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the attack a “crime” but gave no indication of any planned Iranian response. Iran and its main proxy force in the region, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, are both key allies of Syria.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed their countries’ involvement in the action with the former saying that “Syria had left the allies no choice”.
Macron, talking about the Douma chemical attack, said: “Dozens of men, women and children were massacred with chemical weapons. The red line had been crossed.”
“France and its partners will today resume their efforts at the UN to enable the creation of an international mechanism to establish responsibility, prevent impunity and obstruct any temptation on the part of the Syrian regime to repeat these acts.”
Nato Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg tweeted that those who use chemical weapons “must be held accountable”.
The EU said it “was supportive of all efforts aimed at preventing the use of chemical weapons”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel — who had ruled out joining the military action — said she supported the strikes as “necessary and appropriate”.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned UN members of their responsibilities. “I urge all member states to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances.”
China’s Foreign Ministry urged negotiation and called for a “comprehensive and impartial” investigation into the allegation that chemical weapons were used.
Meanwhile, a fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was to begin investigating the episode on Saturday in Douma, which had been held by rebels before the suspected attack.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, World
By Ovunc Kutlu and Fuat Kabakci,
New York, Beijing: The Trump administration on Tuesday announced plans to impose $50 billion worth of tariffs on 1,300 Chinese goods unless Beijing makes trade concessions.
The proposed 25 percent tariffs on electronics, machinery and aerospace products aim to penalize the country for what the administration calls intellectual property theft through polices that force U.S. companies to transfer their technology when setting up local units in China.
“The U.S. Trade Representative has determined that the acts, policies and practices of the Government of China related to technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation covered in the investigation are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement.
The 1,300 goods include stainless steel, iron products, aluminum alloy, hydraulic and gas turbines, aircraft propellers, dryers, water heaters, dishwashers and textile machines.
“The value of the list is approximately $50 billion in terms of estimated annual trade value for calendar year 2018. This level is appropriate both in light of the estimated harm to the U.S. economy and to obtain elimination of China’s harmful acts, policies and practices,” the statement said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it will hold a public hearing on May 15 and comments could be submitted until May 22.
Experts warn that most U.S. businesses will oppose the proposal since the tariffs would hurt American companies and consumers that benefit from cheaper products from China.
The proposal could also increase tensions between the world’s two biggest economies and disrupt the complex supply chains in those countries.
China strongly condemned the plans and said it is ready to take countermeasures.
“Disregarding strong representations by China, the United States announced tariff proposals that are completely unfounded, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement released Wednesday, according to state news agency Xinhua.
“We have the confidence and ability to respond to any U.S. trade protectionist measures,” it said.
Earlier this week, China imposed tariffs on $3 billion worth of U.S. products in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump on Tuesday spoke with leaders of France and Germany on the expulsion of Russian diplomats.
Earlier on Monday, he also spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to coordinate stances on the issue.
The White House said Trump spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.
The three nations on Monday announced to expel Russian diplomats over the poisoning attack of former Russian double agent Skripal and his daughter in Britain’s southwestern city of Salisbury on March 4.
In his call with Macron, Trump and the French top leader expressed support for the West’s “strong response” to the Russia-related incident, including the expulsion of a large number of Russian intelligence officers on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the call, Trump also stressed the need to intensify cooperation with Turkey with respect to shared strategic challenges in Syria.
In a separate call with Merkel, Trump reaffirmed with her the cooperative relationship between the two countries.
Both leaders praised the joint announcements from North Atlantic Treaty Organization Allies, EU member states and other countries to expel “undeclared Russian intelligence officers” in solidarity with Britain and in response to Russia’s alleged use of chemical weapons, said the White House.
Russia has denied any involvement in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Earlier on Monday, Trump spoke with Trudeau to affirm the solidarity of both countries with the UK and discuss the joint expulsions of Russian intelligence officers in response to Russia’s alleged use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the United Kingdom’s soil.
The White House said in a separate statement that Russia’s behavior “is the latest in its ongoing pattern of destabilizing activities around the world.”
On Monday, at least 137 Russian diplomats were ordered out by 24 governments, including 60 Russians from the US.
