22 May world supplement

DT
VOL1, ISSUE 18 | Monday, May 22, 2017
World Tribune
CNN
From Russia with love
At a White House in
crisis, Trump looks
2 increasingly isolated
What to know about
Chelsea Manning as
6 whistleblower
What’s next for Iran after
President Hassan Rouhani’s
7 win?

2
Monday, May 22, 2017
DT
Analysis
At a White House in crisis, Trump looks
increasingly isolated
• Reuters, Washington, DC
US President Donald Trump’s fellow
Republicans in Congress are
showing signs of going their own
way, both on politics and policy, determined
to salvage what they can
of their agenda on healthcare and
tax reform in the wake of one of the
most difficult weeks of any American
presidency.
At the same time, Trump’s failure
to fill senior roles at federal
agencies means he does not have
a cadre of loyalists who can help
rein in a bureaucracy that many in
Trump’s orbit believe are out to leak
information intended to damage
the president. That has worsened
the isolation of the White House in
a city that relies on friends and allies
to shake off a crisis.
Trump and his beleaguered
staff, some White House aides said,
feel besieged by a parade of negative
stories and abandoned by fellow
Republicans on Capitol Hill,
as the furore over the firing of FBI
Director James Comey and allegations
that Trump tried to influence
US President Donald Trump walks towards Marine One while departing the White
House on May 17, 2017 in Washington, DC en route to Connecticut
AFP
the probe into Russian meddling in
last year’s election show little sign
of abating.
As the Russia probe entered a
new phase on Wednesday with the
appointment of former FBI Director
Robert Mueller as special counsel
in the investigation, a move that
will likely place the White House
under even stronger scrutiny, some
Republicans expressed surprise
that the White House had not done
more to recruit them to backstop
the president.
Staff vacancies
The administration has continued to
struggle to fill the hundreds of open
positions at senior levels of government
that remain open, leaving the
White House alone to grapple with
one challenge after another.
For example, the Justice Department
still lacks senior officials in
place to head up the anti-trust, civil
rights, criminal, and civil divisions.
At the Department of Homeland
Security, the chiefs of the US Customs
and Border Protection, Immigration
and Customs Enforcement,
and the Transportation Security
Administration, have yet to be confirmed.
Many top State Department
posts also remain vacant. Overall,
more than 500 of the 557 federal
government positions requiring
Senate confirmation remain vacant.
Only 33 nominees have been confirmed,
and only 57 other positions
now have a nominee, according to
the Partnership for Public Service,
a nonprofit, nonpartisan organisation
in Washington.
Capitol hill frustrations
A lack of communication from the
White House left many Republicans
on Capitol Hill frustrated as a sense
of crisis mushroomed over the past
week. One, Richard Burr, chairman
of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
which is conducting its own
Russia probe, publicly complained
about the situation.
Tuesday morning, after news
broke the previous evening that
Trump had shared classified information
with Russian officials, Burr said
he couldn’t get through to the White
House, as the story lit up television
news programs and buzzed online.
Some Republicans said the constant
focus on responding to allegations
concerning the Russia probe
was draining their caucus of focus
and energy to push through their
agenda.
Absent guidance, Republican
staff members in Congress were beginning
to devise their own strategy
about how to respond to the gusher
of bad news, one aide said.
And at the White House, with
lines of communication to Congress
seemingly frayed at times, a
narrowing circle of people has come
to the president’s defence, as senior
staff grapple not only with the cascade
of revelations but with a president
who at times contradicts on
Twitter their talking points. •
End-game scenarios for the storm over Trump
• Tribune Desk
The appointment of former FBI Director
Robert Mueller as special counsel
overseeing the federal government’s
Russia investigation has dramatically
raised the legal and political stakes
and put Trump’s young presidency in
dangerous territory just four months
after he was sworn into office, reports
the Associated press.
Removing a president between
elections is tough by design, though
mechanisms exist. Trump could
simply ride out the storm, as various
presidents in hot water have
done – or find himself on a constitutional
or political avenue to an exit.
