• President Obama Speaks at the NALEO Annual Conference – President Obama delivers remarks at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ Annual Conference. June 22, 2012.
• Bachmann: Overturn Health Care Law or It ‘Will Be the End of Our Constitution’: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) believes she has uncovered a plot to convince one Supreme Court justice to uphold President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law, which she warned would be “the end of our Constitution.” Earlier this week, Bachmann told conservative radio host Sandy Rios that a Time magazine profile of Justice Anthony Kennedy was an attempt to convince him to decide in favor of the Affordable Care Act. [crooksandliars/22 june 2012]
• Politico Suspends Black Reporter for Saying Romney’s More Comfortable Around White People: Politico on Thursday suspended their veteran White House correspondent after several conservative websites complained that he had observed that presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney appeared to be more comfortable when he’s around white people. During a Thursday discussion with MSNBC’s Martin Bashir about why Romney was trailing President Barack Obama among minorities, Politico’s Joe Williams, who is black, noted that the candidate was most relaxed and unscripted on Fox & Friends where the people were white like him. “It’s very interesting that he does so many appearances on Fox & Friends,” Williams pointed out. “And it’s unscripted. It’s the only time they let Mitt off the leash, so to speak.” He continued: “But it also points out a larger problem he’s got to solve if he wants to be successful come this fall: Romney is very, very comfortable, it seems, with people who are like him. That’s one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in some town hall settings, why he can’t relate to people other than that.” “But when he comes on Fox & Friends, they’re like him. They’re white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company.” [crooksandliars/David/22 june 2012]
• Mendacious Mitt: Romney’s Bid to Become Liar-in-Chief: Now, in general, those of us in the pundit class are really not supposed to accuse politicians of lying – they mislead, they embellish, they mischaracterize, etc. Indeed, there is natural tendency for nominally objective reporters, in particular, to stay away from loaded terms such as lying. Which is precisely why Romney’s repeated lies are so effective. In fact, lying is really the only appropriate word to use here, because, well, Romney lies a lot. But that’s a criticism you’re only likely to hear from partisans. [Guardian UK/Michael Cohen/22 June 2012]
• Mitt Romney Slides into Panicked Free Fall over Outsourcing Claims: After the Washington Post blew the lid off of Mitt Romney job creator claims, the Romney campaign responded by not denying the fact that he is the outsourcer in chief. Contrary to the Romney job creator narrative, The Washington Post analysis found that, “Bain played several roles in helping these outsourcing companies, such as investing venture capital so they could grow and providing management and strategic business advice as they navigated this rapidly developing field.” The Romney campaign responded by disputing the article, but not the facts themselves. [politicususa/Jason Easley/22 june 2012
• Romney cover-up of his tax returns, offshore tax shelters and outsourcing profits must end
• Karl Rove Complains to Fox About Executive Privilege: In an appearance today on America's Newsroom, Fox News contributor Karl Rove expressed concern that President Obama's assertion of executive privilege over a set of Department of Justice internal documents was a novel expansion of the doctrine. The former senior advisor to President George W. Bush was ill-equipped to make this claim, as Bush invoked the privilege under similar circumstances while Rove was his top political advisor....Rove either forgot that the first time Bush invoked executive privilege it was in regards to Justice Department internal documents, or was being deliberately deceptive....During his appearance, Rove also ran with the latest right-wing conspiracy, suggesting that Obama's assertion of executive privilege indicates that he was involved in Fast and Furious while the operation was ongoing. Media Mattershas previously noted that these claims are false. The president asserted executive privilege only over documents created after the failed operation was ended. [Media Matters/Timothy Johnson/22 June 2012]
• Race, the right, and Eric Holder: As with Obama, it’s foolish to pretend race is totally unrelated to the right’s four-year assault on the AG…There’s an element of basic opposition party posturing in all of this, but again, the right’s contempt for Holder predates Fast and Furious – and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that at least part of it is an extension of the racially-charged attacks and insinuations that have been part of the right’s assault on Obama. [salon/STEVE KORNACKI/22 june 2012]
