Podcasts about Foreign Affairs Committee

Wednesday, June 18th, 2025Today, the 9th Circuit heard arguments over Trump's National Guard deployment to California; a federal judge has blocked Trump's passport policy targeting transgender people; Trump has left the G7 early to return to Washington as he tells everyone to evacuate Tehran; a counter protester arrested at Nashville's No Kings march has been hit with gun charges; Senator Mike Lee has taken down his tweets about the Minnesota assassin after being confronted by Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar; New York mayoral candidate Brad Lander has been arrested by ICE on trumped up charges of assaulting an agent; a federal judge has held the Florida Attorney General in civil contempt; for the second time the Government Accountability Office has found the Trump administration illegally impounded funds; the NAACP is refusing to invite the president to their annual convention for the first time in its 116 year history; Trump reverses course on arresting migrants at farms and hotel; Mike Lindell has to pay $2.3M for defaming the Dominion Voting CEO; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News. MSW Media, Blue Wave California Victory Fund | ActBlueAllison Gill Live With Adam Klasfeld | muellershewrote.comCheck out Dana's social media campaign highlighting LGBTQ+ heroes every day during Pride Month -  Dana Goldberg (@dgcomedy.bsky.social)Guest: Phil Williams@philinvestigates.com - BlueSky, @PhilNvestigates - Twitter , News Channel 5PhilInvestigates.com Guest: Sara JacobsU.S. Congresswoman Sara Jacobs | CA 51st District@RepSaraJacobs • Blue Sky, @repsarajacobs • Instagram, @RepSaraJacobs • Twitter StoriesUS judge blocks Trump passport policy targeting transgender people | ReutersBrad Lander, NYC Mayoral Candidate, Arrested by ICE Agents at Immigration Courthouse | The New York TimesTrump calls for Iran's 'unconditional surrender' as Israel-Iran air war rages on | ReutersTrump officials reverse guidance exempting farms, hotels from immigration raids | The Washington PostWatchdog Finds Trump Administration Broke Law by Withholding Library Funds | The New York TimesDonald Trump is the first president in 116 years to not be invited to the NAACP convention | PBS NewsJudge finds Florida attorney general in contempt of court for flouting immigration order | Miami HeraldGood Trouble: We have another snitch line! This one aims to “save the military from woke culture.” So please, from an anonymous proton mail account, reach out to tips@restorethemilitary.com and let them know how you feel about having a makeup studio for Pete Hegseth inside the Pentagon and how woke that is. Or you can tell them about the outstanding service of transgender troops in the military.Proton Mail: Get a free email account with privacy and encryptionFind Upcoming Demonstrations And Actions50501 MovementNoKings.orgIndivisible.orgFederal workers - feel free to email me at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen. From The Good NewsDana Goldberg (@dgcomedy.bsky.social)‘No Kings' Protest in State College Draws Hundreds | StateCollege.com'No Kings' protest in Oshkosh draws 1,500 as rallies also planned in Manitowoc, Sheboygan | the northwestern.com Reminder - you can see the pod pics if you become a Patron. The good news pics are at the bottom of the show notes of each Patreon episode! That's just one of the perks of subscribing! patreon.com/muellershewrote Federal workers - feel free to email me at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen.Share your Good News or Good TroubleMSW Good News and Good Trouble Check out other MSW Media podcastshttps://mswmedia.com/shows/Subscribe for free to MuellerSheWrote on Substackhttps://muellershewrote.substack.comFollow AG and Dana on Social MediaDr. Allison Gill Substack|Muellershewrote, BlueSky|@muellershewrote , Threads|@muellershewrote, TikTok|@muellershewrote, IG|muellershewrote, Twitter|@MuellerSheWrote,Dana GoldbergTwitter|@DGComedy, IG|dgcomedy, facebook|dgcomedy, IG|dgcomedy, danagoldberg.com, BlueSky|@dgcomedyHave some good news; a confession; or a correction to share?Good News & Confessions - The Daily Beanshttps://www.dailybeanspod.com/confessional/ Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:The Daily Beans on Apple PodcastsWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?Supercasthttps://dailybeans.supercast.com/Patreon https://patreon.com/thedailybeansOr subscribe on Apple Podcasts with our affiliate linkThe Daily Beans on Apple Podcasts

Former Congressman Peter Roskam, who leads BakerHostetler's Federal Policy team, provides listeners with a front-row seat to the most important policy and political debates in Congress. In this episode of “The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam,” Peter is joined at the 36th Annual Legislative Seminar in Washington, D.C., by his BakerHostetler colleague, former Congressman Heath Shuler. Also joining is Congressman Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California. Lieu is the vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus, the fourth-highest ranking House Democrat – also making him the highest-ranking Asian American to ever serve in House leadership. First elected in 2014, Lieu serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Judiciary Committee, and he is a leading policy voice on artificial intelligence, climate and civil liberties.Questions & Comments: proskam@bakerlaw.com

In this episode of Ukrainapodden, we meet Hanna Hopko, co-founder of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory and former head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament. We discuss the precarious situation in Ukraine, where Russia receives support from North Korea and China. Hopko shares her thoughts on Western hesitation, the need for faster and more strategic action, and the importance of Ukraine's victory for Europe's security. We also talk about Operation Spiderweb and its significance for morale in Ukraine, as well as the need for stronger measures against Russian propaganda and subversive activities. Join us for a deep dive into the realities of the war and Ukraine's fight for freedom.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More Palestinians have been killed near an aid distribution site in Gaza. Israel says it will investigate. The Labour Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee says it's time to sanction Israeli government ministers. Also tonight:The government is under pressure to spend even more on defence than planned - just a day after publishing its defence review. We ask one of the report's authors whether its figures are already out of date.As the Dutch government collapses, we examine how rows over immigration are reshaping European politics.And as the Serpentine Pavilion celebrates 25 years, the leading Bangladeshi architect behind this year's creation has been giving me a tour.

X: @americasrt1776 @ileaderssummit @NatashaSrdoc @JoelAnandUSA @supertalk Join America's Roundtable (https://americasrt.com/) radio co-hosts Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy with Honorable Tom Garrett, member of the House of Delegates in the Commonwealth of Virginia serving the citizens of the 56th District. He is a US Army veteran and served in locations including the perilous Balkan region during the 1990s right after the Dayton Peace Accords were signed. In 2016, Honorable Tom Garrett was elected to represent Virginia's 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. While in Congress, Tom served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Homeland Security Committee and the Education and Workforce Committee. Tom Garrett has been engaged in foreign policy, civil society and serves as a well-respected advisor on freedom, the rule of law, and religious liberty fronts - having spent time in difficult parts of the world including war-torn Syria and Ukraine. As an attorney, he practices law in the Commonwealth of Virginia. americasrt.com (https://americasrt.com/) https://summitleadersusa.com/ | https://jerusalemleaderssummit.com/ America's Roundtable on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/americas-roundtable/id1518878472 X: @americasrt1776 @ileaderssummit @NatashaSrdoc @JoelAnandUSA @supertalk America's Roundtable is co-hosted by Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy, co-founders of International Leaders Summit and the Jerusalem Leaders Summit. America's Roundtable (https://americasrt.com/) radio program - a strategic initiative of International Leaders Summit, focuses on America's economy, healthcare reform, rule of law, security and trade, and its strategic partnership with rule of law nations around the world. The radio program features high-ranking US administration officials, cabinet members, members of Congress, state government officials, distinguished diplomats, business and media leaders and influential thinkers from around the world. Tune into America's Roundtable Radio program from Washington, DC via live streaming on Saturday mornings via 68 radio stations at 7:30 A.M. (ET) on Lanser Broadcasting Corporation covering the Michigan and the Midwest market, and at 7:30 A.M. (CT) on SuperTalk Mississippi — SuperTalk.FM reaching listeners in every county within the State of Mississippi, and neighboring states in the South including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee. Tune into WTON in Central Virginia on Sunday mornings at 6:00 A.M. (ET). Listen to America's Roundtable on digital platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Google and other key online platforms. Listen live, Saturdays at 7:30 A.M. (CT) on SuperTalk | https://www.supertalk.fm

Spain's Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has said there's been “substantial progress” in negotiations on Gibraltar's post-Brexit relationship with the EU.Speaking before the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, he highlighted advances on the movement of people and goods, environmental cooperation, and taxation. Mr Albares stressed that Spain's sovereignty claim over Gibraltar remains unaffected and reaffirmed the goal of creating a shared zone of prosperity, particularly for the neighbouring Campo de Gibraltar.Fr Hayden Williams is a well-known preacher, who travels the world preaching the Gospel, will be in Gibraltar this weekend. He wanted to become a doctor but during a Charismatic Conference on the 10th April 1994 on Divine Mercy Sunday he felt Jesus calling out to him to become a priest and he did. Margaret Lombard and Mark Porral explained how this visit from Father Hayden came together.Spring is a feast of blossom! The Gibraltar Horticultural Society's annual Spring Flower Show begins today. Annabelle Codali forms part of the judging panel, and Christine Ferrary is a contestant. They both joined us in the studio.It's a family affair this weekend. A fundraiser for Cancer Research UK and what better way to raise money than by selling cakes! Lauren Reyes and Brenda Ocaña are part of the fundraising team.And there's loads happening on Thursday as well: Victory in Europe Day is being marked down at Casemates, and The Queen's are celebrating with a day full of live music nostalgia and some surprises! Odette Benatar told us more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can Trump bring peace to the Middle East? Should the UK recognise Palestine as a state? Should the West work more closely with China? Is the FCDO doing enough to help citizens detained abroad?Known for being straight-talking and forthright, Emily Thornberry is chair of the influential Foreign Affairs Committee and the long-serving Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury. She joins Venetia Rainey for a special bonus episode of Battle Lines to answer all those questions and more. She discusses why she thinks frozen Russian assets need to be given to Ukraine, who should be sanctioned in the current "outrageous" Israeli government, and why the UK is right to give the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius. Contact us with feedback or ideasbattlelines@telegraph.co.uk @venetiarainey@RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What exactly is the government afraid of? Why hasn't the investigation into the suspicious flight commenced, as directed by President John Mahama? And why is Felix Kwakye Ofosu all over the place, dismissing the matter as if it's nothing serious? - Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor (MP for Damongo and Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee)

In the latest episode of Now Europe, our guest is David McAllister, Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee. We discuss the major successes and challenges of EU foreign and security policy in 2024. Is Europe ready for further enlargement? What are the prospects for Ukraine and the Western Balkans? What are the implications of cooling transatlantic relations, and is a common defense policy a realistic scenario? Tune in to find out!

Tony talks about Nina Jankowicz at the Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on censorship industrial complex. Tony also talks about Rachel Zegler and the new live action Snow White movie has bombed in its first two weeks after Zegler’s woke comments and take on the film.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hour 1 Segment 1 Tony starts the show talking about how Pam Bondi directing federal prosecutors to seek a death penalty for Luigi Mangione. Tony later talks about deportation in due process amid the MS-13 gang. Hour 1 Segment 2 Tony talks about the NYPD investigating car shoppers for aggressively test-driving Tesla’s on city streets. Hour 1 Segment 3 Tony talks about Nina Jankowicz at the Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on censorship industrial complex. Tony also talks about Rachel Zegler and the new live action Snow White movie has bombed in its first two weeks after Zegler’s woke comments and take on the film. Hour 1 Segment 4 Tony wraps up the first hour of the show by talking about President Donald Trump signing an executive order targeting ticket scalping and reselling with Kid Rock. Hour 2 Segment 1 Tony starts the second hour of the show talking about Elie Mystal on fascism amid deportations. Tony also talks about Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes asking a Jewish hostage, who was tortured and starved by Hamas, if Hamas really meant to starve him or if they just didn’t have enough food. Hour 2 Segment 2 Tony talks about Republicans looking to abolish the TSA in favor of private security at airports. Hour 2 Segment 3 Tony talks about a liberal psychopath getting arrested in Pennsylvania for throwing nails and screws on driveways and under the cars with Trump signs or stickers. Tony also talks about Tesla stock being down amid the left’s protests of it. Hour 2 Segment 4 Tony wraps up the second hour of the show by talking about how it has been 1028 days since a climate activist interrupted the French Open as she’s wearing a t-shirt saying, “we have 1028 days left.” Hour 3 Segment 1 Tony starts the final hour of the show joined with Dr. Matt Will, economist at the University of Indianapolis, to talk about tariffs as Liberation Day gets put into effect tomorrow. Hour 3 Segment 2 Tony talks about Chuck Todd saying he’d be shocked if Kamala Harris ran for California governor in 2026. Hour 3 Segment 3 Tony talks about how he isn’t a fan of April Fool’s Day. Tony later talks about Jasmine Crockett getting a prank call claiming to be the Steve Harvey show. Hour 3 Segment 4 Tony wraps up another edition of the show talking about Peter Navarro on President Trump’s tariffs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hour 1 Segment 1 Tony starts the show talking about how Pam Bondi directing federal prosecutors to seek a death penalty for Luigi Mangione. Tony later talks about deportation in due process amid the MS-13 gang. Hour 1 Segment 2 Tony talks about the NYPD investigating car shoppers for aggressively test-driving Tesla’s on city streets. Hour 1 Segment 3 Tony talks about Nina Jankowicz at the Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on censorship industrial complex. Tony also talks about Rachel Zegler and the new live action Snow White movie has bombed in its first two weeks after Zegler’s woke comments and take on the film. Hour 1 Segment 4 Tony wraps up the first hour of the show by talking about President Donald Trump signing an executive order targeting ticket scalping and reselling with Kid Rock. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Lega is a senior advisor for the European Jewish Association EJA, a consultant for UN watch, a human rights advocate, a world-record-setting Paralympic swimmer holding 14 world records, and an entrepreneur. David was a member of the European Parliament 2019-2024. Representing Sweden, David was a leading voice on key global issues. He served on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Subcommittee on Human Rights, where he worked to protect human rights and defend democratic values.► SUPPORT HENRIK BECKHEIM PODCASTIf you wish to support the work of this podcast, please become a subscriber. Also feel free to donate an amount of your choosing:➡ ⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠➡ ⁠Vipps⁠ (Norway only) donér til: Vippsnummer: #823278► Review/rating:Please feel free to leave a review on ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠. ► Links:⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠ | Official website | ⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠Podimo⁠ | ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠

This week for our Conflicted Community members, we have an interview with the Egyptian political activist Dalia Ziada, whose incredible personal story crosses so many of the major events in the modern middle east, from the Arab Spring, to October 7th. Dalia is an award-winning Egyptian writer and political analyst whose work focuses on governance, geopolitics, and defense policy. In Egypt, she co-founded the Liberal Democracy Institute in 2015, she is the Executive Director of the Center for Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean Studies and also serves as a board member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Egypt's National Council for Women. She's a frequent media commentator, advocating for women's rights and against female genital mutilation in the Muslim World, and she is the author of multiple books, including “The Curious Case of the Three-Legged Wolf - Egypt: Military, Islamism, and Liberal Democracy”, on the Arab Spring and its fallout in Egypt. In a wide ranging conversation, Thomas and Dalia discuss her story of liberal activism in Egypt, teaching herself out of antisemitism, the Arab Spring, October 7th, and more… To listen to the full episode, you'll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don't forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more. All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/  Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you'd like to find out how we can help get your organisation's message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to hello@messageheard.com! Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join America's Roundtable (https://americasrt.com/) radio co-hosts Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy with the Honorable Tom Garrett, representing Virginia's 56th District in the House of Delegates, Commonwealth of Virginia, former U.S. member of Congres, state senator and assistant attorney general for Virginia. While in Congress, Tom served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Homeland Security Committee, Education and Workforce Committee and was a member of the Freedom Caucus. The conversation is focused on the following topics: ✅ President Donald J. Trump's notable moves in 26 days. The discussion tracks President Trump's biggest moves to reshape the federal government and address key reform issues including the promise to reduce taxation, and the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency's work to address waste, fraud and abuse with a goal to reduce federal spending. The spotlight is placed on the waste, fraud and abuse within USAID, an agency with a budget of $40 billion. ✅ An update on Virginia as conservative legislators work to prevent more than $450 million in ‘deficiency fees' under the Virginia Clean Economy Act from being passed on to hard-working Virginia families. The fees are the result of a Virginia Clean Economy Act provision which penalizes utility companies if they don't sell enough power from solar and wind installations, as opposed to traditional power plants and carbon-free nuclear power. ✅ The future of the Middle East with President Trump's bold Gaza proposal being hailed as an out-of-the-box thinking and bringing to the region a fundamental paradigm shift to the decades' old status quo which has emboldened terrorist groups and undermined Israel's security and sovereignty. What is the message that President Trump is sending to Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and the warning to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism? The Trump Administration strengthens America's partnership with Israel. ✅ President Trump's conversation with Russia's President Vladimir Putin with a goal to end the war on the European continent. Tom Garrett is one of the few American leaders who visited Ukraine and was just 12 miles from the Ukraine-Russia border meeting with Ukrainian military leaders on the frontline. ✅ Congressman Garrett is also bringing to the forefront the plight of the 70 million people and hundreds of millions more around the world facing persecution through the new documentary series “Exile.” The project is a collaborative endeavor with Matt Whitworth—the documentary filmmaker known for HBO's "The Swamp." *Exile | Official Trailer * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhPV5hsp22A Tom Garrett acquired his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Richmond, and began his service to our country with six years in the Army, becoming an artillery officer in the United States Army. Achieving the rank of Captain, Tom led soldiers overseas—most notably while deployed in Bosnia. Upon returning to the States, Tom earned his J.D. from the University of Richmond and quickly became an Assistant Attorney General for Virginia. In 2016, Tom was elected to represent Virginia's 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Tom won that election with the most votes ever in the 5th Congressional District. Tom served the 5th District for two years before deciding not to seek reelection. americasrt.com (https://americasrt.com/) https://summitleadersusa.com/ | https://jerusalemleaderssummit.com/ America's Roundtable on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/americas-roundtable/id1518878472 X: @ileaderssummit @NatashaSrdoc @JoelAnandUSA @supertalk America's Roundtable is co-hosted by Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy, co-founders of International Leaders Summit and the Jerusalem Leaders Summit. America's Roundtable (https://americasrt.com/) radio program - a strategic initiative of International Leaders Summit, focuses on America's economy, healthcare reform, rule of law, security and trade, and its strategic partnership with rule of law nations around the world. The radio program features high-ranking US administration officials, cabinet members, members of Congress, state government officials, distinguished diplomats, business and media leaders and influential thinkers from around the world. Tune into America's Roundtable Radio program from Washington, DC via live streaming on Saturday mornings via 65 radio stations at 7:30 A.M. (ET) on Lanser Broadcasting Corporation covering the Michigan and the Midwest market, and at 7:30 A.M. (CT) on SuperTalk Mississippi — SuperTalk.FM reaching listeners in every county within the State of Mississippi, and neighboring states in the South including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee. Listen to America's Roundtable on digital platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Google and other key online platforms. Listen live, Saturdays at 7:30 A.M. (CT) on SuperTalk | https://www.supertalk.fm

Many who follow Russia's invasion of Ukraine have come to the same conclusion: Russia can defeat Ukraine with its “incredible” strength. However, Russia is much weaker than even many in the American media let on. The Russian military is bleeding troops for minor gains on the battlefield, running out of men to fight, and has so little equipment it's turning to movie studios to recoup donated Soviet military equipment from the 1950s. How long can Putin continue his illegal war on Ukraine? How can Trump leverage Russia's weakness to bring Putin to the negotiating table? George Barros is the Russia Team & Geospatial Intelligence Team Lead on the Russia and Ukraine portfolio at the Institute for the Study of War. George's work focuses on open-source research and geospatial analysis of Russia's war in Ukraine, Russian information operations, and Ukrainian politics. Prior to joining ISW, he worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as an advisor on Ukraine and Russia for a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.Read the transcript here. Find ISW's Ukraine Conflict Updates here.

Alex Andreou, Naomi Smith with special guest Dame Emily Thornberry try to decipher the incoherent tweets of Musk, the incoherent strategy of Badenoch, and the incoherent ramblings of Trump. Plus 'Wokey Dokey' and 'Grin and Share It'. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** "The idea that they can just play political games on the bodies of these girls, whose lives would have been turned upside down by what happened, to have it all raked over again and again for petty point scoring. The stakes for the victims are very high.” “The next few years is going to be all about realignment on the right. Who's going to eat whom? In our current system there's only really space for two big political parties.” “I don't really know what's happened to the leadership of the Tory Party. They have so profoundly lost their way.” "The one thing we should take very seriously about Donald Trump is that he is completely unpredictable. It's like the whole table has been thrown over and we're picking up the pieces trying to see how to put it back together." "The way forward is essentially to work out what are his interests and how to align what's in our interest with it. On Ukraine, Trump doesn't want to be seen as a loser. He wants to win the Nobel Peace prize. We can be there saying, here is a way to do that, just sign your name and have your photo taken." GRIN AND SHARE IT You can read the story of Bear, the hero dog, on the BBC website. CALLS TO ACTION LINKS: Find out how to write to your MP here. Details of how to contribute to the Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry on Soft Power. Find us on Facebook and Twitter as @quietriotpod and on Bluesky. Click here for your Quiet Riot Bluesky Starter Pack. Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com. ***SPONSOR US AT KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD*** With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's been an angry reaction in Israel after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. We speak to a former prime minister of Israel - and ask the chair of Westminster's Foreign Affairs Committee whether Mr Netanyahu could be arrested if he comes to the UK.Also on the programme:Vladimir Putin has tonight issued a warning to Britain after it allowed Ukraine to use long range missiles to target Russia. We're live in Moscow with the latest. The former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has been hailed as a "working-class hero" after his death at the age of 86. We ask whether it's still a such big deal to be working class in British politics.And we dip into newly unearthed recordings by the jazz legend Miles Davis, from his time in 1960s Paris.

In this episode, Lisa and Congressman Cory Mills discuss pressing political issues, focusing on the upcoming November 5th election, the Biden administration's policies, and the Department of Justice's lawsuit against Virginia. Mills, a decorated army combat veteran, shares his insights on government responses to crises, including hurricanes and the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. They also address the assassination attempt against Donald Trump and predict a tight election race, with Mills optimistic about Trump's chances. The Truth with Lisa Boothe is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Monday & Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yascha Mounk and Norbert Röttgen discuss the war in Ukraine and Germany's political, economic, and security crisis. Norbert Röttgen is a senior leader of the Christian Democratic Union. A former cabinet minister, he was chair of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee from 2014 to 2021. Röttgen is the author ofDemocracy and War: Politics and Identity in a Time of Global Threats. In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Norbert Röttgen discuss the insufficiency of Germany's support of Ukraine (and theZeitenwende that wasn't); the nascent pro-Russian movement gaining strength on the margins of German politics; and whether the path to an independent and secure Europe runs through Germany. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community  Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 4, 2024 - Join us for a special conference on U.S.-Korea relations produced in partnership with the East Asia Foundation (EAF) and the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP). This forum provides a venue for expert discussion on the security, diplomatic and economic dimensions of the U.S.-Republic of Korea relationship, and includes a bipartisan coalition from Korea's National Assembly.  The program commences with welcoming remarks from former South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, Korea Society president and CEO Tom Byrne, and NCAFP president and CEO Ambassador (Ret.) Susan M. Elliott.  The security and diplomacy panel features critical insights from the National Assembly Member Kim Young-bae, Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the PPP Ambassador Kim Gunn, Vice Chair of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Dean of Sogang University's Graduate School of International Studies Kim Jae-chun, and Director of the Korea Program at The Stimson Center Jenny Town. This session is moderated by Director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at NCAFP Susan Thornton, who retired from the State Department after a 28-year diplomatic career focused primarily on East and Central Asia.  The economics and trade panel features National Assembly Member Choi Hyung-du, Vice Chair of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee, former ROK Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, and Albright Stonebridge Group Senior Counselor in the East Asia & Pacific practice Tami Overby. This session will be led by Korea Society President and CEO Tom Byrne. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1866-next-steps-for-us-korea-relations-key-diplomatic-and-economic-developments

Today's 20-min top headline news brief includes: [1:12] - Rob Schmitt and Greta Van Susteren recap the VP Debate. [Newsmax Post Debate Show] [8:23] - Tim Walz struggles to answer question about when he was in Tiananmen Square. [11:52] - Political analyst Mark Halperin: “Tim Walz didn't come ready for that debate.” [Wake Up America] [13:29] - Florida Congressman Jared Moskowitz, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, discusses Iran's attack on Israel. [The Record with Great Van Susteren] Listen to Newsmax LIVE and see our entire podcast lineup at http://Newsmax.com/Listen Make the switch to NEWSMAX today! Get your 15 day free trial of NEWSMAX+ at http://NewsmaxPlus.com Looking for NEWSMAX caps, tees, mugs & more? Check out the Newsmax merchandise shop at : http://nws.mx/shop Follow NEWSMAX on Social Media:  • Facebook: http://nws.mx/FB  • Twitter/X: http://nws.mx/twitter • Instagram: http://nws.mx/IG • YouTube: https://youtube.com/NewsmaxTV • Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsmaxTV • TRUTH Social: https://truthsocial.com/@NEWSMAX  • GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/newsmax • Threads: http://threads.net/@NEWSMAX  • Telegram: http://t.me/newsmax  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David McAllister, Chair of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, talks to Paul Adamson about the rise of the AfD, Germany's influence in the EU, new Commissioner parliamentary hearings and the future of EU-UK relations.

