Month: May 2017

On his first NATO summit as U.S. president, Donald Trump lectured NATO leaders for spending what he sees as insufficient money on defense, and said the group should be more focused on terrorism. The president’s remarks came Thursday at a meeting of European leaders in Brussels, as VOA’s Steve Herman reports.
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Former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was injured Thursday when a bomb exploded inside his vehicle in Athens, officials said.

Two Bank of Greece employees in the car were also injured. All three were conscious and hospitalized in stable condition, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said, calling the blast an “attack.”

“With all out heart, we wish Mr. Papademos and his companions a speedy recovery. The prime minister has been updated about all the events by the minister of public order and he will continue to receive updates,” Tzanakopoulos said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Papademos, 69,served as Greece’s prime minister for six months in 2011 and 2012 after socialist George Papandreou resigned during the debt crisis to make way for a national unity government.

A respected economist and former European Central Bank deputy governor, Papademos steered the country through tough austerity measures and was credited with preventing the collapse of the country’s international bailout at the time.
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It was not just family and friends mourning Martyn Hett this week. Even Mariah Carey was shocked by his death in the Ariana Grande concert bombing.

Carey posted a picture of Hett — one of 22 people killed in Monday night’s bombing at the Manchester Arena — on Instagram wearing a T-shirt bearing her image.

“Devastated to learn that one of the victims in Manchester was part of the (hash)Lambily,” Carey wrote in the post, using the name she has given to her legion of fans. “RIP Martyn Hett. We will cherish your memory forever. His family and all the families affected are in my thoughts and prayers.”

It was a tribute that surely would have touched the 29-year-old public relations worker who listed the singer’s name as his religious view on Facebook and said on Twitter that,”My life peaked when I met Mariah Carey.”

Hett’s irreverent sense of humor was made for social media and he embraced many different platforms, with more than 12,000 Twitter followers and a half million views on a YouTube film he posted four years ago in which he spliced together scenes featuring one of the stars of iconic Manchester-based soap opera “Coronation Street.”

The video showed fleeting scenes of Sue Nicholls, the actress who plays character Audrey Roberts, and a habit she has of saying “Hmm” at the end of sentences.

Britain’s ITV network, which airs the long-running soap affectionately known as “Corrie,” said on its website that it would dedicate a bench on the set to victims of the bombing.

“The dedication will be planned in the coming weeks following an outpouring of affection for 29-year-old `Corrie’ super-fan Martyn and all those who lost their lives and have been injured following the Manchester Arena bombing,” ITV said.

Calling Hett a super-fan was no overstatement. He had a tattoo of one of the show’s best-known characters, Deirdre Barlow, inked onto his left calf in the British television show “Tattoo Fixers.” He also appeared on another show, “Come Dine With Me.”

Hett’s family could not be reached for comment Thursday, but in a statement released by Manchester police, they called him “the icon of all our lives.”

“His infectious laugh and his niche sense of humor will stay with us forever,” the family said.

Hett’s sense of humor rang out from the final tweet on his Twitter feed, apparently made during Monday night’s concert.

“When you sneak out for a toilet break on the Macy Gray song and the entire arena had the same idea (hash)DangerousWomanTour,” he tweeted.

The managing director of Rumpus PR, where Hett worked, paid tribute to him in a statement.

“Martyn loved life and I hope his lasting legacy is that people — in these dreadful times — choose to live their lives with joy not hate, just like he did,” Paul Evans said.

 
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The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday officially condemned the violent crackdown on protests outside the Turkish embassy in Washington last week.

“This timely resolution sends a clear signal to the Turkish government that we will not allow any foreign government to stifle the rights of our citizens,” the committee said in a statement following the passage of House Resolution 354, which condemned the violence against what it deemed peaceful protests.

U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan thanked the committee, echoing concerns over the incident that have been expressed by U.S. lawmakers and diplomats for days.

“The violent crackdown on peaceful protesters by Turkish security forces was completely indefensible, and the [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan government’s response was wholly inadequate,” he said in a statement. “I want to thank Chairman [Ed] Royce, Ranking Member [Eliot] Engel, and all members of the Foreign Affairs Committee for taking swift action on this issue.”

The committee was expected to hold a hearing discussing the right to peaceful protest later Thursday.

The clash broke out between Turkish security personnel and protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence during Erdogan’s visit to Washington.

Protesters say they were attacked by Turkish security forces as they demonstrated peacefully. Turkey blamed the clash on the demonstrators, claiming they aggressively provoked people who had gathered to see Erdogan.

