Sessions was ‘enthusiastic’ about Trump-Putin meeting idea, Papadopoulos says

By Marisa Schultz September 9, 2018

WASHINGTON — Former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos said he sought to organize a summit between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin with the blessing of the Trump campaign, especially attorney general Jeff Sessions.

“The campaign was fully aware of what I was doing,” Papadopoulos told ABC’s “This Week.”

At a foreign policy meeting with Sessions, Trump and other campaign advisers in 2016, Papadopoulos said he told the team he had a connection that could establish a potential summit between Trump and Putin. Sessions “was quite enthusiastic” about the idea, Papadopoulos said Sunday.

But Sessions testified under oath in 2017 to Congress that he “pushed back” against Papadopoulos’ suggestion of a Trump-Putin summit.

“All I can say is my recollection differs from Sen. Sessions,” Papadopoulos said Sunday.

Sessions’ attorney Chuck Cooper said the attorney general stands by his November 2017 statement to the House Judiciary Committee.

“Attorney General Sessions has publicly testified under oath about his recollection of this meeting, and he stands by his testimony,” Cooper said in a statement.

Then-candidate Trump was receptive to meeting with Russians, too, during the March 31, 2016, foreign policy meeting, Papadopoulos said.

“Candidate Trump at the time nodded at me. I don’t think he was committed either way. He was open to the idea. And he deferred, of course, to then-senior Sen. Jeff Sessions, who I remember being quite enthusiastic,” Papadopoulos said.

It was Papadopolous’ first major Sunday show appearance since being sentenced Friday to 14 days in prison for lying to the FBI. He’s the first Trump campaign aide to be sentenced in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian probe.

Papadopoulos apologized for his actions, calling it a dreadful mistake. He explained Sunday he was trying to land a job with the Trump Administration when the FBI started questioning him about Russian connections.

“I found myself pinned between the Department of Justice and the sitting president and having probing questions that I thought might incriminate the sitting president,” Papadopoulos said.

“You were trying to protect the president?” asked ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos.

“Of course,” Papadopoulos said.

Papadopoulos met with Mueller’s team at least four times and said he has “no idea” whether the special counsel will be able to prove collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians.

“All I can say is that my testimony might have helped move something towards that, but I have no idea,” Papadopoulos said.

Trump has distanced himself from Papadopoulos and said aboard Air Force One on Friday that he doesn’t even know the one-time adviser.

The president has repeatedly sought to discredit the Mueller probe as a witch hunt.

He tweeted on Friday a response to the sentencing: “14 days for $28 MILLION – $2 MILLION a day, No Collusion. A great day for America!”

For his part, Papadopoulos praised Trump’s “good job” on foreign policy and avoided making negative comments about the president who has brushed him aside.

“I really have no opinion on what the president said about my sentencing,” Papadopoulos said.

But he said the Mueller probe should be allowed to conclude.

“I think that this investigation should go through the process,” Papadopoulos said. “I don’t think anybody should obstruct anything. “

Papadopoulos’s blonde-haired wife, Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos, joined the second part of the interview and said she believes her husband’s testimony to the special counsel will be “important.”

“He has been approached by so many shady characters that will lead probably to a different revelation,” she said.

The blonde beauty said Mueller’s team has suspected her of being a Russian agent.

Even George Papadopoulos’ said his family had worries about his wife.

“I think everyone was a little paranoid throughout this past year,” Papadopoulos said. “And yes, you know, I think they thought that she might have been some sort of Russian spy. Of course I never believed anything like that. I don’t think every beautiful blonde person necessarily has to be a Russian agent.”

https:// nypost.com/2018/09/09/sessions-was-enthusiastic-about-trump-putin-meeting-idea-papadopoulos-says/

Why China Has Its Eyes Set On Greenland, Could Threaten US Air Force Base

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by Tyler Durden

Mon, 09/10/2018 - 04:15

Last year, the Chinese government published a report titled “Vision for Maritime Cooperation Under the Belt and Road Initiative.” It laid out the plan for an Arctic connection between China and Western Europe, which would complement the government’s other projects to construct infrastructure and trade routes connecting the country with Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

As China seeks to become a power player in the Arctic, Beijing has recognized that Greenland is the answer to faster shipping routes and access to mineral deposits to further the Belt and Road Initiative.