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode. Following Tuesday morning's landmark High Court ruling which found that there is no legal basis for excluding Haredi men from the military draft, yesterday, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein delayed a vote on a Defense Ministry-backed “draft Security Service Law” due to what he said was a failure to reach a “broad consensus” on the matter. What should we make of this breaking of Likud party ranks? Yesterday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and US President Joe Biden's administration announced that progress had been made toward resolving what Jerusalem considers to be an insufficient flow of arms from the United States to Israel. Horovitz breaks down the situation as we know it and describes how this may affect a potential war with Hezbollah. Tonight, US President Joe Biden and former US president Donald Trump will meet in Atlanta for a debate moderated by CNN's Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. What could be on the table? Horovitz weighs in on the upcoming July 4 British elections in which Labour leader Keir Starmer is projected to win a vast parliamentary majority. For more updates, please check out The Times of Israel's ongoing live blog. Discussed articles include: Edelstein delays IDF reservists law amidst growing coalition tensions over draft PM meets Edelstein over remarks on Haredi draft bill seen as imperiling coalition Gallant, US declare progress on expediting arms delivery, but bomb shipment still frozen Evading national service in the Jewish state is the opposite of authentic Judaism From antisemitism to Israel: The Jewish topics to watch for in the Biden-Trump debate 10 contests for Israel supporters to watch in the UK's July 4 general election THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.  IMAGE: Likud MK Yuli Edelstein leads a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on June 26, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  Boyd Matheson, Host of Inside Sources, joins the show to break down Sen. Mitt Romney's comments during the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing regarding the plan with China. 

Following President Biden's decision to withhold offensive weapons from Israel if they invade Rafah, Martha Raddatz speaks with his Senate ally Chris Coons about the state of the war in Gaza. Then, as tensions grow between the U.S. and Israel over a looming Rafah invasion, Martha interviews Foreign Affairs Committee chair Representative Michael McCaul about the state of the Israel-Hamas war.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FDD Senior Vice President Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis on the war in the Middle East, followed by a conversation with Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL). A combat-decorated army veteran, he serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism Subcommittee.Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

The fate of Speaker Johnson and aid to allies hangs in the balance in Congress with some wanting to oust the Speaker and many not supporting more aid to Israel and Ukraine. Both Speaker Johnson and the military aid to allies has support in Congress but remain an ongoing battle. Meanwhile, the House sent articles of impeachment for DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate where they will take up a trial. FOX's John Saucier speaks with Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Financial Services Committee, who tells us why she supports Speaker Johnson, does not appreciate Sec. Mayorkas and she tells us about her bill to sanction Iran. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fate of Speaker Johnson and aid to allies hangs in the balance in Congress with some wanting to oust the Speaker and many not supporting more aid to Israel and Ukraine. Both Speaker Johnson and the military aid to allies has support in Congress but remain an ongoing battle. Meanwhile, the House sent articles of impeachment for DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate where they will take up a trial. FOX's John Saucier speaks with Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Financial Services Committee, who tells us why she supports Speaker Johnson, does not appreciate Sec. Mayorkas and she tells us about her bill to sanction Iran. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fate of Speaker Johnson and aid to allies hangs in the balance in Congress with some wanting to oust the Speaker and many not supporting more aid to Israel and Ukraine. Both Speaker Johnson and the military aid to allies has support in Congress but remain an ongoing battle. Meanwhile, the House sent articles of impeachment for DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate where they will take up a trial. FOX's John Saucier speaks with Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Financial Services Committee, who tells us why she supports Speaker Johnson, does not appreciate Sec. Mayorkas and she tells us about her bill to sanction Iran. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tulsi Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, Iraq War veteran, former Congresswoman, and 2020 presidential candidate. Tulsi was elected the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. During her time in office, she served on the Homeland Security Committee, the Armed Services Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Financial Services Committee. From 2013-2016, Tulsi served as Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee. In 2019, she launched her 2020 presidential campaign, becoming the first female combat veteran to run for president.  In October of 2022, Tulsi announced her departure from the Democrat Party.  In this episode, Jack and Tulsi discuss the significance of the Constitution, emphasizing its relevance for elected officials, as well as students from primary school to college. Tulsi enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003. In 2004, she deployed for a year-long tour to Iraq where she served as a medical specialist. After being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, she was stationed in Kuwait from 2008 to 2009, serving as a Military Police Officer.  In July 2021, she was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.  Tulsi is the host of The Tulsi Gabbard Show podcast and author of For Love of Country - Leave the Democrat Party Behind. You can find out more about Tulsi at www.tulsigabbard.com. NOTE: This segment has been extracted from the full-length episode, which originally aired on June 2, 2021.  SPONSORS: Red Sky Mourning – The 7th novel in the James Reece Terminal List series. Pre-order today! http://jackcarr.co/rsm Bravo Company Manufacturing: Visit us on the web at http://jackcarr.co/bcm and on Instagram @BravoCompanyUSA.com SIG: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the legendary SIG SAUER P226. Learn more here - https://jackcarr.co/SIG40thP226

Congressman Scott Perry represents Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District. Perry serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Committee on Oversight. Perry is also a member of the House Freedom Caucus. Prior to becoming a member of Congress, Perry served in the United States Army as a Brigadier General and in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.Follow Rep. Scott Perry on X: @RepScottPerrySUPPORT OUR WORK https://www.judicialwatch.org/donate/thank-youtube/ VISIT OUR WEBSITE http://www.judicialwatch.org

Today opens with a little more talk and analysis of the Big Fani Willis Evidentiary Hearing, including some thoughts from Harvard professor and long-time Constitutional scholar and attorney, Alan Dershowitz. He already believes Nathan Wade committed perjury on the stand and says it's reasonable to also conclude Fani Willis did as well. What he added, interestingly, is when their team decided to go on the “all cash” defense, he said it immediately shifts the burden on them to prove that. Needless to say, they have yet to be able to come up with a shred of proof that Fani Willis paid Nathan Wade back for all of their trips and luxuries. To close up the first topic, I turn to my good buddy, comedian Jim Gossett who penned a version of Making Whoopee just for this occasion. Kevin O'Leary discussed the NYC fraud ruling against Donald Trump on figuratively nuked the state of New York. He made a beautiful case for how Governor Kathy Hochul has just tanked investment in New York and New York City for a long time to come. He literally called them a Mega Loser State. Looking back over the weekend shows, I play a compilation of quotes from Biden allies who all got the email with the suggested talking points about his memory. A montage of dozens of Democrats and talking heads reveals they were to use “sharp”, “on top of it”, “at the top of his game”, “focused”, “smart”, “on the ball”, etc. Over the weekend, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) on the Foreign Affairs Committee revealed that a number of companies on the stock exchange are actually fronts for Chinese Communist Party controlled entities. Biden and the Democrats don't seem concerned and when asked, Waltz went so far as to say that's what happens when Biden and members of his family are beholden to the Chinese for their business dealings. Also breaking over the weekend, in a story from Politico of all places, it seems Jim Biden used Joe's name to help push a medical service provider called Americore. At one point, three other Biden family members were given jobs there. Now it seems Americore is being accused of committing over $100 million in fraud against Medicare. Why is it the Biden Crime Family always seems to be doing business with companies that are being investigated, are corrupt or go bankrupt? George Papadopoulos was on with Maria Bartiromo to talk about the confirmation about the Five Eyes, the 2016 Russia Collusion hoax and the issues we now face with the intelligence agencies, especially in light of a request by the Administration for FISA renewal. Before we get to FISA, a reminder that our current National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, was part of the Hillary Clinton campaign and new it was a hoax but went along with it anyway. And now he wants FISA renewed without a new request from lawmakers that the government should have to get a warrant to spy on Americans. Finally, Liz Cheney wants us to believe that Trump is still a Russian stooge. In fact, she has invented a new terms to use to scare people leading up to the 2024 election. She said Trump represents the “Putin Wing of the Republican Party.” It's such an audacious lie they keep telling. But, isn't that what Joseph Goebbels taught us about propaganda? Take a moment to rate and review the show and then share the episode on social media. You can find me on Facebook, X, Instagram, GETTR and TRUTH Social by searching for The Alan Sanders Show. You can also support the show by visiting my Patreon page!

Join America's Roundtable (https://americasrt.com/) radio co-hosts Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy with Tom Garrett. In 2016, Tom was elected to represent Virginia's 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Tom won that election with the most votes ever in the 5th Congressional District. While in Congress, Tom served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Homeland Security Committee and the Education and Workforce Committee. He currently serves as a member of the House of Delegates in the Commonwealth of Virginia serving the citizens of the 56th District. Tom Garrett has dedicated his life to fighting for the oppressed and forgotten not only here in America, but around the world. Tom has been working on a global docu-series project, Exile, which tells the untold stories of those who are persecuted based on their faith or ethnicity. Key Topics of our discussion: ⏤ America's economy, the urgency to cut federal government spending and to reduce the national debt. ⏤ The Biden Administration's pressures on Israel for a ceasefire and the recent announcement of a new White House Executive Order targeting Israeli citizens in the West Bank also known as Judea and Samaria. ⏤ Addressing the Biden administration's foreign policy when reviewing Russian's invasion of Ukraine and the chaotic withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan. ⏤ Iran-backed Hamas waging war against Israel and the deadly October 7 terrorist attack killing 1,200 people, wounding nearly 5,000 civilians and the more than 100 hostages who remain in captive in Gaza. ⏤ US bases in the Middle East under attack | Three American soldiers killed in Jordan | US Navy vessels targeted by Iran-backed Houthi terror group. ⏤ U.S. Senate hearing on social media platforms | WSJ: Chief executives from tech companies, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, faced lawmakers Wednesday, in a hearing highlighting risks that social-media platforms pose to children. ⏤ State competition: economy, taxes and healthcare. [americasrt.com](https://americasrt.com/) https://ileaderssummit.org/ | https://jerusalemleaderssummit.com/ America's Roundtable on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/americas-roundtable/id1518878472 Twitter: @ileaderssummit @AmericasRT @NatashaSrdoc @JoelAnandUSA @supertalk America's Roundtable is co-hosted by Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy, co-founders of International Leaders Summit and the Jerusalem Leaders Summit. America's Roundtable (https://americasrt.com/) radio program - a strategic initiative of International Leaders Summit, focuses on America's economy, healthcare reform, rule of law, security and trade, and its strategic partnership with rule of law nations around the world. The radio program features high-ranking US administration officials, cabinet members, members of Congress, state government officials, distinguished diplomats, business and media leaders and influential thinkers from around the world. Tune into America's Roundtable Radio program from Washington, DC via live streaming on Saturday mornings via 65 radio stations at 7:30 A.M. (ET) on Lanser Broadcasting Corporation covering the Michigan and the Midwest market, and at 7:30 A.M. (CT) on SuperTalk Mississippi — SuperTalk.FM reaching listeners in every county within the State of Mississippi, and neighboring states in the South including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee. Listen to America's Roundtable on digital platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Google and other key online platforms. Listen live, Saturdays at 7:30 A.M. (CT) on SuperTalk | https://www.supertalk.fm

Reinhard Bütikofer is a familiar name in Europe and Taiwan relations. He has been an MEP since 2009, where he is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, chairperson of the Delegation for Relations with China, and an alternate member of the Committee on International Trade. Reinhard also co-chairs IPAC, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. (This conversation was recorded prior to the 2024 January 13 election in Taiwan.)We discuss the history of Europe-Taiwan relations, how 2016 and 2019 paved the way for an increased level of engagement with Taiwan, and how Bütikofer stays hopeful (“pessimism of the intellect, and optimism of the will.”)Plus, a quote of hope from Hong Kong pro-democracy politician, Martin Lee.Bütikofer is the organizer of the annual Berlin Taiwan Conference. See archive video here: 2022 - “Opportunities and Challenges in Times of Geopolitical Change” (Dec 5, 6)Day 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeDzUT7EpB0Day 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTrFoRWu8ow2023 - “Taiwan before the Presidential Elections” (Nov 13,14)Day 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG4s_6Q_zocDay 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTKynM7SURsSupport us by donating on Patreon http://patreon.com/taiwan Tag and follow us on social media:Ghost Island Media | Instagram | Facebook | TwitterEPISODE CREDITHost / Emily Y. Wu @emilyywuEditing / Gerald WilliamsResearcher / Min Chao @wordsfromtaiwanA Ghost Island Media production / @ghostislandmewww.ghostisland.mediaSupport the show: https://patreon.com/TaiwanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let the bill barrage begin!  The House Foreign Affairs Committee was first out of the gate approving the Countering Economic Coercion Act. Listen for details on today's Two Minutes in Trade. 

