Thursday News & Notes
AUGUST 26, 2021 -- SOVIET UNION TESTS INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE, 1957
•Two bomb blasts outside Kabul’s airport have been reported Thursday, according to the AP. The second blast was reported by Russia’s Foreign Ministry. There are 13 reported dead and 15 injuries, including among U.S. troops, from the two explosions.
•With Congress on recess, President Biden concentrates on foreign issues today, beginning with an update on the Afghanistan withdrawal prior to two bilateral meetings with Israel’s new prime minister, Naftali Bennett, by noon Politico reports. This afternoon Biden will hold several Zoom calls with governors who have volunteered to help re-settle Afghani refugees.
•French President Emmanuel Macron headed to Ireland to meet with its president, Michael Higgins, today to convince the country’s leaders to sign on to a 15% minimum corporate tax rate as recommended by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Politico Europe reports. Ireland has been able to attract economic development via low corporate taxes for several decades.
•Ty Garbin, 26, the only of six men to plead guilty of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D, last year, was sentenced in federal court to six years in prison yesterday, NPR reports. (See Wednesday’s News & Notes.)
•A three-judge panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the 2017 death sentence of Dylan Roof, the first to be convicted of a federal hate crime, for the 2015 slaying of nine members of the Black congregation of Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., Politico reports.
Running Out of Time in Kabul – U.S. allies have halted evacuation operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, The Wall Street Journal reports. About 1,500 Americans remain to be evacuated, although “at least 250,000” Afghani allies who worked with Americans haven’t been evacuated, according to a report in The New York Times.
That’s “far too many for American forces to rescue by deadline next Tuesday,” the Times reports. The current pace is about 20,000 per day, with nearly 96,000 Americans rescued since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan August 14.
Americans and allies trying to withdraw in earnest by next Tuesday’s deadline, along with the Taliban, face a third threat: Isis-K, or Islamic State of Khorasan, established 2015 in Eastern Afghanistan. It is a sworn enemy of the Taliban, according to The Times of London. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has warned remaining Americans to avoid approaching the airport until they receive specific instructions from a U.S. representative to do so (Politico). “U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately.”
Note: While Democrats and Republicans alike continue to criticize the Biden administration over the likelihood that tens of thousands of Afghan allies and their families will be left to the Taliban (with some Republican members of Congress even calling for the president’s impeachment), some commentators at such outlets as Fox News argue that the U.S. should close its borders to Afghani evacuees and not re-settle them here.
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Brits to Afghans Trying to Flee: Run for the Border — British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace held a Zoom call with members of Parliament yesterday during which he said about remaining Afghan citizens who had helped British efforts in the country: “If they think they can make it to a third country, that may be better and safer. I recommend trying to get to the border,” according to Politico, citing reporting from The i. It also cites The Times’ (London) reporting Wallace saying “not everyone is going to get out.” There are reportedly some 1,500 eligible Afghans the Brits had yet to evacuate.
Note: This is clearly heart-rending regarding those people who are being advised to get to Iran or Pakistan. While Wallace’s remarks came from leaks, not public pronouncements, at least there is some semblance of speaking the truth of the situation on the ground – a situation which for the British is undoubtedly not any different from the situation facing Afghans who had helped out the U.S. efforts.
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1/6 Committee Requests Trump Administration Records – The January 6 select committee in the House of Representatives has requested a treasure trove of Trump administration records related to the day the former president’s supporters attacked the Capitol, from the National Archives and Records Administration and seven other agencies, according to Roll Call. Committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-MS, has given the Archives and Records agency until September 9 to turn over the documents, which include Trump’s January 6 schedule, White House visitor records, and information about White House efforts to impede the Electoral College vote. Some of those records had previously been requested by other House committees, Roll Call says.
The other agencies involved in the request are departments of Justice, Defense, Homeland Security, Interior, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center and the office of the Director of National Intelligence.
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Federal Judge Sanctions Pro-Trump Attorneys – Federal Judge Linda Parker has sanctioned pro-Trump attorneys who launched an effort last year to overturn Michigan’s Electoral College vote for Joseph Biden in last November’s election. Parker ruled that attorneys Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood failed to perform due diligence in investigating claims of voter fraud in Detroit before filing their lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s results, WDET-FM reported on NPR, and attempted to “undermine faith in the election process,” Parker said in her ruling.
Powell and Wood have been ordered to pay court fees and take continuing education law courses.
Note: Powell is soliciting funds from supporters to pay for court costs, WDET says, further perpetuating ex-President Trump’s “Big Lie” among supporters who might otherwise admit from Parker’s ruling that the election was fair and ballots were accurately counted.
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German Company Reaches Deal to Acquire Politico – Germany’s Axel Stringer has reached a deal to acquire Politico, according to a report by The Hill. Axel Stringer is a 50-50 partner with Politico, of Arlington, Virginia, in ownership of the Politico Europe joint venture and thus will acquire the remaining share in the deal. Terms of the deal have not been announced, although The Hill says several sources have put it upwards of $1 billion.
--Edited by Todd Lassa, Gary S. Vasilash and Nic Woods