Keir Starmer Is a Danger to the U.S.
London
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in October that the U.K. would cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The Chagos Islands are a British-administered archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia, the only inhabited island, is vital to American strategy in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. Diego Garcia's joint U.S.-U.K. air and naval base is centrally located among Indonesia, Somalia and Yemen, and it provides logistical support to forces operating in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. Navy calls Diego Garcia the 'Footprint of Freedom.' Britain's Labour government is about to sell the ground from beneath its feet.
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Hamilton Spectator
33 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Hegseth faces more grilling from Congress as Iran-Israel conflict escalates
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is returning to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for the last in a series of often combative hearings before lawmakers, who have pressed him on everything from a ban on transgender troops to his use of a Signal chat to share sensitive military plans. The questions — which also have touched on his firings of top military leaders and even some of his inner circle of advisers — may be dominated by the escalation of airstrikes between Iran and Israel that threaten a potentially devastating regional war. But he is still expected to face sharp questions about his chaotic tenure, his opposition to women in combat jobs and efforts to shift funding from troop housing to border security. The U.S. has shifted significant numbers of refueling tanker and fighter aircraft to position them to be able to respond if needed to the conflict, such as possible evacuations or airstrikes. Hegseth said this week that was done to protect U.S. personnel and airbases. 'We are postured defensively in the region to be strong in pursuit of a peace deal. And we certainly hope that's what happens here,' he told Fox News Channel. 'And America first means we're going to defend American personnel and American interests.' Hegseth's testimony last week in three congressional hearings also was taken over by events, with the Trump administration dispatching the National Guard and 700 active-duty Marines to the protests in Los Angeles against California Gov. Gavin Newsom's wishes . It came just ahead of a massive military parade to celebrate the Army's 250th birthday, which coincided with President Donald Trump's birthday. In the previous hearings — where Hegseth was appearing to discuss the Pentagon's spending plan — lawmakers made it clear they are unhappy that Hegseth has not provided full details on the administration's first proposed defense budget . Trump has said it would total $1 trillion, a significant increase over the current spending level of more than $800 billion. Hegseth, who is appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, has spent vast amounts of time during his first months in office promoting the social changes he's making at the Pentagon. He's been far less visible in the administration's more critical international security crises and negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and Iran. For example, Hegseth directed the renaming of a Navy ship that had honored Harvey Milk, a slain gay rights activist who served as a sailor during the Korean War. He also has touted other moves to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and said a ban on transgender troops in the military was a way to regain the 'warrior ethos.' It will be Hegseth's first time before some senators since he squeaked through his Senate confirmation with a tie-breaking vote. It was the closest vote of any Trump Cabinet member. While he has talked a lot about making the military more lethal, it was his use of the unclassified, unsecured Signal messaging app that quickly caught public attention. Set up by then-national security adviser Mike Waltz, a group chat that included Hegseth and other senior administration leaders was used to share information about upcoming military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. The chat came to light because the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to it . Waltz took responsibility for the gaffe, but Hegseth was roundly criticized for sharing details about the military strikes in that chat and in another one that included his wife and brother. The Pentagon's watchdog is looking into Hegseth's use of Signal and expected to issue a report soon. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .


Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Barack Obama, back in public eye, offers a careful warning of a Democratic slide
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Democracy, Obama said, requires government workers, judges and lawyers at the Justice Department to uphold the Constitution and follow the law. Advertisement 'It requires them to take that oath seriously, and when that isn't happening we start drifting into something that is not consistent with American democracy,' he said. 'It is consistent with autocracies. It is consistent with Hungary under Orban.' He went on: 'We're not there yet completely, but I think that we are dangerously close to normalizing behavior like that. And we need people both outside government and inside government saying, 'Let's not go over that cliff because it's hard to recover.'' Advertisement Yet at a time when the country faces protests, political violence and the possibility of entering another foreign war, Obama kept his remarks to veiled critiques and professorial musings. He made no mention of the growing speculation that President Donald Trump could order the United States to openly enter the escalating war between Israel and Iran by bombing a key Iranian nuclear facility. Nor did he bring up the unusual pressures and threats the Democratic Party has been facing. In recent days, a growing number of elected Democrats have been detained, and in some cases manhandled, by federal agents; a Democratic governor was threatened with arrest by Trump and with being 'tarred and feathered' by the House speaker; and a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and her husband were assassinated. Instead, Obama encouraged others -- particularly those at law firms, universities and businesses -- to speak out against the demands of the Trump administration. Obama recognizes that he is unlikely to sway Republicans or Trump himself with any public critiques, so he has been focusing on issues where his words can have an effect, according to people who work with him. In April, he also called on universities and law firms to resist intimidation from the Trump administration. On Tuesday evening, he offered a particularly stinging critique of affluent liberals before the audience in Connecticut, a wealthy Democratic state. During his presidency, liberals felt 'comfortable in their righteousness,' he said, because it wasn't tested. 