Category Archives: Failed foreign policy

Dog Alerted to the Largest Fentanyl Bust Ever

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NOGALES, Ariz. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials intercepted nearly 254 pounds of fentanyl at the U.S.-Mexico border Saturday in what the agency called its largest fentanyl bust ever.

Border officials report biggest fentanyl bust

Valued at approximately $3.5 million, the fentanyl was found in a secret compartment inside a load of Mexican produce heading into Arizona. The agency’s police dog team alerted officers to the presence of drugs after a secondary inspection indicated “some anomalies” in the load, Nogales CBP Port Director Michael Humphries said.  Read more...

Is Topuz a Spy? Turkey Thinks So

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ISTANBUL: Turkish prosecutors have prepared the charge sheet against a local employee of the US consulate who was arrested over alleged links to the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, Demiroren News Agency (DHA) reported.
Gulen is accused by Ankara of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016, in which he denies all involvement.
Consulate worker Metin Topuz’s arrest in October 2017 added to existing tensions between the United States and Turkey, and led to a months-long suspension of bilateral visa services.
Relations between the two NATO allies have been strained over US support for Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, Turkey’s plan to buy a Russian missile defense system, and the US jailing of an executive at a Turkish state bank in an Iran sanctions-busting case.
Topuz is in jail along with two other local consulate employees, as is a Turkish-US national and former NASA scientist who faces terrorism charges. Washington wants all of them to be released.
DHA quoted from Topuz’s 78-page indictment, which stated that he had very close contact with police officers suspected of playing a role in the coup attempt. The news agency said the document listed President Tayyip Erdogan and former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, among others, as complainants.
Under Turkish law, a judge would now decide if Topuz’s case should proceed to trial.
The prosecutor’s office could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday.
Ankara has repeatedly demanded that the United States extradite Gulen to Turkey. The cleric has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999.
Turkey has detained 160,000 people and dismissed nearly the same number of civil servants over suspected links to the coup attempt, according to the UN human rights office.
There was some easing of US-Turkish tensions late last year when an Ankara court freed a US pastor who had been detained for two years over accusations of links to Kurdish militants and supporters of Gulen.  Read more...

US Treasury’s Evidence Iran and Russia Cooperating in Syria

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The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned nine targets last week related to an illicit oil network between Iran and Russia.

“We are acting against a complex scheme Iran and Russia have used to bolster the [Bashar] Assad regime and generate funds for Iranian malign activity,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “Central Bank of Iran officials continue to exploit the international financial system, and in this case even used a company whose name suggests a trade in humanitarian goods as a tool to facilitate financial transfers supporting this oil scheme.  Read more...

Facts on CARA and Pueblo Sin Fronteras

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In Spring 2018, hundreds of migrants from Central America approached the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum in the United States and threatening to enter illegally if their request was denied. Pueblo Sin Fronteras organized the caravan in conjunction with the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project.[24] [25] The CARA coalition consists of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the American Immigration Council, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, all groups advocating for legal status for illegal immigrants and expanded immigration overall.[26]  These organizations have been funded by a number of major left-of-center grantmaking foundations, including the Open Society Foundations, MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation of New York. [27] The caravan eventually halted in Mexico City on April 4 instead of reaching the United States border.[28]  Read more...