• Bill Maher, Rachel Maddow, And Reason’s Nick Gillespie Have Epic Showdown Over Fast & Furious: On his show tonight, Bill Maher ripped into Republicans for making the Fast & Furious scandal out to be more, well, scandalous than it is. Rachel Maddow piled on by arguing that the GOP’s primary motivations for pursuing the scandal are conspiratorial in nature. Towards the end of the discussion, Reason editor Nick Gillespie called out both Maher and Maddow for always playing favorites with the Democrats over the Republicans. Yes, it got personal. [mediaite/Josh Feldman/22 june 2012]
• Maher To GOP: ‘You Act Exactly Like 14 Year-Old Boys’: Earlier this month, 14 year-old right-wing radio host Caiden Cowger was pulled from the airwaves after he said that Obama “is making kids gay.” On last night’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the comedian was mostly amused by Cowger, but had harsher words for Cowger’s adult conservative counterparts. “When 14 year old boys sound exactly like you do, and can produce radio shows and books and speeches that sound exactly like yours, maybe you should rethink the shit that’s coming out of your mouth,” Maher said. He also cited Jonathan Krohn, another conservative wunderkind appeared on the scene at age 13 when he wrote the book “Define Conservatism.” After rolling a Krohn speech, Maher chuckled, “Is there a charity or something can give to? Wedgies Without Borders?” But while Maher can forgive kids for their hardline conservative views, he indicated that it was much harder to let adults who he feels should know better off the hook. “No wonder 14 year-old boys can do your act,” he said, referring to the Republican Party and its media supporters. “You act exactly like 14 year-old boys. There’s no ideology here. It’s just about being a dick.” [huffingtonpost/Ross Luippold/23 Jun 2012]
• Romney’s Bain Profited Even As The Companies It Invested In Went Bankrupt, Analysis Reveals
• There’s a Reason Why the Victim Is Invisible: [Thewingnuts have been pretty much the only ones talking about this–so if the victim is being neglected, it’s because wingnuts are neglecting him. Sure, that not-Joe the not-plumber campaign videoopens with Brian Terry…and within 30 seconds it launches into the insane anti-Holder tirade. Graham’s column itself, ostensibly about Terry “becoming a footnote”, uses him only as setup for cheap shots at the Democrats on the committee. Despite having a victim’s family that’s more than happy to disseminate their talking points, the wingnuts haven’t put him front and center. Given that this is all about Holder (and Obama) for them, and that Terry is just a pretext, you’d still think they’d do much more to highlight the grieving (and pliant) family. Except that this is where agendas collide. In their version of the tale, Brian Terry died because the DOJ let weapons get into the wrong hands. Thus we have to stop the DOJ’s nefarious attempts…to keep weapons from falling into the wrong hands. That’s the problem. There has to be just enough focus on Brian Terry to whet the wingnuts’ appetite for rage, but not so much that it highlights the internal incoherence of the whole thing. To make him a full-blown martyr would be to admit a fundamental premise of gun control. [No More Mister Nice Blog/Tom Hilton/22 june 2012]
• Prisons, Privatization, Patronage: First of all, about those halfway houses: In 2010, Chris Christie, the state’s governor — who has close personal ties to Community Education Centers, the largest operator of these facilities, and who once worked as a lobbyist for the firm — described the company’s operations as “representing the very best of the human spirit.” But The Times’s reports instead portray something closer to hell on earth — an understaffed, poorly run system, with a demoralized work force, from which the most dangerous individuals often escape to wreak havoc, while relatively mild offenders face terror and abuse at the hands of other inmates. [nytimes/PAUL KRUGMAN/21 Jun 2012]
• CIA Wanted ‘Torture’ Cage for Secret Prison: Official: A Polish official says that prosecutors have a construction order that proves the CIA wanted a cage for terror suspects built at a secret ‘black site’ prison inside Poland. Senator Jozef Pinior claims Krakow prosecutors have a document that shows a local contractor was asked to build a cage at Stare Kiekuty, a Polish army based used as a CIA prison for al Qaeda terror suspects in 2002 and 2003. “In a state with rights,” Pinior told the Polish paper Gazeta Wyborcza, “people in prison are not kept in cages.” He said a cage was “non-standard equipment” for a prison, but standard “if torture was used there.” Asked if he was sure the cage was for humans, he said, “What was it for? Exotic birds?” He said he has not seen the construction order, but that the Krakow prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the prison, has a copy of it. [abcnews/RANDY KREIDER/22 Jun 2012]