So when Greenland issued a solicitation to build three new airports, a Chinese company, controlled by Beijing, and once blacklisted by the World Bank — submitted a bid for the project.

Denmark, which has final say on national security issues involving all things Greenland, strongly objected. Greenland then asked China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), which has worked on large infrastructure projects around the world, to remain one of its finalists for the projects, setting up for future negotiations between both governments, said Defense News.

Chinese economic influence on the continent has sent leaders in Europe into a panic — worried that a government-controlled company in Greenland could jeopardize a key American military base located there.

The Chinese “are players in the world economy, as are others, and should be treated equally. But we are on our guard,” Danish Defence Minister Claus Hjort Fredericksen said in a June interview in his Copenhagen office.

“Of course, we welcome cooperation with China in the commercial field. As long as it has commercial purpose, we are not opposed to that. That is a normal way to expand world trade,” Fredericksen said, he added, “we are very careful looking at the issues if these installations may have other purposes, and that is what is causing trouble.”

Since President Xi Jinping launched the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, the country has invested in everything from mines to scientific expeditions in the high north, said Magnus Nordenman, a regional analyst with the Atlantic Council, and the country has used its economic leverage to drive public policies. China “scooped up a bunch of stuff for cheap, and later, when there was time for votes in the United Nations about human rights, all of a sudden these countries started backing off,” Nordenman notes.

In the past five years, Chinese acquisition firms have targeted transport hubs in Europe, such as the Greek port of Piraeus and the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. Chinese firms now control approximately 10 percent of cargo port space in Europe, according to data from the International Transport Forum.

Nordenman said it now all makes sense when considering melting ice in the Arctic could disrupt the world’s shipping system by unleashing new, quicker routes from China to Europe.

“It is intimately connected to what the [North] Sea can mean for them,” Nordenman said, adding that shipping routes in the northern waters would mean no more choke points for China in the South China Sea or the Indian Ocean.

Defense News said CCCC bid for the airport contract would be a massive infrastructure investment for the country. The airport has an estimated cost of 3.6 billion Danish kroner (USD 560 million). If Beijing wins the contract, the airport could become such a significant economic driver for Greenland that it would be almost certain that China could then gain control of the country.

READ MORE:

https:// www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-09/why-china-has-its-eyes-set-greenland-could-threaten-us-air-force-base

Trump To Declassify Bruce Ohr, Carter Page Documents As Early As This Week

by Tyler Durden

Mon, 09/10/2018 - 04:10

President Trump is expected to declassify documents connected to the Obama administration's surveillance of the Trump campaign during the 2016 US election, according to Axios, citing allies of the president who say it could happen as soon as this week.

Specifically mentioned are documents concerning former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, as well as the "investigative activities of Justice Department lawyer Bruce Ohr" - who was demoted twice for lying about his extensive relationship with Christopher Steele - the former MI6 spy who assembled the sham "Steele Dossier" used by the FBI in a FISA surveillance application to spy on Page.

Republicans on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees believe the declassification will permanently taint the Trump-Russia investigation by showing the investigation was illegitimate to begin with. Trump has been hammering the same theme for months.

They allege that Bruce Ohr played an improper intermediary role between the Justice Department, British spy Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS — the opposition research firm that produced the Trump-Russia dossier, funded by Democrats. (Ohr's wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS on Russia-related matters during the presidential election — a fact that Ohr did not disclose on federal forms.)

And they further allege that the Obama administration improperly spied on Carter Page — all to take down Trump. -Axios

Ohr, meanwhile, met with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska in 2015 to discuss helping the FBI with organized crime investigations, according to The Hill's John Solomon. The meeting with the Putin ally was facilitated by Steele.

Three weeks ago, Trump called Ohr a disgrace, while also tweeting: "Will Bruce Ohr, whose family received big money for helping to create the phony, dirty and discredited Dossier, ever be fired from the Jeff Sessions “Justice” Department? A total joke!"

Donald J. Trump

✔

@realDonaldTrump

Will Bruce Ohr, whose family received big money for helping to create the phony, dirty and discredited Dossier, ever be fired from the Jeff Sessions “Justice” Department? A total joke!

10:36 AM - Aug 20, 2018

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Trump's threat came one day after two tweets about Ohr, noting a connection to former FBI agent Peter Strzok, as well as a text sent by Ohr after former FBI Director James Comey was fired in which Ohr says "afraid they will be exposed."

Donald J. Trump

✔

@realDonaldTrump

“Very concerned about Comey’s firing, afraid they will be exposed,” said Bruce Ohr. DOJ’s Emails & Notes show Bruce Ohr’s connection to (phony & discredited) Trump Dossier. A creep thinking he would get caught in a dishonest act. Rigged Witch Hunt!

7:53 PM - Aug 16, 2018

Donald J. Trump

✔

@realDonaldTrump

“The FBI received documents from Bruce Ohr (of the Justice Department & whose wife Nelly worked for Fusion GPS).” Disgraced and fired FBI Agent Peter Strzok. This is too crazy to be believed! The Rigged Witch Hunt has zero credibility.

7:37 PM - Aug 16, 2018

READ MORE:

https:// www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-09/trump-declassify-bruce-ohr-carter-page-documents-early-week

France Says Russia Spied On Military Satellite In "Star Wars" Space Encounter

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by Tyler Durden

Mon, 09/10/2018 - 02:45

On Friday France's defense minister lashed out at Moscow in an usual accusation, saying a Russian satellite "with big ears" got so close to a French satellite last year that it could mean nothing but a clear attempt to eavesdrop.

Defense Minister Florence Parly accused Russia of attempting to sweep up French military secrets in what she likened to a "Star Wars" type move far above Earth. She identified that the Russian satellite, named Louch-Olymp, approached its own, the Athena-Fidus (which was co-launched by Italy in 2014), in an act of military espionage.

The Athena-Fidus is a French-Italian joint satellite reportedly used for secure military communications and the planning of operations.

“Trying to listen to one’s neighbor is not only unfriendly. It’s called an act of espionage,” Parly charged in a speech in the southern city of Toulouse on Friday. “It got close. A bit too close. So close that one really could believe that it was trying to capture our communications,” she said.

Her comments grabbed global media attention after likening the incident to events in the movie Star Wars: “this little Stars Wars didn’t happen a long time ago in a galaxy far away. It happened a year ago, 36,000 kilometers above our heads,” she said.

Parly further explained that the Russian satellite has “big ears” and is “well-known but a bit indiscreet.” She added that France had taken “the necessary measures” and is still monitoring the Russian satellite closely.

However, it's curious that while slamming Russia over the "close encounter" and crafting her words as media soundbites by using pop-culture references at the Toulouse-based France space agency conference, Defense Minister Parly is preparing to pitch a new space defense strategy by the end of the year, which no doubt will require a massively expanded budget.

And referencing President Trump's controversial and massively expensive plan for an American "Space Force" unveiled this summer, Parly affirmed “France is and will be a space power”.

She said she considers the new White House plans as an “extremely powerful signal: the signal of confrontations to come, the signal of the weight of the space sector, the signal of tomorrow’s challenges.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles above the Earth…

https:// www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-08/france-says-russia-spied-military-satellite-communications-star-wars-encounter

"Terrorist Theft" - Pakistan's Nukes Outpacing Projections In Uncertain Security Landscape

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by Tyler Durden

Mon, 09/10/2018 - 01:00

Pakistan is set to become the world's 5th largest nuclear weapons state according to an alarming new report which shows the country is set for rapid expansion of its arsenal over the next decade.

The report was issued by an independent nuclear arms monitoring group under the Federation of American Scientists called the Nuclear Information Project and demonstrates that US intelligence has consistently understated and failed to accurately assess Pakistan's future capabilities.

While the Defense Intelligence Agency (the DIA) projected in 1999 that Pakistan would possess 60 to 80 nuclear warheads by 2020, the report shows the actual current figure at 140 to 150 warheads.

Should the current trend continue unabated, the Federation of American Scientists report indicates, the stockpile could increase to between 220 and 250 by the year 2025.