 
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President Donald Trump’s U.N. envoy set foot Wednesday in the no-man’s-land between Syria and Turkey, witnessing the precarious transfer of aid supplies into a seemingly interminable conflict. That reality is far removed from America’s years-old hope for President Bashar Assad to leave power and speedily end the civil war.

From the Syrian side of the border zone, Ambassador Nikki Haley gazed up at a Turkish flag plastered onto signs marking the entrance into that nation’s territory. Syrian refugees once flooded through the run-down Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing until officials cracked down. These days it’s only aid convoys that pass back and forth, trying to meet an unrelenting demand for food, health supplies and other basic needs in the Arab country.

Ferried to the border in an armored motorcade, Haley walked to within just a few feet of entering the Arab land, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to come so close to Syrian territory in years. Underscoring the danger, security officials spirited her away from the border after unmarked vehicles were spotted moving toward the area.

Beyond the frontier, she confronted a human reminder of the world’s failure to resolve the war: About 8,400 Syrian refugees in a Turkish refugee camp, some of them stuck there for more than five years.

Haley brings ‘new life’ to efforts to help refugees  

The dominant theme of Haley’s trip this week to Jordan and Turkey was the need to retool the global approach to meet the needs of Syrians stuck in a protracted conflict now in its seventh year. Haley said she wanted to “bring new life” to efforts to help the refugees, mentioning schooling and training in particular.

“The things they are learning here, you want them to be able to pick it up and do it there,” Haley said. “How do you strengthen them and don’t let them stand still?”

Though many more refugees have rebuilt their lives in cities, the camps stand as evidence of the failure to resolve a war that has killed hundreds of thousands, sparked worldwide terror and migration crises, and destabilized much of the Middle East. Once envisioned as a temporary solution, they seem increasingly permanent, filled with children who recall no life before the camps.

There have been growing concerns about a “lost generation” of Syrians growing up outside their home country, their worlds defined by the conflict. Many are receiving no education, health care or other basic necessities.

To that end, Haley and other U.S. officials have encouraged Syria’s neighbors, who’ve absorbed the majority of the millions of refugees, to treat them less like visitors and more like locals, living, working and studying among the regular population. But it is a request that increases demands on the host nations’ already-beleaguered infrastructures and limited resources. And it comes as the Trump administration is proposing severe cuts in U.S. assistance for overseas refugees and programs targeting children in need.

‘US is very much going to take charge’

Six years on since the United States first called on Assad to go, his hold on power serves as a bitter indictment of failed efforts to end the war.

Having blamed former President Barack Obama for letting the crisis fester, Trump says he is increasing engagement. The administration announced it will arm Syrian Kurds fighting the Islamic State group, a step the Kurds long implored Obama to take. And Trump ordered airstrikes on a military base belonging to Assad’s military after accusing it of using chemical weapons.

“You’ve seen that they’ve actually militarily continued to look at Syria and when and if there’s going to be a role there,” Haley said, referring to the Trump administration. “Just like with the chemical weapons … the U.S. is not going to sit back and let others deal with it. The U.S. is very much going to take charge if they need to, if they see something being done that’s wrong to the people of Syria.”

But on the peace front, the U.S. has spearheaded no new effort, and Trump’s overall approach has not deviated dramatically from his predecessor’s. Obama, too, relied on Kurdish forces to do the toughest fighting. And Obama, like Trump, tried repeatedly to engage with Russia — Assad’s strongest ally — to facilitate talks that could yield a political resolution.

US unsure on Russia-led safe zones plan

Trump’s young administration has struggled to determine whether to embrace or reject a deal struck by Russia, Turkey and Iran to create four safe zones in Syria where Assad’s forces and the Syrian opposition would stop fighting. Not only is the U.S. not a party to the deal, undermining America’s role as a key mediator in the conflict, but the involvement of Iran — another Assad backer — has fueled U.S. skepticism.

Haley said the U.S. would “look at the opportunities” in the Russia-led deal, but intended for the ultimate resolution to come through stalled U.N.-led talks.

At the Syrian border, Haley pitched in by helping pack boxes of lentils, bulgur wheat and sugar set to be trucked through Bab al-Hawa. Aid workers explained how goods are transferred in the no-man’s-land from Turkish trucks onto Syrian trucks before making the journey deep into Syria.

And at Altinozu Refugee Camp, Haley sought to showcase how refugees were trying their best to live full lives under the bleakest of conditions. She cooed over a refugee baby in the camp’s clinic awaiting a medical examination, and took to the soccer field with young Syrians to kick a few balls toward the goal.

                 
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Ariana Grande suspended her Dangerous Woman world tour and canceled several European shows Wednesday due to the deadly bombing at her concert in Manchester, England.

Shows Thursday and Friday in London were canceled, along with concerts through June 5 in Belgium, Poland, Germany and Switzerland. Refunds will be granted, the pop star’s managers said in a statement. The tour was suspended to “further assess the situation and pay our proper respects” to the 22 dead and dozens injured in Monday’s suicide attack in the northern England town.

Grande’s tour is to pick up June 7 in Paris, followed by several more countries in Europe before moving on to Latin America, Asia and elsewhere.

“We ask at this time that we all continue to support the city of Manchester and all those families affected by this cowardice and senseless act of violence. Our way of life has once again been threatened but we will overcome this together,” the statement said.

Grande, who reportedly is in Boca Raton, Florida, with her family, has kept a low profile since the blast. An 8-year-old girl was among the dead. Grande took to Twitter afterward to say she was “broken” and “i don’t have words.”

The tour also features rapper BIA, whose real name is Bianca Landrau, and singer Victoria Monet.

Some bands — including Blondie and Take That — canceled shows after the blast, but representatives for several music acts — including Celine Dion, Shawn Mendes, Guns N’ Roses and Phil Collins — said they will honor their European dates this summer.
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The commander in charge of U.S. air operations in the Middle East says the United States and Russia have communicated more via an established military hotline as the airspace around Islamic State territory in Syria has become more crowded.

“We have had to increase the amount of deconfliction work we are doing with the Russians, given the tighter airspace that we are now working ourselves through,” Air Force Lieutenant General Jeffrey Harrigian told reporters Wednesday.

Islamic State has been reduced from its peak of about 30,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria to current estimates of fewer than 15,000.

The communication hotline was created between Russia and the U.S. several months ago to avoid misunderstandings or unintended incidents in the sky over Syria.

Harrigian confirmed the U.S. has established deconfliction zones around U.S. military personnel inside Syria, adding that Russian movement within these areas is restricted to protect American and U.S.-backed forces.

“There have been times we’ve had to work through mitigation strategies to ensure we can continue our mission, and vice versa,” he said. “The Russians are understanding of what we’re trying to do.”

Harrigian added that communication on the hotline is not always easy, however, and sometimes it takes multiple calls to work through one deconfliction issue.

A recent example of this communication came last week when the U.S. conducted what Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called a “self-defense” strike against Iranian-directed, pro-Syrian government forces.

The forces violated a coalition deconfliction zone that had been established within a 55-kilometer radius of the al-Tanf army base, where U.S.-led coalition forces are training Syrian militias fighting IS.

U.S. officials said that, as the pro-Syrian government forces began creating fighting positions near the base, they used the deconfliction hotline to see whether the Russians could get the pro-Syrian forces to leave the area.

When that failed, the coalition launched airstrikes against the forces, destroying a tank, two front-end loaders, another piece of construction equipment and a tactical vehicle, according to a U.S. Central Command strike release.
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British counterterror police say the investigation into Monday’s deadly bombing after a concert in Manchester is “making good progress,” but that authorities cannot say yet whether the man responsible for the attack was part of a wider group.

Mark Rowley, who heads the National Counter Terrorism Policing, said late Tuesday that searches were ongoing and officers were following “a number of investigative leads.”

His comments came after the government raised the country’s terrorism alert level to critical, or the highest step, signaling that another attack was highly likely and could be imminent.

The change is most visible in the deployment of soldiers to help guard certain areas, including major events such as concerts and football matches, in order to free up police officers.

The blast at the conclusion of a concert by American pop star Ariana Grande at Manchester Arena killed 22 people and wounded 59 others.  The attacker, identified as 22-year-old Salman Abedi, also died at the site.

Islamic State is claiming it was behind the attack, but neither British nor U.S. intelligence have confirmed that.

Police arrested a 23-year-old man in Manchester on Tuesday, but have not given any information about how he may be linked to the attack.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in an address to the nation late Tuesday that authorities will do everything possible to protect the public and asked people to remain vigilant.

“I do not want the public to feel unduly alarmed. We have faced a serious terrorist threat in our country for many years,” May said.

Earlier in the day, she spoke more directly about the attack itself, saying the bomber chose the “time and place to cause maximum carnage and to kill and injure indiscriminately.”