• Poland shaken by case alleging an illicit CIA prison there: WARSAW — For years, the idea seemed unthinkable, absurd. A secret U.S. detention center in a remote corner of Poland, where Al Qaeda suspects were brutally interrogated by the CIA? About as likely as “the Loch Ness monster,” is how one Pole described it recently. That monster is now rearing its head. Cloistered inside government offices, surrounded by classified documents, Polish prosecutors are building a case that could result in criminal charges against the nation’s former spy chief and even, some say, against former senior political leaders. Evidence that a foreign power was allowed to conduct illicit activities on Polish soil has deeply shaken many Poles’ faith in the United States and in Poland’s sense of itself as a successful democracy born from the ashes of the Cold War. [latimes/Henry Chu/21 Jun 2012]
CBRNE:
• Bird Flu Paper Is Published After Debate: The more controversial of two papers describing how the lethal H5N1 bird flu could be made easier to spread was published Thursday, six months after a scientific advisory board suggested that the papers’ most potentially dangerous data be censored. The paper, by scientists at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, identified five mutations apparently necessary to make the bird flu virus spread easily among ferrets, which catch the same flus that humans do. [nytimes/DONALD G. McNEIL Jr./21 Jun 2012]
Middle East:
• U.S. sending floating naval base through the Suez Canal: A U.S. warship designed as a floating base for naval special forces is scheduled to transit through the Suez Canal for the first time as early as Friday, Navy officials say. The USS Ponce, an amphibious transport ship, recently finished a complete overhaul that now has it configured to operate as a floating staging platform for the military. It is being launched into the oil shipping lanes at a time of heightened tensions across the region, U.S. Navy officials told CNN. The ship began approaching Suez on Thursday and is expected to enter the canal shortly on its way to the Persian Gulf. The ship will function as a staging base for special operations forces and small patrol boats, including mine countermeasure vessels, in gulf waters that Iran has previously threatened to shut down. [cnn/Barbara Starr/21 june 2012]
• Egyptians find out their next president on Sunday: (Reuters) – Egyptians find out on Sunday whether their next president will be a former military officer or an Islamist from the army’s old adversary, the Muslim Brotherhood, after a long week’s wait since a vote to pick a successor to the deposed Hosni Mubarak. Impatient Brotherhood supporters have been out on Cairo’s Tahrir Square day and night since a call in midweek from their leaders to demand the current ruling generals cancel measures they say are designed to hem in the powers of the man they believe was elected last weekend, Islamist Mohamed Morsy. Hundreds were there again on Saturday, chanting “Victory for Morsy!” and “Morsy, Morsy, Allahu akbar!” (God is greatest), before officials finally set a time for announcing the result. The election committee will do so at news conference at 3 p.m. (9.00 a.m. EDT) on Sunday, committee official Hatem Bagato said on Saturday, after run-off voting was held on June 16-17. [reuters/Tamim Elyan and Alastair Macdonald/23 Jun 2012]
• Israel continues deadly attacks on Gaza: At least three Palestinians killed, including a six-year-old boy, and dozens wounded in latest raids. The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has threatened to end a three-day-old Egyptian-brokered truce following a series of deadly Israeli air raids. A statement on Saturday from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said “the air raids by the Zionist enemy are new crimes. We will not stay silent in the face of the crimes”. Palestinian officials said the latest attack brough the number of people killed so far in Israeli attacks on Saturday to three, and to 15 since this round of violence erupted on Monday. Palestinian medics said the dead included a little child and that at least 24 others had been wounded. [aljazeera/23 Jun 2012]
• Syria’s Assad ‘issues decree forming new govt’: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree on Saturday forming a new government, state television said, less than two months after controversial parliamentary elections boycotted by the opposition. “President Bashar al-Assad has issued Decree 210 forming a new government under Prime Minister Dr Riad Hijab,” the television said. Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem will remain in his post, as will the defense and interior ministers, Daoud Rajha and Mohammad al-Shaar. [rawstory/Agence France-Presse/23 Jun 2012]
Latin America:
• Paraguay’s Senate voted on Friday to remove President Fernando Lugo from office, plunging the country into a political crisis. Mr. Lugo said he accepted the results of the hastily arranged vote, despite describing the efforts to remove him as an “express coup d’état.”