Here’s a look at end-game scenarios
to worry about:
First, the issue
The beating heart of the matter
is a memo James Comey wrote to
himself and shared with others in
the FBI weeks before Trump fired
him as the bureau’s director. The
memo alleges Trump asked him to
end the FBI’s investigation of Michael
Flynn, who had just been removed
as Trump’s national security
adviser after lying about his Russia
contacts. If true, the allegation may
point to obstruction of justice – Watergate-level
wrongdoing by a president.
More broadly, the FBI, several
congressional committees and now a
special counsel appointed Wednesday
by the Justice Department are
pressing ahead with investigations
into possible coordination between
Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.
The Comey memo had intensified
calls for a special prosecutor to
get to the bottom of it all, and those
calls were answered – and the stakes
raised – when former FBI chief Robert
Mueller was named to lead that
investigation. His position comes
with wide-ranging powers of inquiry.
What constitutes obstruction
Tricky one. Meddling in a federal
investigation by asking it to stop
could qualify as obstructing justice.
That’s if the president was trying
“corruptly” to influence the Flynn
probe. Intent is key, and can be hard
to pin down. Congressional leaders
are seeking a copy of the memo and
other records that might exist on
Trump’s interactions with Comey,
and they want the ousted FBI chief
to testify at hearings. The question
will surely be central in Mueller’s
work as well.
THE US IMPEACHMENT PROCESS
Under the US Constitution, a federal official suspected of serious wrongdoing can be prosecuted by Congress
The President,
Vice President
and all Civil Officers
of the United States,
shall be removed
from Office
on Impeachment for,
and Conviction of,
Treason, Bribery,
or other high Crimes
and Misdemeanors.
US Constitution,
Article II, section 4
Source: House.gov, Senate.gov
The I-word
Two presidents have been impeached,
Andrew Johnson in 1868
and Bill Clinton in 1998. Both were
acquitted by the Senate. So no president
has been driven from office by
an impeachment. But a looming impeachment
of Richard Nixon, when
his support from fellow Republicans
had collapsed and devastating
evidence had emerged against him,
drove him to resign.
How impeachment works
It starts in the House of Representatives.
The House can bring one
or more articles of impeachment
against a high official with a simple-majority
vote. When it does so,
that’s a charge of “treason, bribery, or
other high crimes and misdemeanours,”
not a conviction. A trial then is
held by the Senate, with the Supreme
Court chief justice presiding if the
accused is the president. The Senate
Only the House of Representatives
can impeach, or charge, an official
Impeachment needs
a simple majority
vote to pass
House
of Representatives
Investigation
435
seats
If passed, the House appoints
members to prosecute
the case before the Senate
can find the accused guilty and remove
that person from office with a
two-thirds majority vote.
There’s another way, and it’s
convoluted
Meet the 25th Amendment. It came
into effect in 1967, as a way to clarify
the Constitution’s lines of succession
after a calamity like John
Kennedy’s 1963 assassination. It
wasn’t drawn up to replace unpopular
or incompetent presidents but
to set a clear process of continuity
if a president is disabled, temporarily
or permanently, or otherwise
Only the Senate can conduct
impeachment trials
A conviction
requires a twothirds
majority
Senate
Trial
100
seats
If the Senate convicts an official,
he/she is automatically ousted,
with no possibility of appeal
Any other sanctions are left to civil courts to decide
unable to fulfil duties. Its use has
been non-controversial, guiding
Gerald Ford from the vice presidency
to the presidency when Nixon
stepped down and Ford’s successor
as vice president, for example.
It would take a massive loss of
confidence from Trump’s aides and
fellow Republicans in Congress for
this to work against him. A vice president
and a majority of a Cabinet can
temporarily sideline a president.
For that to stick and a vice president
to finish out a president’s term, it
would require a two-thirds majority
vote in both houses of Congress. •

Insight
3
Monday, May 22, 2017
DT
Trump’s Middle East trip is full of traps
• Tribune Desk
US President Donald Trump, in
the first stop of his maiden trip
abroad, received a regal welcome
Saturday in Saudi Arabia, feted by
the wealthy kingdom as he aims
to forge strong alliances to combat
terrorism while pushing past the
multiple controversies threatening
to engulf his young administration.
