Friday 29th of March 2024

pass the toothpaste, the bleach and the window cleaner...

burnsburns

WASHINGTON – William Burns appeared to glide through his confirmation hearing to become CIA director on Wednesday, winning marquee endorsements and frothy support from senators in both parties.

"I can't think of anybody that has the breadth of experience that you've had in the world," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Burns at one point. 

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has been a vocal critic of some CIA tactics, joked that the hearing risked "becoming a full-fledged bouquet throwing contest" as he heaped praise on Burns' human rights record. 

The hearing opened with auspicious endorsements from two bold-named statesmen.   

"The confirmation should be a bipartisan no-brainer," former Secretary of State James Baker told the Senate Intelligence Committee. Baker said Burns helped lead the country through the end of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany and combating Iraqi aggression.

“Bill is quite simply one of the finest and most intelligent American diplomats," he said.

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta said Burns' experience and unquestioned integrity make him a great choice to lead the agency.

"Bill Burns is the right person at the right time to lead the CIA," Panetta said. "I trust Bill Burns to be a director who will have their backs," he added of CIA workers.

Burns, President Joe Biden's nominee, has a globe-trotting resumeand nearly four decades of experience negotiating with U.S. adversaries from Russia to Iran. He is not trained in espionage, but lawmakers noted that he has been a consumer of U.S. intelligence analyses for decades. And Burns himself said sharp, apolitical intelligence is vital for dealing with American's adversaries.  

 

Read more:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/24/william-burns-career-diplomat-faces-cia-confirmation-hearing/4550915001/

 

That would be a 180 degrees turn around for the CIA which since its inception has been the house of dirty tricks, disinformation and public misonformation through its front shops. Spy-craft is about dishonesty and lack of integrity to manipulate ideas and perception in other countries, including fomenting coloured revolutions. Is the CIA going to honestly tell us now that "yes we are paying/organising people in Belarus/Russia/China (or whatever country) to go in the street and protest?"... 

usual common bullshit...

US President Joe Biden has talked by phone with King Salman of Saudi Arabia as he seeks to put relations with America's old ally on a new footing.

He "affirmed the importance" the US "places on universal human rights and the rule of law", the White House says.

Mr Biden made the call after reading a forthcoming US report into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The report, due to be released shortly, is expected to implicate the king's son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Mr Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, pursued closer ties with Saudi Arabia.

The Trump administration rejected a legal requirement to release the report in declassified form, focusing instead on improved co-operation with the Saudis.

Mr Biden is expected to take a much tougher stance on certain Saudi positions.

When Khashoggi was murdered in 2018 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, his body was dismembered. The crown prince denies involvement.

Saudi authorities blamed his death on a "rogue operation" by a team of agents sent to return him to the kingdom, and a Saudi court tried and sentenced five individuals to 20 years in prison last September, after initially sentencing them to death.

What did Biden say exactly?

There was no mention of Khashoggi by name in the White House statement but it said: "The President noted positively the recent release of several Saudi-American activists and Ms. Loujain al-Hathloul from custody, and affirmed the importance the United States places on universal human rights and the rule of law."

Saudi women's rights activist Loujain Hathloul was released this month after almost three years in detention but remained subject to a travel ban and was forbidden from speaking to the media.

The two leaders discussed "the longstanding partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia", and the threat posed to Saudi Arabia by pro-Iranian groups. 

"The President told King Salman he would work to make the bilateral relationship as strong and transparent as possible," the statement said.

"The two leaders affirmed the historic nature of the relationship and agreed to work together on mutual issues of concern and interest."

 

Read more:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56204449

 

 

 

Until ASSANGE IS FREE, OUT OF PRISON, Enjoying life with his family, all this talk of human rights by Joe Biden, the hypocrite Catholic, is producing more bullshit than 100 intensive US cattle pens.