• Iranian President Arrives in Venezuela: Iran’s President Ahmadinejad arrived in Caracas on the last leg of his tri-nation tour of Latin American, which also took him to Bolivia and Brazil. Upon arrival in Caracas on Saturday morning, the Iranian president was welcomed by senior Venezuelan officials. Ahmadinejad and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez are due to meet later today to discuss bilateral ties and international issues. [Fars News/22 Jun 2012]
Asia:
• U.S. eyes return to some Southeast Asia military bases: As the Obama administration revamps its Asian strategy in response to a rising China, the U.S. military is eyeing a return to some familiar bases from its last conflict in the region — the Vietnam War. In recent weeks, the Pentagon has intensified discussions with Thailand about creating a regional disaster-relief hub at an American-built airfield that housed B-52 bombers during the 1960s and 1970s. U.S. officials said they are also interested in more naval visits to Thai ports and joint surveillance flights to monitor trade routes and military movements. In next-door Vietnam, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta this month became the highest-ranking U.S. officialto visit the naval and air base at Cam Ranh Bay since the end of the war. Citing the “tremendous potential here,” Panetta enthused about the prospect of U.S. ships again becoming a common sight at the deep-water port. The Pentagon is also seeking greater accommodations in the Philippines, including at the Subic Bay naval base and the former Clark Air Base, once the largest U.S. military installations in Asia as well as key repair and supply hubs during the Vietnam War. The U.S. military either abandoned or was evicted from its Southeast Asian bases decades ago. Amid concerns about China’s growing military power and its claims to disputed territories, however, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines have cautiously put out the welcome mat for the Americans again. [washingtonpost/Craig Whitlock/22 june 2012]
Canada:
• ‘People hate the guy’: Harper seeks to boost sagging image in Quebec: OTTAWA — As the House of Commons rises for the summer, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is heading to Quebec, where members of his Conservative party’s rank and file have been urging him to restore his image to boost the government’s sagging popularity and counter a potential threat to national unity. Party supporters say Quebecers generally agree with the Conservative government’s economic policies, but the problem comes from personal attacks and criticism directed at Harper that rarely draw a response from the government. “People hate the guy,” said Peter White, a veteran Conservative organizer from Quebec’s Eastern Townships region. “They really hate him. They think he’s got horns and a tail and eats babies, and I’m sure Harper has no idea that this is the case.” [vancouversun/Mike De Souza/21 june 2012]
F.D.Brightly
President Obama Speaks at the NALEO Annual Conference [Shorter Question Everything]
US Politics:
• President Obama Speaks at the NALEO Annual Conference – President Obama delivers remarks at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ Annual Conference. June 22, 2012.