Trump’s primary mission will be to
reassure America’s allies and friends
that despite the whirlwind at home,
Washington remains capable of executing
a coherent and reasonable
foreign policy. This may not seem
like a high bar, but presidential trips
are massive and complicated operations
in the best of times. It will
be no easy feat to execute this trip
without a major mistake.
Here are the key traps the president
will have to avoid:
Don’t screw up the staging
Nine days and five countries make
this first trip is a massive logistical
challenge — even if Trump does not
make a visit to Iraq. Previous presidents
have usually started with a
test run to Canada or Mexico. The
stakes are even higher with the president
starting in Saudi Arabia, Israel,
and the Vatican — teeing up religious
and political symbolism that could
work to his advantage or massively
blow up in his face. Imagine, for
example, a Trump tirade on Comey,
Russia, and the media in front of
the Western Wall. Or an off-the-cuff
remark during his foreign-policy
speech about Islam. Like he often
does with tweets at home, Trump
could set off an earthquake not just
in the US but across the globe.
Trump’s team also has zero experience
in executing these types of
trips. Some cracks are already starting
to show. In Israel for example,
the press is reporting that Trump’s
team has insisted that he spend only
15 minutes at Yad Vashem — Israel’s
national Holocaust memorial and
museum. It’s also not clear they have
thought through the first visit by a sitting
American president to the Western
Wall, which will also be hugely
complicated. Trump administration
officials have already had to reiterate
that American policy remains for the
disposition of Jerusalem, including
the Western Wall, to be the subject of
a negotiated agreement between the
parties. But such language infuriates
Israelis, who view the Western Wall
as part of Israel. That is why previous
American presidents have not visited.
Nothing positive will come from
inserting the American President
into this debate.
Brussels, BELGIUM
May 24-25
European Union officials
NATO
Don’t give away the house
Another challenge the president will
have is to be disciplined and steeped
in the details of policy — so as not to
give away American interests with
little in return. Despite the president’s
“America First” emphasis in
foreign policy, he is more likely to
give away American leverage and
compromise US interests than any
of his recent predecessors precisely
because he doesn’t do details. Trump
is the authority in the room on this
trip and thus where his real foreign
policymaking begins. Up until now,
his meetings with foreign leaders in
Washington have been mostly initial
get-to-know-you sessions that set an
agenda for follow-up work by senior
staff. Now the stakes are higher. Each
partner will be seeking something
that may or may not advance overall
US interests. The president needs a
nuanced understanding of key policy
questions so he can move forward
with good ideas but also avoid
over-promising or boxing the US in.
Just think about Iran, which will
be a central issue in Saudi Arabia and
Israel. Gulf allies and Israel view Iran
as an existential threat and have long
pushed for a more aggressive American
policy. This administration agrees
with that general mentality and will
work with partners to push back
on Iran’s support for various proxy
groups in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. But
it is one thing to listen to your allies,
respect their views, and pursue a policy
that works with your own interests
as well as theirs. It is another thing
entirely to overcommit and pursue a
policy that is not in America’s interest
because it sounds good at the time
when your partner makes the ask.
The danger with Trump’s Iran policy
is that he will hear from Gulf partners
(especially Saudi Arabia) some bright
ideas for pushing back against Iran
in places and ways that make sense
to them — but might not be wise for
US interests or other equities in the
region. Trump’s team on this trip will
need to help him distinguish between
what makes sense from an American
perspective and what does not — before
he says yes to various requests
from his generous hosts.
Helping Gulf partners counter
Iran in Yemen by providing them
more intelligence, precision munitions,
and interdicting Iranian
ships might make sense. But getting
Americans more directly engaged
on the ground against the
Iranian-backed Houthi forces does
not. Using US troop commitments
and political investment in Iraq to
encourage Baghdad to move away
from Tehran makes sense. But escalating
in Iraq in a way that results
in Shia militias turning against US
forces or revives sectarian civil
conflict does not. Sending a firmer
signal to Iran about the types of behaviour
US will not tolerate makes
sense. Blowing Iranian ships out of
the water and risking a wider escalation
does not. Trump will have to
TRUMP’S VISIT TO THE MIDDLE EAST AND EUROPE
US President Donald Trump, left, and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, right, stopping for coffee, in the
terminal of King Khalid International Airport following Trump’s arrival in Riyadh
AFP
Sicily, ITALY
May 25 -27
G7 summit
Rome, ITALY
May 23-24
Pope Francis
Riyadh, SAUDI ARABIA
May 20-22
King Salman
Summit of Muslim and Arab leaders
be disciplined in what he promises.
Don’t lose balance
In international relations as in physics,
every action has a reaction. Trump
needs to balance very complicated dynamics
over which he has shown little
understanding or interest. As Trump
ventures to Saudi Arabia first, for example,
the idea of an Arab Nato and
a $110bn arms deal will sound smashing.
Trump may envision that Arab
forces will come together in a great
alliance and fend off terrorists with
powerful weapons from America. But
the politics of any Arab force is complicated
by everything from disparate capabilities
to mutual suspicions across
Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
May 22
Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
May 23
President
Mahmud Abbas
the Gulf Cooperation Council.
An even bigger challenge is how
such a build-up would be viewed in
Israel. The US consistently constrains
its military sales to the Gulf to ensure
that Israel maintains a so-called Qualitative
Military Edge in the region.
This is not just policy, it is law passed
by Congress. Trump may march out
of Riyadh victorious — only to find
angry and resistant Israelis who will
oppose these initiatives and demand
new support. Back at home, Congress
may could block many of these
sales, leaving the president with another
embarrassing policy failure.
But Trump’s most challenging
balancing act will be between Israelis
and Palestinians. He must reassure
Israelis and demonstrate his
deep commitment to their security
— especially in the wake of revelations
that he shared sensitive Israeli
intelligence with Russia. However,
he must do this without alienating
Palestinians if he wishes to move
forward on a diplomatic initiative
with the two sides. Even the most
disciplined president would struggle
to strike this balance. Trump
seems to be failing at this mission:
the Israeli right, which in November
celebrated Trump’s elections, is already
turning against him over the
sense that plans to move the American
embassy to Jerusalem have
been shelved. •
[This is an excerpt of a Foreign Policy
article, which can be found at http://atfp.
co/2r3lu56]

4
Monday, May 22, 2017
DT
Week in Review
General strike grips Greece
MAY 15
Controversial new US ambassador arrives in Israel
AFP
Controversial new US ambassador to Israel David Friedman
arrived in the country on Monday to take up his post, days
ahead of a visit by US President Donald Trump.
Friedman, due to present his credentials to President Reuven
Rivlin on Tuesday, has been a strong supporter of Israeli
settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
After his arrival in Tel Aviv, Friedman visited the Western
Wall in Jerusalem, praying there and kissing the sacred site,
the holiest location where Jews are allowed to pray.
“I prayed for the president and I wished him success,
especially on his upcoming trip,” Friedman said in a video
posted on the US embassy’s Twitter feed.
“I know it’s going to be an amazing trip,” he said.
Friedman, a frequent visitor to Jerusalem, also exchanged
words near the wall with Steven Tyler of American
rock band Aerosmith, in town for a concert.
Jewish-American bankruptcy lawyer Friedman has
expressed scepticism over the two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the basis of years of US peace
efforts.
He has also advocated breaking with decades of precedent
by moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the
disputed city of Jerusalem, a prospect deeply alarming to
Palestinians.
MAY 16
Azerbaijan destroys Armenia air
defence system in disputed region
AFP
Azerbaijan has destroyed an Armenian
air defence system in the breakaway
Nagorny Karabakh region, officials
in Baku said Tuesday, as separatist
authorities vowed retaliation, raising
tensions in the festering conflict.
Ex-Soviet Azerbaijan and Armenia
are locked in a protracted conflict over
the disputed region, and frequent
exchanges of fire nearly spiralled into
all-out war last year.