“I cannot recall a moment where we have seen this kind of openly expressed antisemitism.” Dr. Remko Leemhuis, AJC Berlin Director, sums up the state of antisemitism in Germany post-October 7 with this chilling statement. Hear from Leemhuis, along with Asia Pacific Institute (API) Assistant Director Hana Rudolph, and AJC Abu Dhabi Director Marc Sievers, on how the October 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis has impacted Jews in Germany, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the United Arab Emirates. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  Episode Lineup:  (0:40) Hana Rudolph (7:18) Remko Leemhuis (15:20) Marc Sievers Show Notes: Take action to bring all hostages home now. Listen – People of the Pod on the Israel-Hamas War: Global Antisemitism Report Part 1: What It's Like to Be Jewish in Europe, Latin America, and South Africa Right Now What Happens Next: AJC's Avital Leibovich on the Hostage Deal and Challenges Ahead What Would You Do If Your Son Was Kidnapped by Hamas? The Good, the Bad, and the Death Threats: What It's Like to Be a Jewish College Student Right Now Mai Gutman Was Supposed to Be at the Music Festival: IDF Lone Soldier Recounts Harrowing Week Responding to Hamas Terror: IsraAID CEO on How You Can Help Israelis Right Now Learn: Debunking the False Equivalency Between Israeli Hostages and Palestinian Prisoners How much do you know about Hamas? Try to ace our quiz and expose the truth about the terror group today. Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Transcript of Interview with Hana Rudolph, Remko Leemhuis, and Marc Sievers: Manya Brachear Pashman: American Jewish Committee has 14 international offices around the world. This week, we checked in with some of those offices to learn what they're seeing and hearing on the ground since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. In an earlier installment, we took you to Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Our journey continues today in Asia, Berlin, and Abu Dhabi.  We started in South and East Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Since the director of the Asia Pacific Institute (API) [Shira Loewenberg] was en route to Indonesia, we caught up with Assistant Director Hana Rudolph. Hana, let's start with Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country, the country with the world's largest Muslim population. In fact, where AJC has made tremendous inroads in recent years engaging with faith and political leaders. What has the response to the October 7 attacks been there? Hana Rudolph:  The Indonesian government doesn't have ties with Israel, though it does support a two state solution. So we don't expect there to be a vocal kind of support for Israel. But the anti semitism and the conspiracy theories, the false narratives happen incredibly alarming. There was a rally on November 5, a pro Palestinian rally, and rally organizers think that there were 2 million people who turned out for that. So we're talking huge numbers.  The prevailing narrative there is really that Israel is the indiscriminate aggressor, they are just killing women and children for no reason in Gaza. There's very little mention of Hamas' massacre on October 7, and that's the narrative.  AJC has taken several delegations of Indonesians to Israel for our Project Interchange. A lot of our alumni had been receiving death threats. And we're not talking about death threats for posts that they're actively making right now in support of Israel. We're talking about death threats because, you know, some long time ago, when they were on this delegation, they posted something that was seen as something pro-Israel, and now they're receiving this kind of pushback and hate and condemnation for it. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You mentioned the dominant narrative. Are there other narratives developing? Hana Rudolph:  One of the most, I think, notable and disappointing reactions across our region has been China. China refused to condemn Hamas' terrorist attack on October 7. And there has been a notable uptick in antisemitic rhetoric across Chinese social media platforms, which, as you know, are heavily censored when the government chooses to do so. So here the government is choosing not to censor. And in fact, several state-run institutions are actively promoting radically antisemitic content. So I'll give you a few examples. CCCB describes Jews as accounting for 3% of the US population and manipulating and controlling, in their words, 70% of the country's wealth. The China Internet Information Center compared Israel to the Nazis.  And these are, of course, narratives that, you know, once they're once they're put out there, they're being actively promoted and popularized by other social media influencers. So the content that's being generated, you know, as a result goes far beyond even those examples. We've noticed that there are several major Chinese map platforms that are no longer labeling Israel as a country, you know, they'll demarcate the borders, they'll identify cities, but you don't see Israel labeled.  Most likely, China is seeing the current conflicts within the context of the US versus China and this whole conflict is just another opportunity to champion itself as the leader of the developing world. You know, it's a continued strengthening of the China, Russia, Iran, North Korea bloc of malign actors.  It's just very laughable, really, that China is maintaining what is described to be a position of neutrality, when one, it won't condemn Hamas' attack; two, it won't condemn antisemitism. But instead, it'll explicitly denounce Israel for quote, going beyond self defense, and, again, in the foreign minister's words, collectively punishing the Gaza people in its counterstrike.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   What are we seeing in Australia, where the Jewish community numbers about 100,000? I know historically, antisemitic incidents per capita have remained low there.  Hana Rudolph:  The Australian government has, by and large, really supported Israel in the same way that the US has. But the politics and public sentiment also look a lot like here. So there's been growing pressure for the government to call for a ceasefire, things like that. The uptick in antisemitism also looks a lot like here. It's been very alarming. There's actually a very sizable Jewish community in Australia. It's about 100,000, and Australia has the largest number of Holocaust survivors per capita, just to give some context.  Since October 7, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry has documented 221 incidents of antisemitism, so we're just talking about one month. This includes threats to Jewish schools and synagogues, property damage, even a few physical assaults. There has also been large pro-Palestinian demonstrations. I think the one that probably everyone signed in the news is a demonstration on October 9. So we're talking just two days after the attack. Outside of the Sydney Opera House where pro-Palestinian protesters were chanting ‘Gas the Jews.' Manya Brachear Pashman:   Remarks and resolutions coming out of the United Nations General Assembly have shown little support for Israel since the beginning of this conflict. There was a resolution calling for a truce this week. There's one calling on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights, the buffer between Israel and yet another hostile neighbor, Syria. How have the nations in the Asia Pacific voted on these resolutions?  Hana Rudolph: I would say that the most kind of encouraging signs coming out of some of these countries have really been in terms of the government's position. So I want to especially highlight Japan, South Korea, and India. These are all countries that have joined the U.S. in condemning Hamas' attack on October 7, affirming Israel's right to self defense. They all abstained from a recent UN General Assembly resolution that called for an immediate humanitarian truce. And the reason why they abstained is because there has been a Canadian amendment to unequivocally condemn Hamas terrorist attacks and demanding immediate release of hostages.  This amendment was backed by the U.S. but was rejected by the resolution. And so these three countries all abstained. We see it as a positive. The Marshall Islands and Micronesia Islands, both Pacific Islands, voted against it. They have always been strong supporters of Israel. We're incredibly grateful for that relationship. …. Manya Brachear Pashman: Since October 7, AJC Berlin director Remko Leemhuis has taken two German delegations to Israel to speak with hostages' families, to see the homes raided by Hamas, and understand the military operation underway there. Remko joined us from Berlin to speak about those missions, but also to talk about what he's seeing and hearing back home. Remko Leemhuis:  We had an attack on a synagogue here in the center of Berlin that was attacked with Molotov cocktails, even though there was police protection. We had the homes of people marked with a star of David. You know, where members of the Jewish community live. And these are the things that happened sort of outside of demonstrations–we had people that have been threatened, because they were wearing a kippah or are visibly Jewish. And when we look at the demonstrations, we see what we've seen, this is nothing too new. All sorts of expressions of antisemitism beginning with, from the river to the sea. People chanting that. We're also seeing that they compare what's happening in Gaza with the shoah, so, Holocaust trivialization.  Again, we see attacks on police officers, and thinly veiled, classic antisemitic stereotypes. You know, they're not saying the Jews but saying, you know, the Zionist. And that's also something not too new, but the how forceful these things press.  We're also seeing attacks against the press, and saying that the press is lying, and they're always, you know, portraying them in the wrong way and using chants that are hard to translate, but that, up until now, we've mostly seen right wing manifestations. So it's very weird to see how they're now using the same slogans.  We've seen it across the board, in every region in every major city. We don't have numbers, over the past month or so. But I can tell you that, for example, in the first week, after October 7, we had 202, antisemitic incidents that were recorded by a different NGO. And that was just the first week after, after October 7.  And we had until the end of October, 80 antisemitic crimes that have been registered with the police and the authorities. So we've seen it across the board and online, but especially during demonstrations, so called pro-Palestinian demonstrations, where we have seen violence–violence against the police, but obviously also expressions of antisemitism and very clear expressions of antisemitism. That's been frightening, to be honest, because we have seen, you know, these kinds of before during other rounds of conflict between Hamas and Israel, but this time, it's just the sheer number and the openness is pretty stunning. And I cannot recall a moment where we have seen this kind of openly expressed antisemitism. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Are you also hearing it from government leaders? Remko Leemhuis:  I have to say that, especially for Germany, that the government, the ministers, they are all very clear in their support for Israel. And this is obviously not a winning theme for them, oftentimes, but the chancellor is very straightforward in his support for Israel, on numerous occasions.  The Economy Minister Habeck, has put out a video that got a lot of attention, where he very clearly addresses antisemitism. Antisemitism coming from the left, so sort of his own, he's from the Green Party. So when he's talking about antisemitism from the left, he's sort of talking about where he is coming from. And I think that's always a good starting point for people when they talk about antisemitism always, start by addressing it in your own sort of political spectrum and not pointing fingers at others.  And so I think that this is a very good sign. And today, we're weeks after October 7, and they're still very forceful in their support for Israel, which, again, given the pictures that we unfortunately see coming out of Gaza, I wouldn't have imagined that it would be the case, but it still is. So that is, that is good.  What is still lacking, in my opinion is, or something that we've seen over the past years, and now seeing much more, that there's a gap between sort of the political class, if you like to call political class and or politicians and mainstream society.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   But then again, government leaders have had the opportunity to see the battleground firsthand, right? I mean, you've taken two delegations now, can you tell us what they've seen, what they've heard?  Remko Leemhuis:  I was on two missions. The first mission, this was a delegation with members of parliament, members of the European Parliament and other national parliaments in the European Union, including two German Members of Parliament. That was my first mission to Israel since October 7.  And I can say that, obviously, seeing it firsthand among, you know, we had obviously political meetings and meeting with lawmakers in Israel, members of Knesset, but we also went to Kfar Aza, one of the kibbutzim that was attacked on October 7. And we met with survivors' families from there, with families whose loved ones have been abducted, and are now hostages in Gaza. And I think that seeing this firsthand, hearing it firsthand, from the families there's nothing that can substitute for that.  You can read a lot, you can watch everything that's in the news or on TV, but being there yourself really has really an impact on people and gives them a better understanding of what Israel is facing and what the enemy is that Israel is facing. My second trip was with the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and again, it's someone to be there and be able to go into one of these, you know, small houses which seem like frozen in time. And I mean, nothing has been touched and it looks like it looked on this Saturday morning and in some houses you think, the inhabitants or the people who live there are just out for a while and will come back. Then you go through these houses and then you get to the safety room or the security room and bomb shelter. And you see what happened in that house and that obviously people have died there. And then again, speaking to the families, to the survivors, and seeing how desperate they are.  It's something that no one will ever forget who was there and will impact everyone going forward and obviously will also have an impact on how they view the ongoing military operation in Gaza, differently than somebody who's just seeing it from the news. …. Manya Brachear Pashman:   In addition to its Jerusalem office, AJC also has a Middle East presence in Abu Dhabi. With us to discuss how Israel's Abraham Accords partner United Arab Emirates has been reacting to the news is AJC Abu Dhabi Director Marc Sievers. Marc, welcome to People of the Pod.   Marc Sievers: Hi, Manya. Great to be with you. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You are right there in the region, in the neighborhood, if you will. Tell us what you're seeing or hearing and do you feel safe? What's top of mind there? Marc Sievers: Certainly there's a great concern about the potential for escalation. We hear that, it comes up in almost every discussion. Certainly, it's bad enough to see the combat and the situation in Gaza. But there's been concern from the beginning that it could spread to Israel's northern border with Lebanon, with Syria, even potentially, to Iran directly, although I think that's quite unlikely. But it's not entirely out of the realm of the possible.  But I think the US military presence in that sense, in the two aircraft carrier groups that are in the waters in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. There is a significant US military presence that's been brought into the region to help deter an escalation, an expansion of the fighting to Lebanon and Syria. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Does the tiny Jewish community there feel safe? Marc Sievers: First of all, threatening or commenting in a hostile manner toward people here because of their race or their religion or their nationality is a crime. It's taken very seriously. There have been a few cases of Jewish people. Not anyone I'm directly involved with, but I heard about who took some complaints to the police and the police took legal action. So there is a legal basis to ban any expression, public expressions of antisemitism. The messages we've received are to keep a bit of a low profile, you know, avoid being obvious or provocative. But other than that, everything's normal. I walk around the city, I drive myself, I go to a lot of public places. I feel perfectly comfortable. I don't feel any particular tension. I'm sure if there were any threats, specific threats that we would be notified. I'm not aware of any.  Look, it's a difficult period and emotions run high. And certainly emotions are high in Israel, but they're also high across the Arab world. There is a lot of, as I said earlier, a lot of concern for Palestinian civilians. I think, to some extent, Hamas has managed to project itself, particularly through social media, as the embodiment of the Palestinian people in a way that's kind of hard for us to understand, but it's out there. And that is a factor.  Here the Israeli embassy is open and functioning. And there's also a consulate in Dubai that is open and functioning. My understanding is that at least Israeli ambassadors in the other countries, including Egypt and Jordan have been asked to come home, not because they've been kicked out, but out of security concerns. So I think it also speaks highly of the environment in the UAE, that the Israeli diplomatic missions are still here. Manya Brachear Pashman:   But will the relationships that AJC has built, that Israel has built through the Abraham Accords, are they strained? Or is your work continuing through all of this? Marc Sievers: As I keep saying this is a difficult period. But I think we're all hoping that we'll all get through this together and that there will be a new situation after the military campaign is completed, that we want to see the hostages released safely. And that's very much on people's minds.  A number of people here have family or friends who either died on October 7, or in some cases were kidnapped or they know somebody who was. So we share that concern and hope with all of the Jewish people around the world. That's certainly on our minds, but I'm very hopeful still that we will get past this and that there will be new opportunities to rebuild some of what's been disrupted. And there's no question that things have been disrupted, that's just a fact. Manya Brachear Pashman: Marc, Remko, Hana, thank you all for joining us. Be sure to listen to our previous episode from earlier this week featuring updates from Paris, Latin America, and Africa. And last week, before fighting resumed, we spoke with AJC Jerusalem Director Avital Leibovitch about Israel's efforts to root out Hamas and bring the rest of the hostages home.   

