In 2015, Hale provided journalist Jeremy Scahill with secret military documents and slides that exposed shocking details about the U.S. drone program that formed the basis of “The Drone Papers”, published on 15 October 2015, by The Intercept.
Many of the suspected "terrorists" were innocent civilians that were often targeted based on cell phone tracking.
From January 2012 to February 2013, nearly 90% of those killed by drone strikes were not the intended target. Even though they were innocent they were often classified as “enemies killed in action”.
After president George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump each increased the amount of people murdered by drones of his predecessor.
During his first 2 years as president alone, Trump launched more drone strikes (2,243), than Obama’s 8 years presidency (1,878).
In March, Biden publicly claimed a comprehensive review of Trump’s relaxed rules for drone strikes, to possibly make the rules on drones a little more strict.
On 20 July 2021, the US conducted a drone strike against Shabab “militants” in Somalia even though they didn’t meet the new rules. However these rules weren't deemed applicable, because the Africa Command has authority to carry out strikes in support of allied as “collective self-defense”.
While Biden is withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, he will continue to launch airstrikes there (killing many innocent civilians): https://www.globalresearch.ca/drone-whi ... es/5751437
Donald Trump's long-time friend Thomas Barrack, who chaired former President Donald's 2017 inauguration fund, was arrested in California and charged with not disclosing, illegally lobbying for the United Arab Emirates
Barrack has been released on a $250 million bail and has pleaded not guilty.
Barrack is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements during a June 2019 interview with federal agents.
Isn't it strange how most American media ignore the relevance of the Qatar blockade, but Al Jazeera finds it important?
Prosecutors said that Barrack provided UAE officials with information about how senior US officials viewed the blockade against Qatar started mid-2017 by a group including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/2 ... bying-case
Thomas Barrack is also a billionaire and founder and former CEO of the private equity firm Colony Capital. Matthew Grimes, who worked at Colony Capital, was charged along with Barrack.
Colony worked closely with funds in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, raising at least $1.5 billion from the UAE and Saudi Arabia since Trump won the 2016 Republican nomination. Barrack’s firm also got money from the Abraaj Group, a UAE private equity firm that collapsed and was fined a whopping $314.6 million for misconduct in 2019.
Prosecutors accuse Barrack of providing foreign government officials with “sensitive non-public information about developments within the Administration, including information about the positions of multiple senior United States government officials with respect to the Qatari blockade conducted by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries”.
In 2016 during the election campaign, Barrack with Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort set up the super PAC "Rebuilding America Now", which spent $21 million to support Trump. The PAC was accused of illegally laundering foreign money into the US to support Trump and illegal communication with the Trump campaign using firewalls: https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/0 ... legations/
(https://archive.is/IDO2h)
I had previously posted about the Qatar blockade and the financing of Kushner's NYC 666 Fifth Avenue, which seems to be the most interesting angle in this context (missed by just about all of our wonderful media).
https://www.justsecurity.org/69094/time ... se-policy/Tom Barrack told the Washington Post that he tried to use his Qatar connection to help Kushner with 666 Fifth Avenue. “Barrack said he told the former prime minister of Qatar to consider investing in the Kushner Cos. property,” according to the Post.
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The Qataris reportedly believe the blockade may be linked to their rejection of funding for 666 Fifth Avenue.
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Tillerson reportedly later came to believe concluded that Trump’s White House remarks were written by Yousef al-Otaiba, UAE ambassador to the U.S., and passed to the President by Jared Kushner.
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The Kushners receive a $184 million loan from Apollo Global Management to refinance a building in Chicago. The Qatar Investment Authority is one of Apollo’s largest investors. The loan is triple the average property loan made by Apollo.
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August 1-3, 2018: The Kushners receive bailout on 666 Fifth Avenue from Qatar-supported company (plus Westinghouse deal)
China has, now that he's out as Secretary of Commerce, has placed Trump's handler Wilbur Ross on its sanction list: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57950720
It isn't clear how this will affect the Chinese business interests of Wilbur, at least the media don't present a clue on how these sanctions should work...
Wilbur Ross owns a major stake in Navigator Holdings with extensive dealings in China: viewtopic.php?p=4872#p4872
Wilbur Ross also owns a substantial stake in Diamond S Shipping, whose ships sail under Chinese flags, and is tied to a Chinese investment fund: viewtopic.php?p=6345#p6345
In September 2017, Ross held a stake in the Luxembourg-based International Automotive Components Group, that closed a new joint venture with the China state-owned Shanghai Shenda: viewtopic.php?p=5984#p5984