“Azerbaijani forces destroyed on
Monday an Armenian Osa air defence
system and its crew in the Fisuli-Khojavend
sector of Karabakh’s frontline
in order to avert the threat it posed
to Azerbaijan’s aircraft,” an official of
Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said.
The separatist defence ministry in
Karabakh said in a statement that the
Azerbaijani army had damaged its military
equipment with a guided missile,
but denied casualties among its troops.
MAY 17
Embattled Trump says treated ‘unfairly’
AFP
An embattled Donald Trump complained
Wednesday that no US leader
had been treated “more unfairly,” as
top Republican lawmakers demanded
the facts on the swirling scandals
convulsing his presidency and rattling
world markets.
The White House has been thrown
into turmoil by a succession of stunning
allegations against the president, most
damagingly that he may have obstructed
justice by asking his FBI chief to
drop an investigation into one of his
top advisors.
“We need the facts,” Republican
House Speaker Paul Ryan said in reaction
to the explosive reports of Trump’s
request to the now-sacked James Comey,
coming on the heels of claims he
shared US secrets with Russian officials
in the Oval Office.
The crisis took an international bent
when President Vladimir Putin offered
to provide Congress with a record of
Trump’s controversial exchange with
Russia’s top diplomat last week -- a
suggestion immediately rebutted by
lawmakers.
Trump himself vented his frustration
during a commencement
address at the US Coast Guard
Academy.
“No politician in history, and I say
this with great surety, has been treated
worse or more unfairly,” he said. “You
can’t let them get you down.”
MAY 18
Russia launches ferry connection with N Korea
The first ever ferry service linking
Russia and North Korea was launched
on Thursday, the company operating
it said, hoping to serve tourists and
North Korean workers.
The ferry will travel weekly between
Russia’s city of Vladivostok and the
North Korean port of Rajin, said Vladimir
Baranov, director of InvestStroiTrest, the
company that operates the Man Gyong
AFP
Bong boat that will service the route.
Potential passengers include
“North Koreans coming to work in
Russia and tourists from northern
China who miss the sea because they
don’t have their own,” Baranov said.
Baranov said Russian tourist firms
had already expressed interest in the
possibility of Russians travelling to
North Korea by ferry.

Week in Review 5
DT
Monday, May 22, 2017
Greek lawmakers approved pension cuts and tax hikes on Thursday sought by the country’s
lenders to unlock vital financial aid, as angry demonstrators protested outside parliament
over new austerity, the latest since the country plunged into crisis seven years ago. Shortly
before the measures were approved just before midnight, protesters hurled petrol bombs and
firecrackers at police guarding the legislature. They responded with tear gas.
Picture shows riot police walk among flames by petrol bombs outside the parliament building
as Greek lawmakers vote on the latest round of austerity Greece has agreed with its lenders, in
Athens, Greece on May 18, 2017.
reuters
MAY 19
AFP
Sri Lanka to demolish 10,000
buildings after collapse
Sri Lanka said Friday it will demolish an estimated 10,000 illegally built
homes and offices in Colombo, a day after a seven-storey wedding hall
collapsed, killing one and wounding 23.
Urban Development Minister Champika Ranawaka said the casualties
could have been much higher if the hall had been hosting a wedding at
the time of its collapse, and that the owners would face criminal charges.
“This wedding hall is a clear example of the dangers posed by
unauthorised construction in Colombo,” the minister told reporters in
Colombo.
“A structural failure led to the collapse.”
The capital has a population of over 750,000 people, while another
half a million travel to it daily for work.
“Our estimate is that there are at least 10,000 illegally built homes,
apartments and offices in the city of Colombo,” the minister said.
“We will take immediate steps to remove them.”
Construction accidents are rare in Sri Lanka, but concerns have been
raised about building standards during a construction boom in the aftermath
of the island’s 37-year-long civil war that ended in 2009.
MAY 20
IS-claimed suicide bombings kill 35 in Iraq
Suicide bombings at checkpoints in Baghdad and south Iraq
claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 35 people and
wounded dozens more, officials said on Saturday.