"We estimate that the country's stockpile could more realistically grow to 220 to 250 warheads by 2025, if the current trend continues. If that happens, it would make Pakistan the world's fifth-largest nuclear weapon state," wrote the authors of the report entitled 'Pakistani nuclear forces 2018'.

Crucially, the report also focuses on the threat that the country's vast arsenal, which includes tactical nuke development, could fall into the hands of terrorists, given Pakistan's shifting and hotbed political landscape. It cites past administrations as feeling confident at the domestic security situation, but emphasizes this was misguided.

The report also references the significant shift in priorities by the Trump administration. The report reads:

In stark contrast, the Trump administration assessment in 2018 was: “We are particularly concerned by the development of tactical nuclear weapons that are designed for use in battlefield. We believe that these systems are more susceptible to terrorist theft and increase the likelihood of nuclear exchange in the region.”

Upon unveiling his South Asia strategy on 21 August 2017, Trump urged Pakistan to stop sheltering terrorist organizations, and noted the need to “prevent nuclear weapons and materials from coming into the hands of terrorists.” US concern over the security of Pakistan’s tactical nuclear weapons precedes the Trump administration.

Despite security concerns and the presence of Islamist and Taliban factions along Pakistan's porous tribal Afghan border region, nuclear expansion has continued at unrelenting rapid pace.

"With several delivery systems in development, four plutonium production reactors, and its uranium enrichment facilities expanding, however, Pakistan has a stockpile that will likely increase further over the next 10 years," says the report further.

Pakistan could be poised to overstep the UK and approach China in the coming years

And perhaps more worrisome is that nuclear warheads may be going mobile: "Analysis of a large number of commercial satellite images of Pakistani army garrisons and air force bases shows what appear to be mobile launchers and underground facilities that might be related to nuclear forces," the report reads.

But perhaps most alarming is the suggestion among some analysts that Pakistan could begin actually approaching China and France in the coming decade, which the report's authors downplay: "Speculation that Pakistan may become the world's third-largest nuclear weapon state – with a stockpile of some 350 warheads a decade from now – are, we believe, exaggerated, not least because that would require a buildup two to three times faster than the growth rate over the past two decades."

READ MORE:

https:// www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-09/pakistans-nuclear-arsenal-far-outpaces-us-intelligence-projections-finds-alarming

Trump Administration to Close Palestine Liberation Organization Office in Washington

National security adviser John Bolton also plans to threaten sanctions against International Criminal Court, in a Monday speech

By Michael R. Gordon

Updated Sept. 10, 2018 6:08 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is expected to announce Monday that it will close the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington, administration officials said Sunday night, widening a U.S. campaign of pressure amid stalled Middle East peace efforts.

“The United States will always stand with our friend and ally, Israel,” national security adviser John Bolton is planned to say in prepared remarks he is scheduled to deliver Monday, according a draft reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

“The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel,” he is planned to add.

Senior Palestinian officials strongly condemned the Trump administration decision and described it as a “reckless escalation.”

Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian representative to Washington, said in an interview that the State Department informed the Palestine Liberation Organization of the U.S. decision to shutter its Washington office in a move that he said is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to begin enacting its so-called “deal of the century.”

“We don’t think this is just about bullying…we believe this is about the implementing of Israel’s grocery list, they are implementing it rather than pressuring us,” Mr. Zomlot said in a interview on Monday, adding that relations between the Palestinians and Washington “are a historic low.”

He said the Trump administration’s move to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in bilateral assistance to the Palestinians and to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency; its criticisms of the way Palestinian refugees are defined at the United Nations; the Jerusalem move and its policy on settlements are evidence that the Trump administration is pressing ahead with its yet-to-be-revealed peace plan.

“All of this is making sure the U.S. will never ever play the role of the peacemaker,” Mr. Zomlot said.

The PLO will speed up its efforts to challenge Israel in the ICC as a result of the U.S. decision, Mr. Zomlot said, as well as step up contacts to the American public, who he said don’t see the Palestinians the way the Trump administration does.

Mr. Bolton also plans to threaten to impose sanctions against the International Criminal Court if it moves ahead with investigations of the U.S. and Israel.

“If the court comes after us, Israel or other allies, we will not sit quietly,” Mr. Bolton is planned to say, according to his prepared remarks.

