On FPF #432, I explain my view that the Democrats' case for impeaching Trump is very weak. The House passed two articles of impeachment this week, although House leadership is now preventing those from going to the Senate. While everyone is distracted with these potential minor crimes committed by Trump, there are major news stories breaking around the world. I cover several of those stories in the second half of the show. Many of those stories are about actual serious crimes Trump is committing.
Links
NDAA
- The 2020 NDAA requires the DNI to release a report on who is responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. [Link]
- The Senate passes the 2020 NDAA. [Link]
- Germany believes sanctions passed in the 2020 NDAA could impact their work on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. However, the sanctions include a 30 day “cool down” period, and Germany may be able to complete the pipeline during that time. [Link]
- The US national debt increased by $1.2 trillion in 2019. [Link]
- Both houses of Congress introduce bills to push Trump towards renewing New Start. [Link]
Korea
- South Korean and the US were unable to make a deal about South Korea’s payment for US troops deployed to South Korea. South Korea is willing to pay $1 billion a year, the US is demanding $5 billion. [Link]
- DefSec Esper says the US expects North Korea to carry out more weapons tests. [Link]
- Russia and China call for some sanctions to be lifted on North Korea. The US says now is not the time to lift sanctions. [Link]
South America
- Venezuelan children are facing increasingly worse malnutrition. [Link]
- The Trump administration is considering ramping up the pressure on Venezuela. This could include an oil blockade. [Link]
- Trump voices support for the coup government in Bolivia. [Link]
- Bolivia’s coup government issues an arrest warrant for the former president Morales. Morales is now a refugee in Argentina. [Link]
Europe
- NATO receives its second of five Global Hawk spy drones. It hops to have all drones by 2022. The drones cost $1.5 billion and were expected to be delivered by 2017. [Link]
- Spain’s high court finds the leader of Catalonia guilty of disobedience. [Link]
- Germany says it will not retaliate against the US for sanctions in the NDAA that target the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. [Link]
- The US removes sanctions of Latvia's second-largest port. The Latvian government seized the port after the US sanctioned Aivars Lembergs. [Link]
India
- Protests are spreading in India against a proposed law that would grant citizenship to non-muslims from neighboring countries living in India. [Link]
- The Pentagon is dismissing the Afghanistan Papers. [Link]
- Ten members of a Afghan family were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb. [Link]
Middle East
- An Israeli power company is cutting power to some areas of the West Bank for three hours a day over a Palestinian electric company not making debt payments. [Link]
- Israel bars Gazan Christians from visiting holy sites in Israel and the West Bank this year. [Link]
- The Qatari foreign minister says the stalemate between Qatar and the GCC has been broken. [Link]
- Saudi Arabia launches a $1.5 million lobby effort in the US. [Link]
- Secretary of Treasury Munchin said Iran’s attack on Saudi oil infrastructure was an attack on the world economy. [Link]
- In a move likely aimed at pleasing Turkey, the State Department says Trump will not recognize the Armenian Genocide. [Link]
- In the first half of 2020, the US State Department will cut about 130 people from its embassy in Erbil. [Link]
- Secretary of Defense Esper calls on Iraq to stop attacks on bases that house US soldiers. [Link]
- Despite a ceasefire agreement in 2018, 799 civilians have been killed in the city of Hodeida in 2019. [Link]
- The Houthi and Yemeni government will meet for two day talks about Hodeidah this week. The UN is backing the talks and the hope is allowing more humanitarian goods to enter the port at Hodeidah. [Link]
Africa
- A US airstrike killed one person in Somalia. The US claims that the person was a member of al-Shabaab. The airstrike was at least the US 60th in Somalia this year. [Link]
- Turkey will deploy military forces to a base somewhere in Libya. [Link]
- Haftar’s army is advancing on Tripoli. Libya’s capital city is held by the UN-recognized government. [Link]
- Boko Haram militants killed 14 civilians in Chad. [Link]
- Islamist militants in Nigeria killed four humanitarian workers who have been held hostage for several months. [Link]
- Militants in the Congo killed 22 civilians. Militants have killed over 150 people since the government began a crackdown on the militants on October 30th. [Link]
- Ebola cases are on the rise after treatment centers were attacked and shut down. Over 2,200 people have died during the outbreak. [Link]
- Sudan’s former president Bashir has been sentenced to two years in a reform facility for corruption. [Link]