The bombings, which hit Iraq the previous night, came as Iraqi
forces battle IS in Mosul in a massive operation launched more
than seven months ago to retake the country’s second city from
the jihadists.
In Baghdad, suicide car bombers attacked in the area of a
checkpoint in the city’s southern Abu Dsheer area, killing 24 people
and wounding 20, Brigadier General Saad Maan said.
Security forces were able to kill one of the attackers, but the
second blew up his car bomb, Maan said.
IS issued a statement claiming the attack but gave a different
account of how it unfolded, saying that one militant clashed with
security forces using a light weapon before detonating an explosive
belt, after which a second blew up a car bomb.
And in south Iraq, a suicide bomber blew up an explosives-rigged
vehicle at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the
city of Basra, killing 11 people and wounding 30, according to
Riyadh Abdulamir, the head of Basra province health department.
Another militant who left a second explosives-rigged vehicle
was killed by security forces, the Basra Operations Command said.
IS also claimed the Basra attack, but said that both bombs were
successfully detonated.
The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad
in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since
recaptured much of the territory they lost to the jihadists.
Security in Baghdad improved following the 2014 IS assault,
presumably because the jihadists were occupied with fighting and
control of territory elsewhere in the country.
MAY 21
Indian woman tops Everest twice in week, breaks record
An Indian climber Sunday reached the
summit of Mount Everest for the second
time in less than a week, her expedition
team said, setting a women’s record for
a double ascent of the world’s highest
mountain in a single season.
Anshu Jamsenpa, 37, returned from
the 29,028-feet peak on May 16, before
turning around after a short rest to repeat
the feat.
Jamsenpa, a mother of two, was blessed
by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai
Lama before leaving for the expedition.
The current female record, certified by
Guinness World Records, is held by Nepali
climber Chhurim Sherpa, who in 2012
become the first woman to scale the peak
twice in a season.
Jamsenpa has climbed Mount Everest
five times.
She intended to make the summit in
2014 but the climbing season was cancelled
after an avalanche killed 16 Nepali
guides.
Another attempt the following year
was foiled after an avalanche, this one
AFP
AFP
triggered by a massive earthquake that left
swathes of Nepal in ruins, killed 18 people
at Base Camp.

6
Monday, May 22, 2017
DT
Facts
‘WANNACRY’ RANSOMWARE ATTACKS
Worldwide attack has crippled more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries
Location of computers attacked
by the ‘WannaCry’ ransomware*
Recorded by security blog
MalwareTech in the 24 hours up to
May 16, 00:00GMT
*Malicious software
(malware) that encrypts files
on an infected computer
and demands payment to
unlock them
Attack started on May 12
Attackers demand payment
of $300 in virtual currency
Bitcoin
Sources : Intel.malwaretech.com/US Homeland Security/Europol/**National Security Agency
The virus uses a security
flaw in Microsoft’s Windows XP
operating system
Hackers exploited NSA** software
leaked earlier this year
What to know about Chelsea Manning as whistleblower
• Tribune Desk
Chelsea Manning, an Army soldier convicted
of leaking a trove of secret US documents,
was released from prison Wednesday
morning, about four months after
former President Obama drastically shortened
her sentence just before he left office.
The former intelligence analyst was
convicted of espionage after admitting
to illegally sending hundreds of
thousands of classified documents to
WikiLeaks. She received a 35-year prison
sentence in 2013 and came out as a
transgender woman shortly afterward.
Here’s what you need to know about
the whistleblower’s saga:
Who is she?
Chelsea Manning was an intelligence analyst
for the US Army when she disclosed
more than 700,000 confidential military
and diplomatic documents while serving in
Iraq in 2010. The Oklahoma-born Manning
wrote in an op-ed published by the New
York Times in 2014 that her decision to do
so stemmed from a “love” for her country
and a “sense of duty to others.” Manning
said she was trying to offer more transparency
about America’s involvement with
Iraq, particularly in regards to the country’s
elections. She said media reports painted
a picture at odds with reality due to limits
the US placed on American journalists.