While the world is distracted, members of Congress are writing bills designed to steal Russia's money and give it to Ukraine. In this episode, listen to the pitch being made to Congress as we examine if this is a good idea. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via Support Congressional Dish via (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes Taking the Russian money: is it legal? Lee C. Buchheit and Paul Stephan. October 20, 2023. Lawfare. Chelsey Dulaney and Andrew Duehren. October 11, 2023. The Wall Street Journal. Lawrence H. Summers, Philip Zelikow, and Robert B. Zoellick. June 15, 2023. Foreign Affairs. Paul Stephan. April 26, 2022. Lawfare. Laurence H. Tribe and Jeremy Lewin. April 15, 2022. The New York Times. April 15, 2021. President Joe Biden. White House Briefing Room. What we're being told about Ukraine Secretary of State Anthony Blinken [@SecBlinken]. November 3, 2023. Twitter. Visual Journalism Team. September 29, 2023. BBC News. June 2023. Reuters. Biden wants to hide weapons deals with Israel Sharon Zhang. November 2, 2023. Bills Audio Sources October 31, 2023 Senate Appropriations Committee Witnesses: Antony Blinken, Secretary, U.S. Department of State Lloyd Austin, Secretary, U.S. Department of Defense Clips 1:05:05 Secretary of State Antony Blinken: If you look at total assistance to Ukraine going back to February of 2022, the United States has provided about $75 billion our allies and partners $90 billion. If you look at budget support, the United States has provided about $22 billion during that period, allies and partners $49 billion during that period; military support, we provided about $43 billion allies and partners $33 billion; humanitarian assistance, the United States $2.3 billion allies and partners 4.5 billion, plus another $18 to $20 billion in caring for the many refugees who went to Europe and outside of Ukraine. October 19, 2023 Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (The Helsinki Commission) Witnesses: Eliav Benjamin, Deputy Head of Mission, The Embassy of Israel to the United States Jamil N. Jaffer, Founder and Executive Director, National Security Institute at George Mason University Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Dr. Dan Twining, President, International Republican Institute Oksana Markarova, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States of America Clips 19:25 Eliav Benjamin: Understanding in the most unequivocal manner and in the clearest way that these are evil people. If we can even call them people. This is Israel's 9/11, only if you take the proportion of the size of Israel, this is 9/11 times 10, at least. 20:45 Eliav Benjamin: Because these terrorist organizations are not only against Israelis or against Jews, and not only in Israel, they are against mankind and anything which calls for decency, any entity and anybody who calls for protecting human rights and protecting individuals and protecting civilians. 21:25 Eliav Benjamin: Hamas have no value for human life, while Israel is doing its utmost to protect human life, including Palestinians in Gaza by even calling for them to go down south so that they won't be affected by the war. Hamas is doing everything in its power to harm civilians, to harm its own civilians. And everything that Hamas is committing -- and committed -- is no less than war crimes. And if you want crimes against humanity, and this is while Israel is working within the international human rights law, and within the military law. 28:15 Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN): Ambassador we have attempted to get some monies to from Putin and from the Soviet Un -- the oligarchs, to help rebuild Ukraine. Do you have any new information about that, or concerns? Oksana Markarova: Thank you for this question. First of all, I think it's very just that all this horrible destruction, which only for the first year of the war the World Bank estimated at $411 billion -- just the physical destruction -- has to be compensated and paid for by the Russians. So with regard to the Russian oligarchs and everyone who finances this war, supports this war, thanks to Congress we already have the possibility to confiscate it through the courts and DOJ has already moved forward with one confiscation of malfeasance money -- $5.4 million, and others. It is going to take time. But I think the major question right now to discuss with all the G7 is the Russian sovereign assets. We know that there are at least in the vicinity of 300-400 billion, or maybe even more, frozen by G7 countries. Not only that, but we recently discovered there are about $200 billion that are frozen in the Euroclear system in Belgium. So I'm very glad that there are more renewed talks right now between the G7 Ministers of Finance on how to confiscate and how to better use this money even now. I think we have to join forces there because again, we're very grateful for the American support, we are very much counting on this additional supplementary budget, but at the end of the day, it's not the American, or Ukrainian, or European taxpayers who have to pay for this, it is the Russians who have to pay for their damages. We look forward to working with Congress and we're working very actively with the administration, the State Department and Treasury, on how to better do it. As the former Minister of Finance, I not only believe -- I know -- that it can be done and I know this is a very specific case, that will not jeopardize the untouchability of the Sovereign Money, which is normal in the normal circumstances. This is a very specific case of a country that has been condemned by 154 countries in the UN for the illegal aggression. We have in all three major cases, the cases against Russia on both aggression and genocide and everything else. And it's only natural and just to use the sovereign assets as well as the private assets of Putin's oligarchs to compensate and to pay this. 32:50 Eliav Benjamin: Look at the charter of Hamas, which calls for destruction, annihilation of Jews, of Israel and yes, wants to control everything from the Mediterranean Sea until the Jordan River. 33:00 Eliav Benjamin: That is their aspiration, that is what they want to do, with zero care about civilians, including their own whom they take us human shields. As we're speak now, they're firing rockets from underneath hospitals, from underneath schools, from underneath mosques, from within residential areas, putting their own people at risk and sending them to die as well. This is not what Israel is about, but this is what Hamas is about and has been about. And now once and for all, unfortunately, really unfortunately, it took such a horrific war that they launched on Israel for the whole world to realize what Hamas is really about and what we've been saying for so many years that Hamas stands for. But it's not only Hamas: it's Hamas, it's the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, it's Hezbollah, it's all of these terrorist organizations who have zero care about human beings. This is who we should go after, and make sure they don't do any more harm. 39:10 Jamil Jaffer: It was the single deadliest day in Israel's history, single deadliest day for the worldwide Jewish community since the Holocaust. The equivalent of over a dozen 9/11 attacks on a population adjusted basis. Let me say it again. On the day of the 9/11 attacks, we had about 280 million Americans and we lost approximately 3000 Americans that day. Israel has lost 1400 have their own in a population of approximately 9 million -- over a dozen 9/11 attacks. 41:15 Jamil Jaffer: There's a key connection between these two fights. We know that Iran today supplies all manner of drones to Russia in its fight in Ukraine. We know that Iran has troops on the ground in Ukraine, training Russians on the use of those drones. We know that Iran is considering providing short range ballistic missiles to Russia, in that conflict. Russia, for its part, has provided Iran with its primary source of Conventional Munitions and nuclear technology for the vast majority of the time. Now, the key connection between these organizations is important to note. It's not just Russia and Iran; it's China and North Korea as well. These are all globally repressive nation states. They repress their own people, they hold them back, they give them no opportunity, and then they seek to export that repression to other parts of the globe, first in their immediate neighborhood, and then more broadly across the world. These nations are increasingly working together. We see China and Russia's no-limits partnership. We see President Xi saying to President Putin, in an off hand conversation that the world heard, that there are changes that haven't been seen in 100 years, and Russia and China are leading those changes. We know that for decades, Iran and North Korea have cooperated on ballistic missile and nuclear technology. We know that today in the fight in Gaza, Hamas is using North Korean rocket propelled grenades. So the reality is these globally repressive nation states have long been working together. And it is incumbent upon the United States to stand with our friends in Ukraine and our allies in Israel in this fight against global repression. 41:35 Dr. Dan Twining: It's vital not to mistake Hamas's control of Gaza with legitimacy. There have been no elections in Gaza since 2006. Hamas will not hold them because it thinks it will lose. Polling from September, a month ago, shows that only a quarter of Palestinians support Hamas leading the Palestinian people. Before the conflict, 77% of Palestinians told pollsters they wanted elections as soon as possible. A super majority tells pollsters that Hamas is corrupt. It is a terrorist organization, not a governing authority that seeks better lives for Palestinians. Residents of Gaza suffer poverty, isolation, and violence at its hands. 43:25 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: Israel has just suffered in Iran-sponsored massacre, Ukraine is struggling to repel Russian forces, and Taiwan watches with grave concern as China threatens to invade. America must view these three embattled democracies as important assets. And it must view these three adversaries as a threat to the US-led world order. As we speak, there is a very real possibility of a regional war erupting in the Middle East. The Islamic Republic of Iran has armed and funded Hamas and Hezbollah along with other factions in the region. Recent reports point to the existence of an Iranian-led nerve center in Beirut that is designed to help these terrorist groups target Israel more efficiently. Fortunately, the IDF has thwarted Iranian efforts to create a new terror proxy in the Golan Heights. Israel has repeatedly destroyed most, if not all, of what Iran is trying to stand up there. However, Iran-backed militias do remain in Syria, and Russia's presence in Syria is complicated all of this. Moscow's missile defense systems have forced Israel to take significant precautions in the ongoing effort to prevent the smuggling of advanced Iranian weapons from Syria to Lebanon. These are precision guided munitions. We've never seen a non-state actor or a terrorist group acquire these before and Russia is making this more difficult. The operations to destroy these weapons in Syria are ongoing. They often take place with Russian knowledge. It's an uneasy arrangement and because of that, the Syrian front is still manageable, but Russia's role in the region is far from positive. Moscow continues to work closely with both Iran and Hezbollah. In fact, Russian-Iranian relations have deepened considerably since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This goes beyond the sanctions busting that was the basis of their relationship before all this started. Russia has received UAVs from Iran, which we've heard today, Tehran has sent advisors to train Russian personnel, and since last summer, Russia has launched over 2000 Iranian UAVs into Ukraine. Moscow now wants to produce some of these UAVs domestically and so Russia and Iran are currently working together to increase the drones' range and speed. Iran has supplied other material to Russia like artillery shells and rockets. In return, Tehran wants Russia to provide fighter jets, attack helicopters, radar and combat trainer aircraft, and more. Moscow has sent to Tehran some captured Western weapons from Ukraine. These include javelin, NLAW anti-tank guided missiles, and Stinger MANPADS. Amidst all of this, on top of it all, concerns are mounting about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Beijing has openly intimidated the island nation. Within a 24 hour time span in July, 16 PLA warships approached Taiwan, accompanied with over 100 different aircraft sorties. China's calculus about an invasion of Taiwan could be influenced heavily right now by what the United States does in Ukraine and in Israel. Ihe landscape is clear: China, Iran and Russia are working together. Our policy must be to deny them the ability to threaten our friends and our interests. 47:45 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: It's great news. I was gonna recommend it, but it's already happened: the United States has sent two of its Iron Dome batteries based in Guam to Israel, en route already. 52:15 Dr. Dan Twining: If America's three greatest adversaries are going to actively collaborate in armed attacks on our allies, that's all the more reason for us to ensure that friendly democracies prevail in the fight. Giving Ukraine and Israel what they need to restore their sovereignty and security is essential. Appeasing aggression in one theater only invites belligerence in another. Make no mistake, China is watching our reaction to the wars on Ukraine and Israel with great interest. If we don't show the will and staying power to help our friends win, we only embolden Chinese designs in Asia. Defeating aggression in Europe and the Middle East is central to deterring aggression in Asia. 1:09:55 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: I am going to use the current crisis right now to sort of explain how America can get a win. That attack by Hamas was sponsored by Iran. Hamas is an Iran-back terrorist organization that also enjoys the support of China and Russia. As Israel has now readied to go into the Gaza Strip and to destroy this terrorist organization with the support of the United States, we're now seeing Iran-backed proxies threaten a much wider war. We're watching Hezbollah and Lebanon, Shiite militias in Syria, potentially other groups in other parts of the region. What needs to happen here right now is America needs to determine the outcome of this conflict. And by that, I mean it needs to deter Iran, it needs to deter Hezbollah and any other actor that might intervene, and force them to watch helplessly as our ally destroys Hamas. Watch them look on helplessly as one of their important pieces is removed from the chessboard. If we can do that, then I think we're now in the process of reestablishing deterrence after having lost it for many years. 1:14:15 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): Along with Ranking Member [Jim] Risch, I'm the lead on the what we call the REPO Act, which would authorize the President to work with other countries in Europe that are also home to frozen Russian sovereign assets, and create a procedure for seizing those assets and directing them to Ukraine to be used for rebuilding and other purposes. I think there are mixed feelings in the administration about this, but they seem to be moving our way. I'd love to have your thoughts on the value of grabbing those sovereign assets, not just as additional resources for Ukraine, but also as a powerful signal to Putin that his behavior is going to have real punishment and hitting him good and hard right in the wallet, I think, would be a good added signal. 1:15:20 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): The second is simply to make sure that we do a better job of grabbing Russian oligarch assets. We have a predicament right now, which is that if you're a US citizen, and you're driving down the highway and you've got $400,000 in unexplained cash in your car, the police can pull you over and they can seize that. If you are a foreign, Russian, crooked oligarch, and you have a $400 million yacht someplace, you have more rights than that American citizen, in terms of defending your yacht. It's a very simple procedure, it's called "in rem." You move on the yacht rather than having to chase through all the ownership structures. And I would very much like to see us pass a bill that allows us to proceed against foreign oligarchs', criminals', and kleptocrats' assets in rem. 1:16:50 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: The seizing of assets and redirecting them to Ukraine, I think, sounds like a solid thing for the United States to do. I think, though, it would make sense to do this with a coalition of countries. So that the US is not singled out -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): That's what the legislation requires. In fact, the bulk of the funds are actually held in European countries, so acting on our own would not be sensible. Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: It wouldn't be effective, correct. So getting the Europeans on board, and by the way, getting the Europeans to chip in a bit more, just as we are, I think is also a very sound policy. As far as targeting the oligarch assets, I fully understand your frustration. When I worked at the Treasury Department trying to track those kinds of assets was never easy. We did work with a sort of shorthand version of, if we're 80% sure that we know what we're dealing with we're going to move first and then adjudicate after it's been done. And by and large, that worked out very well during the height of the war on terror. And there was an urgency that I think needs to be felt now, as we think about targeting Russian assets too. 1:18:00 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): To follow me on my path of in rem Latinate legal terms. There's also qui tam out there, which allows individuals to bring fraud actions in the name of the United States, and if it turns out there really is fraud, they get a share of it. It would be nice to have people who work for, let's say, a Russian oligarch to be able to be paid a bit of a bounty if they come in and testify and say, "Yep, definitely his boat every time we go out, he's on it. Every time the guests come they're his guests and we call him boss." Things like that can make a big difference, so we're trying to push that as well. Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: That sounds like something for the Rewards for Justice program at the State Department. They might be able to expand it. We already have bounties for those that provide evidence leading to arrests of terrorists, why not oligarchs? Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): Correct. 1:24:40 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: Qatar has, for the last 10 or 12 years, had a an external headquarters. Some of [Hamas's] political leadership has been based there: Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal both call Qatar home. Of course, this is not new for the Qataris. They've also hosted all manner of other terrorist organizations in that country. It's the Taliban, al Qaeda, ISIS. It's well known at this point that Qatar is a hospitable place. They just don't agree with our definition of terrorism. Fundraising takes place there, all sorts of organizational activities take place there, and people are free to come and go. It is a safe haven for them. It is extremely dangerous that we have bestowed upon that country the label of major non-NATO ally, and that this is allowed to continue. They're offering right now their "good offices" -- I'll put those in air quotes -- to try to negotiate the release of the 302 hostages. This is not in Qatar's is interest. They are advocating on behalf of Hamas, as they have been for a long time. This should not be allowed to stand. 1:28:10 Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: Hezbollah is based in Lebanon primarily, although they've got a significant base of operations in Latin America right now, and of course they've got a lot of operatives running around in Tehran. They are a wholly-owned subsidiary of the regime in Iran. Just to give you a sense of the threat, right now Hezbollah is threatening to open up a second front with Israel. While the fighting rages in Gaza, in the north of Israel there is a second front that could very well be open. There have been dozens of rockets that have been fired, dozens of anti-tank missiles infiltrations into northern Israel. This is very disconcerting. This is one of the things that I think the President is trying to deter at this moment, to deter a second front from opening. Hezbollah is considered to have an army that is equal in strength to the average European army. It has 150,000 rockets right now facing south at Israel. It's got precision guided munitions that could hit strategic targets, like Israel's nuclear facility, or like its chemical plant. These are things that could create catastrophic attacks, and we could be hours or days or weeks away from watching those threats materialize. And so this is why it is imperative right now that the US mount the deterrence that is necessary to stare down Iran and to stare down Hezbollah and to allow Israel to be able to do what it needs to in Gaza and hopefully end this crisis. 1:31:15 Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX): What does it look like if a Palestinian family of four is being interviewed for safe passage into a neighboring country or nearby country? What exactly does that look like? What does that processing and that vetting look like? Dr. Jonathan Schanzer: I'm going to make a suggestion here. I don't know how that kind of vetting can happen. You know, you're looking at a territory roughly the size of Washington DC, with 2.2 million people that had been subjected to Hamas rule for 16 years. How you start to figure out who's okay and who's not at this stage in the game, who's a threat and who isn't, is going to be really challenging. I wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal with a colleague of mine, Mark Dubowitz, our CEO, on Monday. I want to make this suggestion: I've already identified a number of the countries that have been Hamas supporters over the years, those that have financed and provided the weapons and the training to Hamas. I think there should be significant pressure on those countries to take in the refugees. Have a clear message from the United States that they created this problem, and it is now their problem to take care of these 2 million people. Quite frankly, I don't care who's radicalized when they go to these countries that have been supporting a radical cause for as long as they have. I think this would be justice. October 18, 2023 House Committee on Foreign Affairs Witnesses: Philip Zelikow, Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia Rebeccah Heinrichs, Senior Fellow and Director of the Keystone Defense Initiative at the Hudson Institute Clips 14:35 Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX): The Russian sovereign assets is a winner in my judgment. If we can tap into the right -- the very people who started this war and this conflict, in my judgment, should be paying for the cost, and not as much the US taxpayer. And that's why I introduced the REPO Act, the bipartisan, bicameral legislation that demands that the Biden administration transfer frozen Russian sovereign assets to the Ukraine effort. It's beyond time that Russia pay for the war that it created. My bill prohibits the Biden administration from unfreezing Russian sovereign assets until Russia ends its unprovoked war of aggression and agrees to compensate Ukraine for the damages it has inflicted. 16:05 Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX): To be clear, the war crimes and genocide committed by Russia cannot be reversed by money alone. 