'You could be as progressive and socially conscious as you wanted and you did not have to pay a price,' he said. 'You could still make a lot of money. You could still hang out in Aspen and Milan and travel and have a house in the Hamptons and still think of yourself as a progressive.' He added, 'We now have a situation in which all of us are going to be tested in some way and we are going to have to decide what our commitments will be.' Advertisement 'Now things are a little different,' he said. 'You might lose some of your donors if you're a university and if you're a law firm, your billings might drop a little bit, which means you cannot remodel that kitchen in your house in the Hamptons this summer.' His comments were unlikely to satisfy Democratic officials and voters who have grumbled about his reluctance to wade into contemporary politics, wanting him to offer more vocal and frequent criticism of the Trump administration. But he has made clear that he does not intend to become a leader of the opposition. Audio and video recordings of his remarks Tuesday night were forbidden, hampering their widespread transmission. While he opposes much of Trump's agenda, Obama believes that offering a steady stream of criticism of the administration would dilute the power of his voice, according to people who work with him. His remarks Tuesday, which wound through the use of the internet in his early campaigns to a brief history of globalization over the past half-century, amounted to a call to restore democracy by resuscitating core values of the past. Obama lamented the loss of common ground, trust and even basic facts. Woven into his comments was a critique of Trump and the Republican Party -- though he never mentioned his successor by name. Advertisement 'In 2020, one person won the election and it wasn't the guy complaining about it,' he said. 'That's just a fact. Just like my inauguration had more people.' He added, 'I don't care, but facts are important.' Obama added: 'One of the most pernicious things that has happened is we have a situation now where we're not just arguing policy or values or opinions, but basic facts are being contested, and that is a problem.' Behind the scenes, Obama maintains an open door to Democratic elected officials. He frequently offers advice to congressional leaders, governors, members of Congress and potential candidates who contact him for advice. Next month, he will headline a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee at the home of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, according to three people briefed on the plans. At a time when his party's approval ratings are at historical lows, Obama remains the most popular living Democrat. Before his appearance Tuesday, attendees posed before a backdrop with signs reading 'Yes we still can' and 'Hartford still has hope.' While many older Democrats are still nostalgic for the Obama years, an entire generation of voters have reached voting age in the two decades since he became a national political figure. His positions on policing, health care, immigration and trade were publicly rebuked by progressive Democrats during their contentious 2020 presidential primary race. Several of his former strategists, including Jen O'Malley Dillon and David Plouffe, played key roles in the party's losing campaign last year. Many Democrats looked dimly on a campaign appearance last year for Kamala Harris, then the vice president, where Obama admonished some Black men who he said were not 'feeling the idea of having a woman as president.' Trump ended up nearly doubling his share of the vote from young Black men from 2020, according to exit polls and postelection surveys. Advertisement Still, Obama remains a draw with donors and on the campaign trail, able to pack an arena with thousands of supporters. His aides anticipate that he will offer to campaign for Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey, and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the party's candidate for governor of Virginia. Obama is also busy writing the second volume of his memoir. He is producing television shows and documentaries through his company, Higher Ground, which recently released a documentary on the elite pilots of the Air Force Thunderbirds. And he is preparing for the opening of his presidential center in Chicago, which is scheduled for next spring. The privately run museum will contain digital copies of some of Obama's papers. In private discussions, Obama has praised his party's bench of leaders in statehouses and in Congress, saying a new generation must lead Democrats into the future. He has compared this moment to early 2005, when he arrived in the Senate with Democrats out of power in Washington, according to a person briefed on the conversations. In the 2006 midterm elections, Democrats gained control of Congress. And two years after that, he became the country's first Black president and reenergized the party. This article originally appeared in


Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
Trump to sign order extending deadline for TikTok ban enforcement, WSJ says
U.S. President Donald Trump intends to sign an executive order sparing TikTok from a law banning or forcing a sale of the social media platform, again delaying a deadline for enforcement of said law, the Wall Street Journal's Alex Leary reports. 'As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. 'This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.' Publicly traded companies in the space include Meta Platforms (META), Pinterest (PINS), Reddit (RDDT) and Snap (SNAP). Confident Investing Starts Here: