Brics special envoys on middle east meet

Peace proposals that ignore “the resolutions of the Arab summits, resolutions of the UN Security Council, and international legitimacy, primarily the approval of the Palestinian people and the president’s signature, will be doomed to failure,” Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement on Saturday. … [Read more...] about Palestinians: Trump Envoys’ Middle East Trip ‘Waste of Time’

And all the while, such countries’ paid friends abroad are helping them hedge their bets. Rich Mintz, the UAE’s powerful longtime lobbyist in Washington and an adviser to the wealthy monarchy’s leadership, made his firm, the Harbour Group, the first to drop a contract with the Saudis. The widespread news coverage of that move allows Mintz to claim that he ― and to some degree his client ― place morality above profit. Former Foreign Policy magazine editor David Rothkopf, who now earns $50,000 a month to help craft the UAE’s public image in the U.S., has for weeks used his perch as a noted Twitter and cable television critic of President Donald Trump to boost attacks on the Saudis’ shaky narrative about Khashoggi and on the crown prince in particular. … [Read more...] about How Saudi-Friendly Middle East Dictators Are Handling The Jamal Khashoggi Scandal

OBOR has already caused significant trouble where its projects have begun. In Sri Lanka, China took over control of a port it built using a predatory loan that the local government could not pay back. Montenegro is on the brink of a similar situation that would see it default on a major loan to build a road into Serbia. Pakistan, where OBOR has faced challenges from the local terrorist groups possessing many of the regions where roads and ports are most needed, has continued with investment from China at dangerously high debt rates. … [Read more...] about Xi Jinping Heads to Middle East to Sell One Belt, One Road

In 1993 a statement from the Friends of Ireland in the US said: "On this St Patrick's Day, the Friends of Ireland in the US Congress join with Irish Americans... in calling for renewed efforts to achieve peace, reconciliation and justice in Northern Ireland." … [Read more...] about State papers: Ex-US President Carter mooted as potential special envoy to NI

“This is why the late King Hussein and King Abdullah II are consistently on the record as opposing the idea and have repeatedly said that they are only willing to discuss the idea once Palestinians are genuinely independent,” he said, arguing that the idea pitched by the U.S. “is totally impossible.” … [Read more...] about Palestinian and Jordanian Leaders Reject Donald Trump’s Confederation Plan for Middle East Peace