22:30 Rep. French Hill (R-AK): My approach was crafted to be consistent with US Policy and International Law by amending the International Emergency Economic Powers Act IEEPA, and using its established framework and existing definitions. As a former Treasury official, in my view, this is a better legislative approach. This is consistent with well established international precedent, whereby the United States work with international partners to establish a fund like we saw in Afghanistan in 2022. The Iran-US Claims Tribunal in 1981, the UN compensation fund for Kuwait in 1991, following the invasion by Iraq. 22:40 Rep. French Hill (R-AK): I too have introduced a bill on this topic, HR 5370. And I appreciate the Foreign Affairs staff working with me on that. My bill would give the President authority to seize and transfer title of Russian sovereign assets within the United States jurisdiction into an international fund for the sole purpose of Ukraine's eventual reconstruction and humanitarian relief. I'm grateful to Chairman McCaul and I co-sponsor his bill on this topic, as well for his leadership. 24:10 Rep. French Hill (R-AK): Considering most Russian sovereign assets are actually located outside the United States, it's important for our partners and allies around the world to introduce and pass similar companion legislation rather than having the US act unilaterally. 24:30 Rep. French Hill (R-AK): Let me be clear, I consider Russian Federation sovereign assets inclusive of all state owned enterprise assets and those of Russian publicly traded companies, like Gazprom, that are controlled by more than 50% by the Russian Federation. 26:30 Philip Zelikow: Economic warfare is the real center of gravity in this war. Economic warfare is the center of gravity in the war. I know we all watch the daily updates from the battle front lines. You know, this movement here, that movement there. This is a war of attrition. It's going to be decided by economic and industrial staying power as the war continues almost certainly into 2025 and perhaps beyond. 27:00 Philip Zelikow: In that struggle, the economic warfare against Russia has achieved some gains, and will have some more gains over the long haul. Russia's economic warfare against Ukraine has been devastating and is not sufficiently appreciated. Ukraine lost 30% of its GDP in the first year of the war. 1/3 of the population of Ukraine is displaced, half externally half internally. Russia is waging economic warfare on three main fronts. It's destroying Ukraine's infrastructure, and will do another energy infrastructure war this winter, for which it's gearing up, including with North Korean weapons and Iranian weapons. Point two: they've destroyed Ukraine's ability to export through the Black Sea except for a trickle, which was the fundamental business model of a commodity exporting country. Point three: they have destroyed Ukraine's civil aviation. Ukraine has no civil aviation. Any of you who've traveled, as I have, to Ukraine will notice that you can't fly in the country, which makes travel and business in the country now back to the era of the railroads before there were airplanes. So the the Russian economic warfare against Ukraine is devastating. And as time passes, this is going to have deep effects on the ability of Ukraine's economy and society to hold together, which will play out politically. So point one: economic warfare is the true center of gravity in the war. 28:35 Philip Zelikow: Two, the Russian assets are the key strategy to change the outcome. The Russian assets are at least $280 billion. Now, even in our debased day and age, that's a lot of money. It's a lot of money in the context of the Ukrainian economy. Even using very conservative multipliers of how much private investment the public investment can unlock, let's say one to one, the impact of this money on the whole future prospects of Ukraine and its staying power are decisive. Otherwise, they're relying on US and European taxpayers whose readiness you can gauge. So this is potentially the decisive fulcrum of the economic warfare and Ukraine's prospects in the war. 29:25 Philip Zelikow: So, third point, why has this been so hard? First reason was there was a knee jerk neuralgia on the part of bankers and financiers to the actual confiscation of Russian assets in the foreign exchange holdings, with much talk of losing confidence in the dollar in the euro. On analysis, these worries quickly fall away, which is one reason that I worked with my colleagues, Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary, and Bob Zoellick, the former president of the World Bank, who do know something about international finance to debunk those concerns. And I'd be glad to go into more detail about why the concerns about the dollar or the euro turn out to be overblown when they're analyzed. 30:10 Philip Zelikow: The other concern was how do we do this legally? There's been a ton of legal confusion about this. This bill will help dispel that legal confusion. 30:30 Philip Zelikow: What about sovereign immunity? Sovereign immunity is a doctrine that only exists in the context of national courts trying to usurp sovereign authority in a situation where it's sovereign on sovereign, whereas in this bill, there would be an act of state that goes after Russian sovereign property. There is no such thing as immunity; there is no doctrine of sovereign immunity. Ordinarily, under international law, if one sovereign takes another sovereign's property, then the loser is entitled to compensation for that nationalization or expropriation. So why isn't Russia entitled for that compensation in this case? Because it's a lawful state countermeasure. Countermeasures are different from sanctions. And countermeasures -- and this is a well recognized body of law -- you are allowed to do things that would ordinarily violate your sovereign obligations to a fellow sovereign, because that sovereign has committed such extreme outlaw behavior, that the countermeasure is a lawful recourse. And that is exactly the extreme case we have here. There is a well codified body of law on this, and Russia has hit every one of the marks for a set of lawful state countermeasures that deprives them of any right to compensation when states take their money and then use it, putting it in escrow to compensate the victims of Russia's aggression. 37:35 Rebeccah Heinrichs: The United States directly benefits from Ukraine's battlefield successes as Russia remains a top tier adversary of the United States. These are the weapons that Americans made and designed specifically to go after the kinds of things that the Ukrainians are destroying in the Russian military. 39:55 Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX): The EU has a plan just to tax frozen assets and send those proceeds to Ukraine. Our Treasury Secretary, Miss Yellen recently claimed that transferring sovereign assets to Ukraine was not legal. Do you agree with that, and if not, what is your opinion from a legal standpoint? Philip Zelikow: I think Secretary Yellen has now revised her view of this matter, having had a chance to be informed by some of the legal work that's been done since she first made that impromptu remark. There is the legal authority both under domestic law and international law, and the bill this committee is considering would reaffirm, consolidate, and elaborate that authority. So legally, this can be done. 40:55 Philip Zelikow: What the EU came up with in May was the idea -- they were encountering a lot of resistance to actually taking the Russian money, so they said, Well, can we come up with something, since a lot of these as the securities have now matured and are in cash and Euroclear, mainly -- the clearing house in Brussels -- is now managing the cash on behalf of Russia, because Russia is no longer able to manage it. So can we do something with the interest? And by the way, the EU couldn't get that through in June. Ursula von der Leyen couldn't get that adopted over, principally, French and German opposition at the time. So they're talking about just taking this interest. As a legal matter, if you have the legal right to take the interest, you have the legal right to take the principle. This was a cosmetic idea trying to overcome the opposition they had there. It's kind of a situation where, as one of my colleagues in this effort, Larry Tribe, has put it as well, instead of crossing the Rubicon, they're kind of wading in. From a legal point of view, it's actually clearer to do the transfer for Ukraine than to try to expropriate the money using tax authorities, which makes it look like you're expropriating it for your country, rather than for the benefit of the victims, which is a much cleaner, legal way to do it. So they ended up, for political reasons, with a half measure that takes only a tiny fraction of what they should and does so in ways that are actually legally awkward. I understand why they are where they are, but as they process this, I think they're just going to have to step up to going ahead and crossing the Rubicon. 50:20 Philip Zelikow: The whole argument that I made in an article with Summers and Zoellick in Foreign Affairs is that actually, this is a strategy for victory. You put this enormous war chest and the multiplier of private investment into play. And what you can envision is a whole new European recovery program, anchored on the rebuilding of Ukraine that not only saves Ukraine, revitalizes it, but links it to the EU accession process, to the enlargement of the European Union. In other words, to the victory of the whole cause of freedom, in a way almost regardless of where the final battle line ends up being in Ukraine, Ukraine will be growing with bright prospects, part of a Europe with brighter prospects, because of its alignment with the free world. 51:25 Philip Zelikow: When people worry about the significance of this in foreign exchange, I ask them to just remember two numbers 93 and three. If you look at the percentage of foreign exchange holdings held in the world today, 60% United States, 23% Euro, 6% yen, 4% Sterling: that's 93. The percentage of foreign exchange holdings in Chinese renminbi: three. And the Chinese were really encouraged that it's gone up from 2.5 to 3 in recent years. So when you look at 93 to three, that's what you get when we work with our allies in a concerted economic strategy. We can move on the Russian assets, and there's really no choice except to stick with the currencies of the free world because they're still the only basis for being a participant in the world economy. 54:20 Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI): Who actually has the authority to take possession of it? Because as you point out, if you've got the legal right to the interest, you got the legal right to the principal. Who is granted that authority? And then who is granted the authority to distribute that? Philip Zelikow: So the theory is that the national governments can transfer any of the Russian state assets in their jurisdiction into escrow accounts for the benefit of the victims, as a state countermeasure to Russia's aggression. So the way that would work is under the President's IEEPA authority, he could transfer all this -- and there are precedents for this -- into an escrow account held in the States and then an international escrow account, with this limited purpose of compensating the victims of Russian aggression, then you need to create an international mechanism, which the US would participate in creating, to then manage that distribution, which needs to have a proactive urgent speed of relevance. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI): That was what I was afraid of. If it just simply takes one participant to bog the whole thing down, guess what? It's not going to work, in my humble opinion. Philip Zelikow: When they're debating this in the EU, some people say we should have a new EU directive to govern this, but under our Common Foreign and Security Policy, one member like Hungary, for example, could botch that. So if you create something perhaps managed by the G7 Donor Coordination Platform, that is a relatively simple instrument in which the United States could play a part. One thing that you've done in the bill you've drafted, Mr. Chairman and Congresswoman Kaptur, is you're creating mechanisms in which Congress has insight and some oversight into how the United States participates in that process, and what the mechanism does and how the money is spent, which I think is an appropriate role for the Congress. There are precedents for how to do this. The design of this international mechanism I'm discussing is both policy driven, but also has a reactive claim side, but can have some conditionality on reform and the EU accession process. That's a heavy lift. Building that mechanism will be the biggest job since we built the Economic Cooperation Administration to run Marshall Plan aid 70 years ago. That serious work has not really begun, because we're just working on the preliminary phase of mobilizing and using this money. 58:25 Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA): You believe the Administration, even without this bill, has authority right now to transfer the frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. Philip Zelikow: Yes, it does. It has it under the existing IEEPA authorities that the President has already invoked. The Renew Democracy Initiative has put out a really extensive legal brief that goes into great detail about this. I think actually the administration's lawyers are coming around to the view that yes, they do have the authority under existing law. What the REPO Act does is, one, it reaffirms that, but two, it makes Congress a partner in this with regulation and oversight that's an appropriate Congressional role. So by both reaffirming the authority and getting Congress to join the executive and doing this together I think it makes it a truly national effort with an appropriate Congressional part. 59:20 Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA): How would you respond to critics who say this would make it harder for other folks in the future to want to invest in the United States? Philip Zelikow: You can look at the numbers. After we froze Russian assets, everybody understood the political risks that might be involved with putting their money into dollar holdings. The Chinese called in all their bankers and asked them, "Do we have any other options?" That happened last year. You can just simply track what's happened in the international financial markets and see how folks have now priced in that political risk. But the result is still very strong demand and interest in the dollar. But here again, to come back to Congressman [Gregory] Meeks point, by working with the Euro and the yen and Sterling, we give them no place to go. If they want to participate in the world economy, then they're just going to have to invest in assets like that. 1:00:30 Rebeccah Heinrichs: The other thing that's very interesting and good in the REPO bill that is different is this provision, Section 103, that would prohibit the release of blocked Russian sovereign assets. I think that's an incredibly important element of this bill. That would remove the temptation for any kind of sweetener for the Russians to have access to these funds and leave Ukraine in a lurch whenever they have to rebuild their society. That's a very important part of the bill. 1:01:10 Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX): Why would it be better to transfer these assets for Ukraine's direct benefit than to use them for leverage in negotiations and ending this conflict at some point? Rebeccah Heinrichs: It comes back down to the fundamental question at the end: who's going to foot the bill for rebuilding Ukrainian society? Somebody's going to have to do it. It should not be the American people primarily. They're footing a pretty significant bill. I think that benefits American industry and benefits our own military, but this particular piece should be carried out by the perpetrators of this act. So I think that it'd be a mistake to hold that out as a sweetener to get the Russians to come to the end or the conclusion. 1:01:55 Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX): Mr. Zelikow, you mentioned earlier in response to one of my colleague's questions that it looks like that under current law under the IEEPA authorities, the president can do this activity now. Do you know why the President is not doing that? And if he chose to do that, could he do it immediately? Or is there any delay in that? Philip Zelikow: They could act immediately. They've delayed a long time, partly, to be very blunt -- because I've been talking to a lot of people about this -- they had very deep interagency disagreements inside the administration over how to proceed and they found that their bandwidth was totally overwhelmed by other Ukrainian-related concerns, and they didn't give this heavy attention until fairly recently. And now that they have given it sustained attention, I think the President has actually settled, at a fundamental level, those interagency disputes and they are now moving forward to try to find a way to make this work. 1:02:50 Philip Zelikow: I think the point you raised a minute ago about whether we want to hold this back as leverage was one factor in the back of the minds of some people. I think as the war has continued on through this year, hopes of a quick settlement of the war have dissipated. I think they realize that this is going to be a long war. That sobering realization has kind of sunk in. Also, from a legal point of view, if you want to, you could credit the Russians in any peace negotiation. You can basically say this is a credit against your liability for the for rebuilding Ukraine. 1:04:55 Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA): As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, we have been to many European nations. To a nation, they say the United States is the indispensable partner here, and they say that with all humility and not blowing smoke. We visited the Hague and sat with lead prosecutor Khan, and everyone is talking about waiting us out. Not just waiting out Congress's support, but waiting out the outcome of the next election. They asked us specifically about that. Mr. Putin is clearly waiting for the outcome of the next election in hopes that it will not be the reelection of Joe Biden, who I'm really proud is in Israel right now. Timing. How does this work? You already said it's going to be into 2025. How do we use this leverage, this economic warfare as the center of gravity in this conflict, to bring the timing tighter to a successful conclusion for Ukraine? Philip Zelikow: So that's a great question. And this is why action on this issue is so urgent now, because the operational timeline to stand this up on a massive multi 100 billion dollar scale is if we move on this in the next couple of months and mobilize the money. We could get an enormous operation up and running with a relatively secure source of funding by next year. If we get that up and running by the middle of next year, we then insulate ourselves, to some extent, against the kind of electoral risk to which you gently alluded. 1:07:55 Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. (R-NJ): If the United States did transfer Russian sovereign assets to Ukraine, how could Ukraine best use these in the near term? Philip Zelikow: In the near term, what they would do, I think, is begin undertaking a comprehensive program to shore up their infrastructure, withstand the coming Russian campaigns to further damage that and begin to rebuild the basic transportation infrastructure and other things that can then begin to unlock a really bright future for the rest of the Ukrainian economy. There are things that can be done then to move Ukrainian industry into new sectors. I think the Ukrainian goal is not just to restore what they had five years ago, but actually to use this as a way to build back better, to imagine a brighter future in partnership with Europe. And then if the money is managed well, this gives leverage to encourage the Ukrainian reform process as part of the EU accession. Putin's whole effort here is, "if I can't conquer Ukraine, I will wreck it and make it ungovernable," and we'll show decisively that that objective cannot be achieved. 1:10:35 Rebeccah Heinrichs: If I may, sir, another principle that has been misunderstood throughout this conflict is this notion of escalation. Escalation is not bad. It's only bad if it's the adversary who's escalating to prevail. We want Ukraine to escalate to win, to convince the Russians to end the war. If you do not permit the Ukrainians to escalate, then you only have a long protracted war of attrition that none of us can afford. 1:12:05 Philip Zelikow: Whenever you do a large thing in international affairs, there are going to be unintended consequences from that, and rather than be dismissive about that concern, I'll say if you embark on this, then people will be tempted to try to use these sorts of precedents against us. They'll be limited in their ability to do that because of the fundamental places where money is held in the world economy. A lot of people don't do business with the United States because they love us; they do business with us because they think it's necessary. If they could expropriate our property with no penalty, they would. Venezuela tried that. Most of the world doesn't want to follow Venezuela's example. So yes, there are some potential unintended consequences of people trying to use this precedent. But one reason we've tried to set this under international law is to use the standards of international law to govern this countermeasure. International law allows these countermeasures, but it says you can only do this if the target country's outlaw behavior is extreme, and there's a standard for that. It turns out Russia totally meets that standard. This is the most extreme case of international aggression since the Second World War, bigger than Korea, bigger than Kuwait. But by setting that kind of standard, it makes that slippery slope a little less slippery. 1:14:25 Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ): There are some concerns that if we were to transfer these assets, use it for the benefit Ukraine, would there be an impact on the US dollar? Just get your thoughts on that? Philip Zelikow: Yeah, that's why we got in some of the best people we could on international plans, just to do the analysis on that. 93% of the foreign exchange holdings are held in G7 countries and only 3% in renminbi. Running to the renminbi because they're worried about the dollar is something people would do if they wanted to do it already. They've already priced in the political risk of dollar holdings after they've seen what we've done. And you can see their asset allocations. Now, the dollar is involved in 88% of all foreign commercial transactions on one side of the transaction or another. So it's hard to run away from it, especially if the Euro, Yen, and Sterling are in there with you. There's really kind of no place to go if you want to participate in the international economy. Working with Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary, Robert Zoellick, with Brad Setser, who studies international finance, we ran some numbers about worst case scenarios and so on, and we think that concern, which sounds good as a soundbite, it turns out on analysis, it fades away. 1:16:10 Philip Zelikow: The US only holds a fraction of the relevant Russian money because the Russians tried to get their money out of our jurisdiction. But when you go to Europe and ask them what's holding them up, they all say "We're waiting for the American lead." So even though we may only hold a fraction of the money, we hold a lot more than a fraction of the relevant clout, and we need to go together, exactly as you imply. September 28, 2023 House Committee on Foreign Affairs Witnesses: Victoria Nuland, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, United States Department of State Christopher P. Maier, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, United States Department of Defense Caroline Krass, General Counsel, United States Department of Defense Richard C. Visek, Acting Legal Adviser, United States Department of State Clips 33:00 Victoria Nuland: First with regard to the Taliban, we've been very clear we're going to judge the Taliban by their actions. It is our assessment that the Taliban have partially adhered to their counterterrorism commitments. We've seen them disrupt ISIS-K, for example. But there's obviously plenty more to to do to ensure that Afghanistan doesn't become a safe haven, or return to safe haven, or persist as a safe haven. That said, I would note that the director of the National Counterterrorism Center Christy Abizaid recently said publicly that al Qaeda is at its historic nadir in Afghanistan, and its revival is unlikely. 34:20 Victoria Nuland: Iran is obviously a state sponsor of terrorism; it is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Music by Editing Production Assistance