• Bachmann: Muslim Brotherhood Has ‘Penetrated’ The U.S. Government
• Bachmann: Overturn Health Care Law or It ‘Will Be the End of Our Constitution’: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) believes she has uncovered a plot to convince one Supreme Court justice to uphold President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law, which she warned would be “the end of our Constitution.” Earlier this week, Bachmann told conservative radio host Sandy Rios that a Time magazine profile of Justice Anthony Kennedy was an attempt to convince him to decide in favor of the Affordable Care Act. [crooksandliars/22 june 2012]
• Politico Suspends Black Reporter for Saying Romney’s More Comfortable Around White People: Politico on Thursday suspended their veteran White House correspondent after several conservative websites complained that he had observed that presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney appeared to be more comfortable when he’s around white people. During a Thursday discussion with MSNBC’s Martin Bashir about why Romney was trailing President Barack Obama among minorities, Politico’s Joe Williams, who is black, noted that the candidate was most relaxed and unscripted on Fox & Friends where the people were white like him. “It’s very interesting that he does so many appearances on Fox & Friends,” Williams pointed out. “And it’s unscripted. It’s the only time they let Mitt off the leash, so to speak.” He continued: “But it also points out a larger problem he’s got to solve if he wants to be successful come this fall: Romney is very, very comfortable, it seems, with people who are like him. That’s one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in some town hall settings, why he can’t relate to people other than that.” “But when he comes on Fox & Friends, they’re like him. They’re white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company.” [crooksandliars/David/22 june 2012]
• Mendacious Mitt: Romney’s Bid to Become Liar-in-Chief: Now, in general, those of us in the pundit class are really not supposed to accuse politicians of lying – they mislead, they embellish, they mischaracterize, etc. Indeed, there is natural tendency for nominally objective reporters, in particular, to stay away from loaded terms such as lying. Which is precisely why Romney’s repeated lies are so effective. In fact, lying is really the only appropriate word to use here, because, well, Romney lies a lot. But that’s a criticism you’re only likely to hear from partisans. [Guardian UK/Michael Cohen/22 June 2012]
• Chronicling Mitt’s Mendacity, Vol. XXIII
• Mitt Romney Slides into Panicked Free Fall over Outsourcing Claims: After the Washington Post blew the lid off of Mitt Romney job creator claims, the Romney campaign responded by not denying the fact that he is the outsourcer in chief. Contrary to the Romney job creator narrative, The Washington Post analysis found that, “Bain played several roles in helping these outsourcing companies, such as investing venture capital so they could grow and providing management and strategic business advice as they navigated this rapidly developing field.” The Romney campaign responded by disputing the article, but not the facts themselves. [politicususa/Jason Easley/22 june 2012
• Romney cover-up of his tax returns, offshore tax shelters and outsourcing profits must end
• Karl Rove Complains to Fox About Executive Privilege: In an appearance today on America's Newsroom, Fox News contributor Karl Rove expressed concern that President Obama's assertion of executive privilege over a set of Department of Justice internal documents was a novel expansion of the doctrine. The former senior advisor to President George W. Bush was ill-equipped to make this claim, as Bush invoked the privilege under similar circumstances while Rove was his top political advisor....Rove either forgot that the first time Bush invoked executive privilege it was in regards to Justice Department internal documents, or was being deliberately deceptive....During his appearance, Rove also ran with the latest right-wing conspiracy, suggesting that Obama's assertion of executive privilege indicates that he was involved in Fast and Furious while the operation was ongoing. Media Matters has previously noted that these claims are false. The president asserted executive privilege only over documents created after the failed operation was ended. [Media Matters/Timothy Johnson/22 June 2012]