William Courtney, adjunct senior fellow of RAND Corporation, said that West-Russia relations will become more strained, but the West is willing to run this risk.
In his protest, Russia Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said that Moscow will give adequate response with regard to each case in the coming days.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also said later that the West’s expulsion of its diplomats is an unfriendly step, and vowed to react accordingly.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Sameer Dhanrajani,
The Facebook data breach raises urgent questions that need to be answered responsibly by our industry — given its terrifying scale and impact. In today’s world, data is a form of soft power, and it is essential for those who wield it, to use it responsibly so that consumer confidence isn’t compromised.
The challenge is that, at an idea-generation stage, it can be difficult to draw a clear, bright line between whether data is being used for optimisation or for manipulation.
Take, for instance, the Obama and Trump campaigns in the US. The former used the same digital platforms for optimising communication and ensuring voter confidence and dissemination of information. On the other hand, British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica used the same platforms but with malafide intent — to manipulate the views and preferences of voters.
As investigations continue, it is increasingly clear that data was stolen, models used were unauthorised for the purpose they were being used, the messages (in many cases) were outright lies.
So the whole operation was questionable from the get-go. It is, therefore, extremely critical to demarcate this difference — are the final consumers of a data-driven model being actively manipulated or is data being used to merely optimise a communications strategy?
It is also essential to clearly define the parties involved in the data “lifecycle” and their roles and responsibilities, with regard to how data is being used. There are usually three parties in this lifecycle, each requiring a different kind of oversight and norms.
First are the data originators, those that capture and store the data. And I’m not only talking about Facebook and Google, but also a wide range of other originators — for e.g. Equifax (which holds extremely sensitive consumer credit information), banks (which store individual-centric financial information), telecom organisations (which hold a treasure trove of communications and browsing information), etc.
Two safeguards are critical here.
One, data security safeguards to ensure the privacy (external parties shouldn’t be able to see it) and integrity (external parties shouldn’t be able to change it) of the data. This can be improved by ring-fencing the data sources and ensuring advanced security measures.
And two, ensuring explicit consumer consent for sharing and using this data. This can be done by introducing easy-to-understand verbiage around fair-use — where their data could be used and for what purposes.
These two interventions — data security and informing users where data could be shared — are the key and will go a long way in winning back consumer trust in these platforms.
The second type of entity involved is the data processing companies which employ intelligent algorithms over the data to extract insights. This includes companies like Cambridge Analytica.
Given that data processing companies also have access to a large scale of data, entrusted by clients, it is imperative that their systems are subject to similar levels of security, compliance and governance norms.
This can be resolved through globally-agreed standards of security, enforced through regular third-party audits. We need to be held to the same standards as the data sources themselves when it comes to security of the data so that we aren’t the weak link in the event of a data leak.
There may also be value in exploring how we can expressly declare the nature of algorithms employed and the source of these algorithms (in cases where there is a patent to one), to an unaffiliated third-party regulator. This will ensure better transparency around what the data is being used for.
Finally, we have the third party in the data lifecycle: The buyers of the data — organisations that pay for the data and algorithm-driven insights around it. In this case, they are the political organisations that are beneficiaries of the analysis work by the processing companies.
Here, let’s go back to my earlier point of drawing the line between what is optimisation and manipulation.
Are the data buying organisations sponsoring an ad because they feel consumers genuinely stand to benefit from the content, or are they using the data to manipulate users into actions that are not in their best interest?
More importantly, does the ad-sponsoring organisation have the authority to display that ad, or are they a geo-political adversary? This can be cleared up by implementing fair-usage policies around what the extracted data is being used for, who is using it, and what are the implications of that data — all of which needs to be made more transparent and subject to governance norms in certain cases.
Obviously, the three parties interplay with each other. For instance, Facebook and Google are two of these parties — the source and the processor. Thus, it needs to be ensured that they be accountable to both sets of norms.
It is imperative that all parties in the data lifecycle take seriously the trust with which data is being shared with them by their users — for their own good. The way things stand right now, biting around the edges of this debate is not going to win back lost consumer confidence in our industry and we are all the losers in the long term.
(Sameer Dhanrajani is Chief Strategy Officer at analytics service provider Fractal Analytics. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at sameerdhanrajani@gmail.com)
—IANS
