We know what’s coming and we are prepared.
Four men in Washington shape America’s policy in the Middle East. Three are obvious: President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The fourth is less well-known, despite his huge sway over the other three ― and despite his determination to keep championing policies that many see as fueling bloodshed in Gaza and beyond.
His name is Brett McGurk. He’s the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, and he’s one of the most powerful people in U.S. national security.
McGurk crafts the options that Biden considers on issues from negotiations with Israel to weapon sales for Saudi Arabia. He controls whether global affairs experts within the government ― including more experienced staff at the Pentagon and the State Department ― can have any impact, and he decides which outside voices have access to White House decision-making conversations.
A former official said there’s a joke in some national security circles:
“If a nuclear bomb was dropped on D.C., two forms of life would survive: cockroaches and Brett McGurk.”
A former Obama administration official described McGurk as placing “less emphasis on the human rights side of things, except where it serves as useful leverage for his preferred strategic outcomes.”
McGurk frequently discourages colleagues from raising rights concerns with other governments, often saying it will make them more likely to draw away from the U.S. and toward China.
For all his influence, McGurk is ultimately not the chief decision-maker over Middle East policies that are drawing public disdain and risking U.S. interests.
“He is giving the president what he wants,” the former Obama administration official said. “Biden owns these decisions.”
Source: HuffPost
Humanitarian lawyer and ex-aid worker Andrew MacLeod exposes the involvement of UN security staff in the sex trafficking of young girls, who were kept in cages and abused as sex slaves, with the full knowledge of the UN's leadership.
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Dr. David Martin: "Remdesivir was too unethical to put into Ebola clinical trials in Africa because it had a 53% kill rate."
"But it was chosen in April and May of 2020 to be the drug of choice to treat Covid... despite the fact that the World Health Organisation said it was unethical to use it."
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Serious allegations from former CIA officer Larry Johnson about Senator Lindsey Graham: “There will be news coming out in the next couple of months about how he has profited financially off of money that came out of Ukraine, laundered through Latvia and made it way into his bank account. And now we're talking significant amounts of money. Department of justice is looking at it.”
🇮🇱 ❌ 🇮🇷 🛢 📈 — Deutsche Bank: Oil Prices will go to $125/barrel if the Iran-Israel conflict spills over into the Straight of Hormuz
@CIG_Telegram
Developments in the Iran-Israel war. It is currently 1:11am in Tel Aviv and 1:42am in Tehran.
Main points:
Iran and Israel have started targeting each other’s energy infrastructure.
Iranian missiles continued to target and impact northern and central Israel.
Israel has started targeting Iranian oil infrastructure, including oil refineries and oil depots.
Israeli airstrikes continue to target various parts of Tehran and the surrounding areas.
Iranian air defence seems to finally be doing some damage to Israeli missiles and drones. In turn, Israel has deployed dozens of small quadcopters and loitering munitions to waste Iranian air defence and saturate for larger attacks with cruise missiles.
Drones launched from Iran and factions in Iraq continue to target northern and southern Israel.
Missiles & drones:
2 rockets were launched from the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza by an unknown Palestinian faction. Neither were intercepted, with the IDF claiming they hit an open area with no casualties.
2 rockets were ...
OIL MARKETS REACT SHARPLY TO ESCALATING MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS
📈 WTI CRUDE IS NOW FORECAST TO HIT $94.10 BY YEAR-END, UP OVER $21 IN A WEEK, ACCORDING TO KALSHI MARKETS.
THE JUMP FOLLOWS IRAN’S CANCELLATION OF NUCLEAR TALKS WITH THE U.S., CITING ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES. WITH TENSIONS RISING, MARKETS ARE PRICING IN THE RISK OF REGIONAL ESCALATION AND POTENTIAL DISRUPTION TO OIL FLOWS THROUGH THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ, A KEY ROUTE FOR 20% OF GLOBAL OIL.
ANALYSTS WARN THAT A FULL CLOSURE OF THE STRAIT COULD PUSH PRICES ABOVE $120–$150 PER BARREL. ...