Among the responses, Mr. Bolton says, the U.S. would ban ICC judges and prosecutors from entering the country.

“We will sanction their funds in the U.S. financial system, and we will prosecute them in the U.S. criminal system,” Mr. Bolton adds. “We will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of Americans.”

The PLO office in Washington has long been the focus of controversy. The Trump administration warned last year that it might close the office after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for the investigation and prosecution of Israeli officials by the ICC and other bodies.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian Authority negotiator responded at the time that such a move would undermine prospects for peace. The PLO opened its mission in Washington in 1994 and joined the ICC after receiving observer state status at the U.N. in 2012.

Explaining the decision to close the PLO office, Mr. Bolton planned to say that it reflects longstanding congressional concerns with Palestinian efforts to prompt an ICC investigation of Israel, according to his prepared remarks.

The closure, which Mr. Bolton says would be formally announced by the State Department on Monday, follows other steps by the Trump administration that have angered Palestinians, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and ending funding for the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees.

Mr. Bolton planned to say, however, that the Trump administration is still committed to negotiating a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians.

“The United States supports a direct and robust peace process, and we will not allow the ICC, or any other organization, to constrain Israel’s right to self-defense,” he planned to say, according to the prepared remarks.

READ MORE: https:// www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-to-close-palestine-liberation-organization-office-in-washington-1536546125

Muslim minority in China's Xinjiang face 'political indoctrination': Human Rights Watch

WORLD NEWS SEPTEMBER 9, 2018

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Turkic mostly Muslim Uighur minority in China’s Xinjiang region face arbitrary detentions, daily restrictions on religious practice and “forced political indoctrination” in a mass security crackdown, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

The United Nations human rights panel said in August that China is believed to be holding up to 1 million ethnic Uighurs in a secretive system of “internment camps” in Xinjiang, in China’s far west, where they undergo political education.

Beijing has denied that such camps are for “political education” and says they are instead vocational training centers, part of government initiatives to bolster economic growth and social mobility in the region.

China has said that Xinjiang faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists who plot attacks and stir up tensions between Uighurs who call the region home and the ethnic Han Chinese majority.

Uighurs and other Muslims held in the camps are forbidden from using Islamic greetings, must learn Mandarin Chinese and sing propaganda songs, according to a report by Human Rights Watch based on interviews with five former camp detainees.

People in Xinjiang with relatives living abroad in one of 26 “sensitive countries”, including Kazakhstan, Turkey and Indonesia, have been targeted by the authorities and are often held for several months, without any formal procedure, the group said.

Punishments for refusing to follow instructions in the camp could mean being denied food, being forced to stand for 24 hours or even solitary confinement, it said.

China foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang declined to give a detailed response to the report and said that Human Rights Watch was a group “full of prejudice” against China that distorts facts.

Measures in Xinjiang aim to “promote stability, development, unity and livelihoods”, while also cracking down on “ethnic separatism and violent terrorist criminal activities”, he told a regular briefing.

Security conditions in Xinjiang outside the camps had also intensified markedly and now bear “a striking resemblance to those inside”, Hong Kong-based Human Rights Watch researcher Maya Wang said, based on interviews with 58 former Xinjiang residents now living abroad.

Wang and her team only spoke with people who had left Xinjiang due to a lack of access to the region and to avoid endangering those still living there.

New security measures described by interviewees include proliferating checkpoints that make use of facial recognition technology and sophisticated police monitoring systems, such as each house having a QR code that, when scanned, shows the authorities who the approved occupants are.

Monitoring of Islamic religious practices, such as asking people how often they pray and the closure of mosques, as well as regular visits by party officials to rural parts of Xinjiang, mean that practicing Islam “has effectively been outlawed,” Wang said.

https:// www.reuters.com/article/us-china-xinjiang-rights/muslim-minority-in-chinas-xinjiang-face-political-indoctrination-human-rights-watch-idUSKCN1LQ01F

>>2957237

I wasn't aware. Good info :)

>>2957248

If I didn't think Jones was a disinfo agent … after hearing him in this video … I think so now. WOW this Jones guy is totally owned by the globalists.