Israel responds after brutal Hamas terror attacks by formally declaring war. Will that war engulf the Middle East? US Secretary of State Antony Blinken joins Dana to discuss. Next, Congress rushes to condemn the Hamas attack and pledges to aid Israelis. But will the lack of a formal House Speaker hamper any US response? Dana gets reaction from key lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, and Congressman Mike Lawler. Then, with hundreds Israeli civilians killed and "a significant number" abducted, the world scrambles to understand how Hamas could pull off such a massive surprise attack. Dana speaks with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, former US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides, and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper about what went wrong and how Israel will respond. Finally, our panel of experts discusses the challenges facing Israel and what to expect in the days and weeks ahead.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Today on FIREBRAND: Congressman Matt Gaetz discusses his Ukraine resolution of inquiry which just passed the Foreign Affairs Committee, plays highlights from a House debate on the suspension of tariffs on Chinese-manufactured solar panels, and covers a medley of suggested topics from our live audience! Watch on Rumble: https://rumble.com/v2kzieo-episode-102-live-ukraine-audits-firebrand-with-matt-gaetz.html

Our Best of ITT series continues with this roundtable from 2019. Maria and Julio are joined by Shamira Ibrahim, culture writer on race, identity and politics, and Margari Hill, co-founder and executive director of the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, to discuss how the intersecting identities of being a Black Muslim woman lead to anti-Blackness both within the Muslim community and in the United States at large. ITT Staff Picks: Shamira Ibrahim writes about the power of photography and photo archives in preserving the rich culture and story of the Black community and rejecting negative stereotypes assigned to them, in this article published in Harper's Bazaar. Maram Ahmed highlights some of the talented Black Muslim women behind the rise of British Hip-Hop, in this article for Refinery29. “Speaking to CNN about McCarthy's proposal, Omar suggested that her religion played a role. She said of her colleagues that “many of these members don't believe a Muslim refugee, an African, should even be in Congress, let alone have the opportunity to serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee,” writes Philip Bump in this article for The Washington Post.

