Foreign Policy

State Department’s inspector general criticizes Clinton for private emails, but does not allege any breach of national security

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The media villagers were all in a lather yesterday over the Inspector General report regarding Hillary Clinton’s emails while she was Secretary of State. The New York Times reports, Hillary Clinton Is Criticized for Private Emails in State Dept. Review:

Hillary-Clinton-textingThe State Department’s inspector general on Wednesday sharply criticized Hillary Clinton’s exclusive use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, saying that she had not sought permission to use it and would not have received it if she had.

The report, delivered to members of Congress, undermined some of Mrs. Clinton’s previous statements defending her use of the server[.]

The inspector general found that Mrs. Clinton “had an obligation to discuss using her personal email account to conduct official business” with department officials but that, contrary to her claims that the department “allowed” the arrangement, there was “no evidence” she had requested or received approval for it.

And while other senior officials had used personal email accounts for official business, including Colin Powell when he was secretary, the rules made clear by the time she became the nation’s top diplomat that using a private server for official business was neither allowed nor encouraged because of “significant security risks.”

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The Clinton email nonscandal — all hype, no scandal

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A couple of important reports on the so-called Clinton email scandal this week. This blows the right-wing outrage scandal machine out of the water: Security Logs of Hillary Clinton’s Email Server Are Said to Show No Evidence of Hacking:

Hillary-Clinton-textingA former aide to Hillary Clinton has turned over to the F.B.I. computer security logs from Mrs. Clinton’s private server, records that showed no evidence of foreign hacking, according to people close to a federal investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s emails.
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The security logs bolster Mrs. Clinton’s assertion that her use of a personal email account to conduct State Department business while she was the secretary of state did not put American secrets into the hands of hackers or foreign governments.

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Members of Congress caught up in NSA surveillance of Israel

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NetanyahuWhile you were enjoying the holidays, there was a spy “scandal” last week that did not garner much media attention outside of the conservative media entertainment complex, which must maintain its “outrage of the day” business format.

It appears that some Republican members of Congress got caught up in NSA foreign intelligence surveillance collaborating with a foreign government to sabotage the foreign policy of the United States.

Some dare call it treason — unless that foreign government is Israel, “the 51st state” to many Reublicans (it is not).

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The Trump-Putin ‘bromance’

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Last week Russian President Vladimir Putin in his year end press conference commented on the American presidential race.  Putin praises ‘bright and talented’ Trump:

trump-putin_website-800x430Putin offered high praise for the billionaire businessman-turned-Republican presidential front-runner on Thursday during an annual news conference with reporters.

“He is a bright and talented person without any doubt,” Putin said, adding that Trump is “an outstanding and talented personality.”

And in remarks closely mirroring Trump’s assessment of the campaign, the Russian leader called Trump “the absolute leader of the presidential race,” according to the Russian TASS news agency.

‘Make tyranny great again!’: Ohio Gov. Kasich trolls Trump with hilarious Trump/Putin 2016 parody website.

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Landmark Paris climate change agreement

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ParisThe COP 21: UN climate change conference in Paris accomplished what all the naysayers said would never happen: 196 countries had to come to a unanimous agreement in order to reach an agreement, and they did. 196 countries approve historic climate agreement:

Negotiators from 196 countries approved a landmark climate accord on Saturday that seeks to dramatically reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for a dangerous warming of the planet.

The agreement, adopted after 13 days of intense bargaining in a Paris suburb, puts the world’s nations on a course that could fundamentally change the way energy is produced and consumed, gradually reducing reliance on fossil fuels in favor of cleaner forms of energy.

[Read the text of the draft climate agreement here.]

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