• Race, the right, and Eric Holder: As with Obama, it’s foolish to pretend race is totally unrelated to the right’s four-year assault on the AG…There’s an element of basic opposition party posturing in all of this, but again, the right’s contempt for Holder predates Fast and Furious – and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that at least part of it is an extension of the racially-charged attacks and insinuations that have been part of the right’s assault on Obama. [salon/STEVE KORNACKI/22 june 2012]
• Bill Maher, Rachel Maddow, And Reason’s Nick Gillespie Have Epic Showdown Over Fast & Furious: On his show tonight, Bill Maher ripped into Republicans for making the Fast & Furious scandal out to be more, well, scandalous than it is. Rachel Maddow piled on by arguing that the GOP’s primary motivations for pursuing the scandal are conspiratorial in nature. Towards the end of the discussion, Reason editor Nick Gillespie called out both Maher and Maddow for always playing favorites with the Democrats over the Republicans. Yes, it got personal. [mediaite/Josh Feldman/22 june 2012]
• Maher To GOP: ‘You Act Exactly Like 14 Year-Old Boys’: Earlier this month, 14 year-old right-wing radio host Caiden Cowger was pulled from the airwaves after he said that Obama “is making kids gay.” On last night’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the comedian was mostly amused by Cowger, but had harsher words for Cowger’s adult conservative counterparts. “When 14 year old boys sound exactly like you do, and can produce radio shows and books and speeches that sound exactly like yours, maybe you should rethink the shit that’s coming out of your mouth,” Maher said. He also cited Jonathan Krohn, another conservative wunderkind appeared on the scene at age 13 when he wrote the book “Define Conservatism.” After rolling a Krohn speech, Maher chuckled, “Is there a charity or something can give to? Wedgies Without Borders?” But while Maher can forgive kids for their hardline conservative views, he indicated that it was much harder to let adults who he feels should know better off the hook. “No wonder 14 year-old boys can do your act,” he said, referring to the Republican Party and its media supporters. “You act exactly like 14 year-old boys. There’s no ideology here. It’s just about being a dick.” [huffingtonpost/Ross Luippold/23 Jun 2012]
• Romney’s Bain Profited Even As The Companies It Invested In Went Bankrupt, Analysis Reveals
• There’s a Reason Why the Victim Is Invisible: [The wingnuts have been pretty much the only ones talking about this–so if the victim is being neglected, it’s because wingnuts are neglecting him. Sure, that not-Joe the not-plumber campaign video opens with Brian Terry…and within 30 seconds it launches into the insane anti-Holder tirade. Graham’s column itself, ostensibly about Terry “becoming a footnote”, uses him only as setup for cheap shots at the Democrats on the committee. Despite having a victim’s family that’s more than happy to disseminate their talking points, the wingnuts haven’t put him front and center. Given that this is all about Holder (and Obama) for them, and that Terry is just a pretext, you’d still think they’d do much more to highlight the grieving (and pliant) family. Except that this is where agendas collide. In their version of the tale, Brian Terry died because the DOJ let weapons get into the wrong hands. Thus we have to stop the DOJ’s nefarious attempts…to keep weapons from falling into the wrong hands. That’s the problem. There has to be just enough focus on Brian Terry to whet the wingnuts’ appetite for rage, but not so much that it highlights the internal incoherence of the whole thing. To make him a full-blown martyr would be to admit a fundamental premise of gun control. [No More Mister Nice Blog/Tom Hilton/22 june 2012]
• Whatever happened to “guns don’t kill people, people kill people?” – This has to be the only crime in history in which these right wing gun fetishists give a damn about the fact that guns got in the hands of criminals and someone was killed.