Manning joined the Army in 2007 and was
deployed to Iraq about two years later.
What happened after the leak?
Manning was arrested in 2010 and admitted
her actions were illegal. She was
convicted and sentenced in 2013 for Espionage
Act violations and other offences
related to the massive leak. That year, she
came out as a transgender woman at a
men’s prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kans.
She sued the Department of Defence
in 2014, with help from the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), claiming
the federal agency was refusing to give
her medical treatment for her gender
dysphoria. Manning said the lack of care
drove her to try to commit suicide at least
twice and prompted her to go on a hunger
strike. The Department of Defence
granted Manning hormone treatment
in 2015. Last September, Manning said
the military told her it would be “moving
forward” with honouring her request for
gender reassignment surgery, allowing
her to see a surgeon. Manning tried to
commit suicide a month later while in solitary
confinement, a punishment imposed
after her first suicide attempt in July.
WIKILEAKS SOURCE CHELSEA MANNING
The transgender army private with a 35-year jail term for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks is due to walk free Wednesday,
after a commutation of her sentence by US president Barack Obama before he left office
AFP Photo/US Army/Saul Loeb
Formerly Bradley Manning
Military intelligence
analyst in Iraq
from November 2009
to his arrest
May 2010
Then 22 years old,
arrested in Iraq for handing
classified US documents
to WikiLeaks
August 2013
Found guilty of:
Espionage, fraud and theft
by releasing:
250,000 diplomatic
cables
500,000 military reports
Military videos from Iraq
and Afghanistan
Dossiers on people detained
in Guantanamo
Why is she being released early?
The 29-year-old Manning gets to leave
prison almost three decades before her
sentence is up because Obama in January
commuted her sentence to end on
May 17. More than 100,000 people had
called for the presidential commutation
in a White House online petition.
Made public on WikiLeaks
Anti-secrecy website run by
Australian Julian Assange
Prominent releases
April 2010
Video of US helicopter strike
in Baghdad in 2007 that killed
two Reuters employees
July
More than 90,000 classified
US military documents
relating to Afghanistan
October
400,000 military reports from
Iraq 2004 - 2009
November
First of more than 250,000
classified US diplomatic
cables start to appear
Manning’s attorney at the ACLU said
Obama’s decision “no doubt” saved Manning’s
life. Delays in her treatment “were
breaking her, and they likely would have
killed her,” Chase Strangio, an attorney
with the ACLU’s LGBT & AIDS Project, said
in a statement. “Instead of certain death,
it will be a chance at life,” Strangio said.
Photo taken on August 22, 2013
Manning, who is transgender,
legally changed her name to
Chelsea after sentencing
Has been held in an all-male
prison since conviction
Has attempted suicide twice
Seen as a hero by many
anti-war activists
Vilified by detractors who
say Manning’s actions put
American lives at risk
While her conviction is being appealed,
Manning will remain on active
duty after her release — which makes
her eligible for health coverage, but not
pay, Army spokesman Dave Foster told
USA Today. •
Source: Time

Insight
7
Monday, May 22, 2017
DT
What’s next for Iran after President Hassan
Rouhani’s win?
• Tribune Desk
Iran President Hassan Rouhani,
who won re-election on Saturday,
has spent three decades at the heart
of Iran’s revolutionary establishment
but still faces opposition from
hardliners for trying to rebuild ties
with the West.
The 68-year-old cleric, almost
always clad in his white turban, repeated
his convincing 2013 victory
by bringing together moderates and
reformists with his pledges to end
Iran’s isolation and improve civil
rights at home.
Born in Semnan province on November
12, 1948, Rouhani is married
with four children and holds
a doctorate in law from Scotland’s
Glasgow Caledonian University.
With his snow-white beard, he
comes across as jovial and scholarly,
if not overly charismatic, when
speaking in public.
His first term saw a groundbreaking
2015 deal with world powers
that ended many sanctions and
a 13-year standoff over Iran’s nuclear
programme.