Air Date 2/10/2023 Today, we take a look at the recent rise in tensions in the wake of Israel electing what may be their most right-wing government to date. Literal fascists are now in the governing coalition, violence is rising and reforms are being considered to effectively remove judicial review from the governing process all while the US continues to give its support. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com  Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Get AD FREE Shows and Bonus Content) Join our Discord community! OUR AFFILIATE LINKS: ExpressVPN.com/BestOfTheLeft GET INTERNET PRIVACY WITH EXPRESS VPN! BestOfTheLeft.com/Libro SUPPORT INDIE BOOKSHOPS, GET YOUR AUDIOBOOK FROM LIBRO! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: A look at the violence and unrest in the West Bank - All In with Chris Hayes - Air Date 2-2-23 A look at the violence and unrest in the West Bank. Ch. 2: Israel and the Progressives - Against the Grain - Air Date 1-25-23 Why do so many people who see themselves as progressive nonetheless support the state of Israel, considered an apartheid state for its treatment of the native Palestinian population? Ch. 3: Diana Buttu & Gideon Levy: Israel's New Far-Right Gov't Entrenches Apartheid System with US Support - Democracy Now! - Air Date 1-5-23 Far-right Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir's Tuesday visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem is being roundly condemned across the Middle East. Ben-Gvir is a key part of Benjamin Netanyahu's new far-right government Ch. 4: Protests in Israel over proposed judicial reform Part 1 - The Current - Air Date 1-19-23 Proposed judicial reform in Israel has prompted thousands to take to the streets in protest. We talk to Dahlia Scheindlin and Diana Buttu, a lawyer and former adviser to the negotiating team of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Ch. 5: "An Intolerable Situation": Rashid Khalidi & Orly Noy on Israeli Colonialism & Escalating Violence - Democracy Now! - Air Date 1-30-23 U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken is in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories amid an alarming rise in violence, with Israel killing at least 35 Palestinians since the beginning of January. Ch. 6: An Escalating Cycle of Violence in Israel and Palestine - Global Dispatches - Air Date 2-1-23 We are in the midst of an escalating cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine. On Thursday, January 26 Israeli forces killed at least 9 people in a raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Ch. 7: Protests in Israel over proposed judicial reform Part 2 - The Current - Air Date 1-19-23 MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S) Ch. 8: Republicans feign anti-Semitism standard to eject Rep. Omar from committee - Alex Wagner Tonight - Air Date 2-3-23 House Republicans use a tweet by Rep. Ilhan Omar containing anti-Semitic tropes as an excuse to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Alex notes when Republican leaders were not only untroubled by anti-Semitic tropes but perpetuated by them. Ch. 9: Israel and the Progressives Part 2 - Against the Grain - Air Date 1-25-23 FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 10: Final comments to wrap up MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions): Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr  Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent Activism Music: This Fickle World by Theo Bard (https://theobard.bandcamp.com/track/this-fickle-world) Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

Charlie takes the questions you email him at Freedom@CharlieKirk.com including:   What are the pros and cons of Aritificial Intelligence? Why was Rep. Ilhan Omar removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee? How do you deal with a teacher pushing their woke agenda onto you? And most importantly, is Tom Brady really the Greatest of All Time?Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Texas is finally up and running now that the freeze has passed. After several days, the Biden administration finally acknowledged the Chinese spy balloon floating over the U.S. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had interesting weeks at the microphone. An ER doctor was run down while on his bicycle because of white privilege. AOC and Rashida Tlaib put on a show while attacking Republicans for taking Ilhan Omar off the Foreign Affairs Committee. Marjorie Taylor Green lets us know exactly where our tax money is going. How socialism fails farmers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This weekend, the United States shot down the Chinese spy balloon—but only after it had traversed the entire continent. Liz breaks down what response China was hoping for from this balloon incident and what political observations they were able to make based on our response. Plus, Ilhan Omar is kicked off the the Foreign Affairs Committee and AOC throws a complete hissy fit. This is The Liz Wheeler Show. -- Get 10% off at 4Patriots when you use the promo code LIZ: https://4Patriots.com. -- Get a FREE report with all of the details about how Bank On Yourself adds control to your financial plan. Go it https://bankonyourself.com/LIZ. -- Cozy Earth provides the softest, most luxurious sheets on the planet. Save 35% on Cozy Earth bamboo bedding at https://cozyearth.com/liz35. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senator Lindsey Graham is a very loud, early supporter of Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Only one thing is certain: It's not because he's enthusiastic about Trump's  message on foreign policy or immigration. Pedro Gonzalez joins Charlie to discuss how Graham uses flattery to manipulate MAGA for his own ends. Plus, Rep. Jim Jordan has run the House Judiciary Committee for just a few days, and the left is already suffering from apoplexy. Jordan joins Charlie to discuss his clash with Jerry Nadler over the Pledge of Allegiance, the expulsion of Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee, and more.Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Click here to join the member exclusive portion of my show: https://utm.io/ueSEj China flies a spy balloon over American soil and the Biden administration does nothing; anti-Semitic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar loses her Foreign Affairs Committee spot as Democrats caterwaul; and 86 Democrats vote against condemning the horrors of socialism. - - -  DailyWire+: Use code DONOTCOMPLY to get 40% off annual DailyWire+ membership plans and watch the brand new series “PragerU Masters Program with Dennis Prager”: https://bit.ly/3rfvUvB Get 40% off Jeremy's Razors Subscriptions at www.jeremysrazors.com Get your Ben Shapiro merch here: https://bit.ly/3TAu2cw  - - -  Today's Sponsors: Boll & Branch - Use promo code "SHAPIRO" at checkout for 15% off your first set of sheets: https://www.bollandbranch.com/ Jase Medical - Get $10 off your Jase Case with promo code ‘BEN' at https://jasemedical.com/ Black Rifle Coffee - Get 10% off coffee, coffee gear, apparel, or a Coffee Club subscription with code SHAPIRO: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Birch Gold - Text "BEN" to 989898, or go to https://birchgold.com/ben, for your no-cost, no-obligation, FREE information kit, PLUS a signed copy of my book, “How to Destroy America in 3 Easy Steps.” - - - Socials: Follow on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3cXUn53  Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3QtuibJ  Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3TTirqd  Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3RPyBiB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Click here to join the member exclusive portion of my show: https://utm.io/ueSEjChina flies a spy balloon over American soil and the Biden administration does nothing; anti-Semitic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar loses her Foreign Affairs Committee spot as Democrats caterwaul; and 86 Democrats vote against condemning the horrors of socialism.- - - DailyWire+:Use code DONOTCOMPLY to get 40% off annual DailyWire+ membership plans and watch the brand new series “PragerU Masters Program with Dennis Prager”: https://bit.ly/3rfvUvBGet 40% off Jeremy's Razors Subscriptions at www.jeremysrazors.comGet your Ben Shapiro merch here: https://bit.ly/3TAu2cw - - - Today's Sponsors:Boll & Branch - Use promo code "SHAPIRO" at checkout for 15% off your first set of sheets: https://www.bollandbranch.com/Jase Medical - Get $10 off your Jase Case with promo code ‘BEN' at https://jasemedical.com/Black Rifle Coffee - Get 10% off coffee, coffee gear, apparel, or a Coffee Club subscription with code SHAPIRO: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/Birch Gold - Text "BEN" to 989898, or go to https://birchgold.com/ben, for your no-cost, no-obligation, FREE information kit, PLUS a signed copy of my book, “How to Destroy America in 3 Easy Steps.”- - -Socials:Follow on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3cXUn53 Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3QtuibJ Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3TTirqd Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3RPyBiB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Comedian Michael Lenoci helps Adam play off members of congress with ranchera music as they react to Ilhan Omar being voted off the Foreign Affairs Committee. Next, Actor Joe Mantegna and sports journalist Brigham Avery join them to talk about their show, ‘Hollywood & Ivy' where Brigham talks to celebrity Cubs fans about their memories of the team. They hear some trending stories such as: Tom Brady potentially signing a one-day contract to retire as a New England Patriot, PETA getting upset about Punxsutawney Phil, Kate Hudson firing back at the 'nepo baby' controversy, and a Florida man accused of biting off the head of a pet python during a domestic dispute. PLUGS: See Michael Lenoci live: SAN DIEGO, CA - MISSION BREWERY - Tomorrow HOLLYWOOD, CA - HOLLYWOOD IMPROV - February 10th And for more dates visit: MichaelLenoci.com Watch Michael Lenoci's special ‘In The Moment' on YouTube Listen to Michael Lenoci's podcast ‘Life with Lenoci' wherever you find podcasts And follow Michael on Twitter and Instagram, @MichaelLenoci Check out Joe Mantegna and Brigham Avery's show, ‘Hollywood & Ivy' with new episodes every month on Marquee Sports Network & YouTube THANKS FOR SUPPORTING TODAY'S SPONSORS: OReillyAuto.com GoodRanchers.com/ADAM Enter code: ADAM

Today on FIREBRAND: Congressman Matt Gaetz reacts to the news that Hunter Biden is calling on the Department of Justice to prosecute everyone who exposed the secrets of his laptop, triggers the hosts of "The View" with his unapologetic patriotism, speaks out against bird-killing wind farms that fake environmentalists advocate for, and shares his thoughts on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar being ousted from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Watch on Rumble: https://rumble.com/v2849fh-episode-87-live-hunter-biden-begs-doj-firebrand-with-matt-gaetz.html