• It’s not Mitt’s party – Top GOPers keep stepping on Romney’s message, because they’re not sure he’ll be leading them after November
• Obama tells Hispanic government officials that Romney promised to veto the Dream Act: “Take him at his word”
• Romney Campaign Co-Chair: Romney Would ‘Rescind’ Obama Immigration Directive: Ray Walser, a co-chair of Mitt Romney’s campaign for issues pertaining to Latin America, finally spilled the beans:…Mr Walser, told The Daily Telegraph: “My anticipation is that he would probably rescind this directive were he to be elected in November.” [thinkprogress/Judd Legum/22 june 2012]
Prison Industrial Complex:
• Prisons, Privatization, Patronage: First of all, about those halfway houses: In 2010, Chris Christie, the state’s governor — who has close personal ties to Community Education Centers, the largest operator of these facilities, and who once worked as a lobbyist for the firm — described the company’s operations as “representing the very best of the human spirit.” But The Times’s reports instead portray something closer to hell on earth — an understaffed, poorly run system, with a demoralized work force, from which the most dangerous individuals often escape to wreak havoc, while relatively mild offenders face terror and abuse at the hands of other inmates. [nytimes/PAUL KRUGMAN/21 Jun 2012]
• CIA Wanted ‘Torture’ Cage for Secret Prison: Official: A Polish official says that prosecutors have a construction order that proves the CIA wanted a cage for terror suspects built at a secret ‘black site’ prison inside Poland. Senator Jozef Pinior claims Krakow prosecutors have a document that shows a local contractor was asked to build a cage at Stare Kiekuty, a Polish army based used as a CIA prison for al Qaeda terror suspects in 2002 and 2003. “In a state with rights,” Pinior told the Polish paper Gazeta Wyborcza, “people in prison are not kept in cages.” He said a cage was “non-standard equipment” for a prison, but standard “if torture was used there.” Asked if he was sure the cage was for humans, he said, “What was it for? Exotic birds?” He said he has not seen the construction order, but that the Krakow prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the prison, has a copy of it. [abcnews/RANDY KREIDER/22 Jun 2012]
• Poland shaken by case alleging an illicit CIA prison there: WARSAW — For years, the idea seemed unthinkable, absurd. A secret U.S. detention center in a remote corner of Poland, where Al Qaeda suspects were brutally interrogated by the CIA? About as likely as “the Loch Ness monster,” is how one Pole described it recently. That monster is now rearing its head. Cloistered inside government offices, surrounded by classified documents, Polish prosecutors are building a case that could result in criminal charges against the nation’s former spy chief and even, some say, against former senior political leaders. Evidence that a foreign power was allowed to conduct illicit activities on Polish soil has deeply shaken many Poles’ faith in the United States and in Poland’s sense of itself as a successful democracy born from the ashes of the Cold War. [latimes/Henry Chu/21 Jun 2012]
CBRNE:
• Bird Flu Paper Is Published After Debate: The more controversial of two papers describing how the lethal H5N1 bird flu could be made easier to spread was published Thursday, six months after a scientific advisory board suggested that the papers’ most potentially dangerous data be censored. The paper, by scientists at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, identified five mutations apparently necessary to make the bird flu virus spread easily among ferrets, which catch the same flus that humans do. [nytimes/DONALD G. McNEIL Jr./21 Jun 2012]
Middle East:
• U.S. sending floating naval base through the Suez Canal: A U.S. warship designed as a floating base for naval special forces is scheduled to transit through the Suez Canal for the first time as early as Friday, Navy officials say. The USS Ponce, an amphibious transport ship, recently finished a complete overhaul that now has it configured to operate as a floating staging platform for the military. It is being launched into the oil shipping lanes at a time of heightened tensions across the region, U.S. Navy officials told CNN. The ship began approaching Suez on Thursday and is expected to enter the canal shortly on its way to the Persian Gulf. The ship will function as a staging base for special operations forces and small patrol boats, including mine countermeasure vessels, in gulf waters that Iran has previously threatened to shut down. [cnn/Barbara Starr/21 june 2012]
• Egyptians find out their next president on Sunday: (Reuters) – Egyptians find out on Sunday whether their next president will be a former military officer or an Islamist from the army’s old adversary, the Muslim Brotherhood, after a long week’s wait since a vote to pick a successor to the deposed Hosni Mubarak. Impatient Brotherhood supporters have been out on Cairo’s Tahrir Square day and night since a call in midweek from their leaders to demand the current ruling generals cancel measures they say are designed to hem in the powers of the man they believe was elected last weekend, Islamist Mohamed Morsy. Hundreds were there again on Saturday, chanting “Victory for Morsy!” and “Morsy, Morsy, Allahu akbar!” (God is greatest), before officials finally set a time for announcing the result. The election committee will do so at news conference at 3 p.m. (9.00 a.m. EDT) on Sunday, committee official Hatem Bagato said on Saturday, after run-off voting was held on June 16-17. [reuters/Tamim Elyan and Alastair Macdonald/23 Jun 2012]
• Israel continues deadly attacks on Gaza: At least three Palestinians killed, including a six-year-old boy, and dozens wounded in latest raids. The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has threatened to end a three-day-old Egyptian-brokered truce following a series of deadly Israeli air raids. A statement on Saturday from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said “the air raids by the Zionist enemy are new crimes. We will not stay silent in the face of the crimes”. Palestinian officials said the latest attack brough the number of people killed so far in Israeli attacks on Saturday to three, and to 15 since this round of violence erupted on Monday. Palestinian medics said the dead included a little child and that at least 24 others had been wounded. [aljazeera/23 Jun 2012]
• Syria’s Assad ‘issues decree forming new govt’: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree on Saturday forming a new government, state television said, less than two months after controversial parliamentary elections boycotted by the opposition. “President Bashar al-Assad has issued Decree 210 forming a new government under Prime Minister Dr Riad Hijab,” the television said. Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem will remain in his post, as will the defense and interior ministers, Daoud Rajha and Mohammad al-Shaar. [rawstory/Agence France-Presse/23 Jun 2012]
Latin America:
• Paraguay’s Senate voted on Friday to remove President Fernando Lugo from office, plunging the country into a political crisis. Mr. Lugo said he accepted the results of the hastily arranged vote, despite describing the efforts to remove him as an “express coup d’état.”
• Iranian President Arrives in Venezuela: Iran’s President Ahmadinejad arrived in Caracas on the last leg of his tri-nation tour of Latin American, which also took him to Bolivia and Brazil. Upon arrival in Caracas on Saturday morning, the Iranian president was welcomed by senior Venezuelan officials. Ahmadinejad and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez are due to meet later today to discuss bilateral ties and international issues. [Fars News/22 Jun 2012]
Asia:
• U.S. eyes return to some Southeast Asia military bases: As the Obama administration revamps its Asian strategy in response to a rising China, the U.S. military is eyeing a return to some familiar bases from its last conflict in the region — the Vietnam War. In recent weeks, the Pentagon has intensified discussions with Thailand about creating a regional disaster-relief hub at an American-built airfield that housed B-52 bombers during the 1960s and 1970s. U.S. officials said they are also interested in more naval visits to Thai ports and joint surveillance flights to monitor trade routes and military movements. In next-door Vietnam, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta this month became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the naval and air base at Cam Ranh Bay since the end of the war. Citing the “tremendous potential here,” Panetta enthused about the prospect of U.S. ships again becoming a common sight at the deep-water port. The Pentagon is also seeking greater accommodations in the Philippines, including at the Subic Bay naval base and the former Clark Air Base, once the largest U.S. military installations in Asia as well as key repair and supply hubs during the Vietnam War. The U.S. military either abandoned or was evicted from its Southeast Asian bases decades ago. Amid concerns about China’s growing military power and its claims to disputed territories, however, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines have cautiously put out the welcome mat for the Americans again. [washingtonpost/Craig Whitlock/22 june 2012]
Canada:
• ‘People hate the guy’: Harper seeks to boost sagging image in Quebec: OTTAWA — As the House of Commons rises for the summer, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is heading to Quebec, where members of his Conservative party’s rank and file have been urging him to restore his image to boost the government’s sagging popularity and counter a potential threat to national unity. Party supporters say Quebecers generally agree with the Conservative government’s economic policies, but the problem comes from personal attacks and criticism directed at Harper that rarely draw a response from the government. “People hate the guy,” said Peter White, a veteran Conservative organizer from Quebec’s Eastern Townships region. “They really hate him. They think he’s got horns and a tail and eats babies, and I’m sure Harper has no idea that this is the case.” [vancouversun/Mike De Souza/21 june 2012]