Many of the victims were young girls, with the youngest identified so far being just 8-year-old. 

Grande wrote on Twitter that she is, “Broken. From the bottom of my heart, I am so, so sorry. I don’t have words.”

Video from the arena showed the joy in the audience at the end of the concert turning to confusion and then to panic and a scramble to get out of the building as the realization of what just happened spread.

Witness say they saw blood covered bodies on the floor while others, badly wounded, staggered toward the exits of the building.

The scene outside the concert hall was also chaotic, with traffic snarled and parents rushing to the scene.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth held a moment of silence at a garden party at Buckingham Palace. French President Emmanuel Macron signed a condolence book at the British embassy in Paris. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attack only strengthens Germany’s resolve to work with the British.

The U.N. Security Council also condemned the bombing.

U.S. President Donald Trump, visiting Bethlehem in the West Bank, called those responsible for the blast “evil losers in life.”

“I won’t call them monsters because they would like that term; they would think that’s a great name,” Trump said. “I will call them from now on losers, because that’s what they are.”

He added, “We cannot stand a moment longer for the slaughter of innocent people.”
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NATO leaders are going to Brussels for a summit meeting on Thursday expecting to agree on key principles.  With Monday’s attack in Britain overshadowing the meeting, there will be quick consensus on the need to keep fighting terrorism both at home and abroad, in places like Afghanistan.

How to do it is a different question. 

The war in Afghanistan is one of the key topics European leaders hope to learn more about when they meet with U.S. President Donald Trump. 

The U.S. leader wants a boost in NATO contributions for the effort, but Germany’s Angela Merkel has indicated she is lukewarm about this and will wait for NATO discussions on the matter.  “We are also coordinating the cooperation of about 20 member countries which are active there,” she said earlier this month.

“I am going to wait for the decisions. I do not think we’re first in line to expand our capacities there,” Merkel said.​

Pressing again for NATO members’ payments

Aside from the Afghanistan war, Trump has made clear he wants alliance members to meet minimum contribution levels, and spend two percent of their gross national income on defense.  Only five of the alliance’s 28 members – the United States, Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland – are doing so.

European leaders expect to hear a reaffirmation that NATO’s anti-terrorism work extends beyond Europe and the Atlantic.

Former British Foreign Minister David Owen said NATO “is a vehicle for the world” already. 

“Actually it is a global entity, and I think there is a case for expanding that now to dealing with ISIS,” Owen told VOA. “I know this is controversial, but I think if it’s approached carefully and steadily, we will see NATO accepting that it is right for there to be an extension of the remit [authority] from Iraq to go out and to deal with ISIS, and I think it’s a much better way of American power being globally used within the framework of NATO.”

There are disagreements going into the meeting, but there is also the prospect of progress in some key areas.

Manchester attack highlights global war on terror

The global fight on terror is on the NATO summit agenda. In the wake of the Manchester attack, Britain’s Theresa May was expected to present a strong case in support of more coordination among allies to tackle terrorism, something analysts said would further bolster the view that NATO remains relevant and necessary.

Russia also looms large for European leaders at both the NATO summit and the G-7 meeting that follows in Italy. 

Germany, Austria and others hope for a new direction in relations with Moscow following the Ukraine crisis, as continued sanctions against Moscow have created pressure on western European nations dependent on Russian energy exports. 

European leaders also hope to use the NATO summit to ease tensions with Turkey following the recent referendum that gave President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers, and raised new concerns about growing authoritarianism.

Waiting for Trump…

A dispute between Turkey and Austria emerged on Tuesday when reports said the Turkish government has suspended cooperation with NATO members following Austrian opposition to Turkey’s membership in the EU.  Austria is not a member of NATO but its troops sometimes partner with alliance forces.

The big hope among European leaders is that seeing Trump face to face and hearing him repeat assurances that he no longer believes NATO is obsolete will quell anxieties about the U.S. role as guarantor of Europe’s security.

Reports quote NATO sources as saying officials will hold off on issuing a formal declaration as is common after some summits.  It may depend on what is said at the meeting.  In this time of transition and surprises, that is something no one can predict.
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President Trump’s reported demands to top leadership of U.S. intelligence agencies to deny there was any collusion between his campaign and Russia dominated an intense day of Congressional testimony. Congressional probes into Russian election interference showed no signs of letting up, even as Special Counsel Robert Mueller launches a wide-ranging Justice Department investigation. VOA’s Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill.
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