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March 4, 2020

Pompeo Confirms US-Taliban Deal Has Secret Elements

The US-Taliban peace deal in Afghanistan is a hopeful opportunity to end the US occupation of Afghanistan after 19 years. Persistent concerns, however, are that secret annexes to the deal could exist that would make the deal less palatable for the Taliban rank-and-file.

While Pentagon officials claimed to have no information on that, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed on Sunday that there are indeed two “classified” secret annexes to the deal, and that the American public won’t get to know what those are.

— By  Jason Ditz

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Veterans Group Praises Trump Peace Agreement, Chides ‘Chicken Hawk Cheney’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sgt. Dan McKnight, Afghanistan war veteran and founder of BringOurTroopsHome.US, Saturday praised President Donald Trump’s announcement of a peace agreement with Taliban forces that could lead to total withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan some time next year. The announcement came a day after McKnight blasted Congresswoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., for attempting to publicly undercut Trump’s efforts.

“After nearly two decades, we’re grateful that our Commander-in-Chief stood with the American people and with America’s fighting men and women and their families," McKnight said, "and ignored the wolf-crying demands of chicken hawks such as Liz Cheney, whose family profiteered from hundreds of millions of dollars in military contracts, literally making money off wars they sent other people to fight."

— By Bring Our Troops Home

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In order to understand why the war in Syria’s northwest Idlib province is likely to spread, it may be helpful to think back to the dark days of early World War II.

Britain was alone and on the ropes. Plenty of countries wished it well. But with France, Denmark, the Low Countries, Norway, and Poland all under the Nazi boot, no one was willing to step forward with anything along the lines of practical aid. The future looked grim, which is why murmurs in favor of a negotiated settlement were growing harder and harder to ignore.

— By Daniel Lazare

Back in November 2019, former Bolivian President Evo Morales was ousted in a coup after claims of election fraud from the Organization for American States (OAS). A new MIT study into the October 20th presidential election does not support the conclusions of the OAS and casts further doubt on the already flimsy claims. Much damage has already been done, Morales fled the country, members of his Movimento al Socialismo (MAS) party have been arrested, and dozens of his supporters were shot and killed by police in the unrest that followed the coup.

— By Dave DeCamp

Another round of talks on the P5+1 nuclear deal in Vienna ended with Iranian negotiator Abbas Araghchi saying Iran is open to “any initiative” that any nation can offer to try to save the deal, and is fully ready to reverse any violations of the deal, so long as the other powers are also willing to get back into compliance on sanctions relief.

— By Jason Ditz