But critics said he massively
oversold the economic benefits of
the nuclear agreement, and there
were fears that continuing stagnation
and high unemployment
would hurt his re-election bid.
That proved unfounded as Rouhani
sailed to victory against hardline
challenger Ebrahim Raisi, winning
57% of the vote on Friday, on
the back of a huge turnout.
His supporters hope another
resounding victory will give him
more leverage to ease social restrictions
and release activists and
opposition leaders jailed after mass
protests in 2009.
Rouhani’s extensive backroom
experience, cultivated as a protege
to the late revolutionary power-broker
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,
puts him in a strong position to
negotiate with more conservative
forces in the judiciary and security
forces.
The diplomatic sheikh
As Iran’s nuclear negotiator in 2003-
05, Rouhani earned the nickname
“the diplomatic sheikh” from his
European interlocutors, but that
was also the start of criticism from
hardliners at home who accused
him of kowtowing to the West.
Before then, Rouhani had been
firmly in the revolutionary establishment.
He held key defence
portfolios during the 1980-88 Iran-
Iraq war before spending 16 years
as secretary of the Supreme National
Security Council, Iran’s top
security post.
When student protesters took to
the streets in 1999, Rouhani called
them “bandits and saboteurs” and
most damningly “the corrupt of the
Earth” – a charge that carries the
death penalty in Iran.
He remains a member of the conservative
Association of Combatant
Clergy, although his position on
protesters seems to have softened
over the years.
Rouhani consistently sought to
rebuild relations with the United
States, and became the first Iranian
leader to speak with his counterpart
in Washington when Barack Obama
phoned in September 2013.
He has never been under any illusion
about the difficulties of the
relationship, telling US journalists
in 2002: “America is not keen on
independent countries... America is
keen on countries that completely
surrender themselves and act according
to America’s demands.”
After Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani’s electoral victory Saturday,
what’s next for the Islamic Republic?
Here’s some things to watch for:
2015 IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Major facilities
(approximate locations)
ARAK
Reactor to be redesigned
to prevent production of
weapons-grade plutonium
NATANZ
To be the only enrichment
site
SAUDI
ARABIA
IRAQ
Bushehr
1,000 MWe
pressurised
water reactor
Sources: IAEA/NTI/ISIS/USNRC/World-nuclear.org
CASPIAN
SEA
Isfahan
Research
reactors,
uranium
conversion
Re-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gestures after delivering a televised speech in Tehran on May 20, 2017
Hard-liners’ reaction
Those backing Ebrahim Raisi
will accept the results. However,
hard-liners within Iran’s judiciary
and security services will continue
to pressure Rouhani in different
ways. Even before the vote, hardline
elements routinely detained
dual nationals, likely seeking concessions
from the West. Artists,
journalists, models and others have
been targeted in crackdowns on expression.
Hard-liners probably will
challenge Rouhani in the country’s
parliament, especially over social
issues or any measure that appears
to be accepting or promoting Western
culture. The paramilitary Revolutionary
Guard, which answers
to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, will continue to launch
ballistic missiles and have close encounters
with US Navy vessels in
the Persian Gulf.
The economy
The nuclear deal with world powers
allowed Iran to start selling its
crude oil everywhere and the country
quickly re-entered Europe and
other key markets. However, their
re-entry comes as global crude prices
remain stuck around $50 a barrel,
about half the price when major
sanctions began to bite. Airbus and
Boeing Co have signed multi-billion-dollar
deals with Iran since the
accord as well. Iran was also reconnected
to the international banking
Nuclear site Reactor Uranium mine
Karaj
Holds some
enrichment
equipment
Parchin
Military base
Anarak
Nuclear
waste
disposal
TEHRAN
Main nuclear
research center
Sagand
Ardakan
Yellowcake
production plant
Gashin
TURKMENISTAN
FORDO
To retain 1,044 centrifuges,
not to be used for uranium
enrichment
Reported
uranium
reserves:
4,400 tonnes
system. Even so, many other international
firms remain hesitant to
re-enter the Iranian market for fear
of changing political winds that
may usher in new sanctions, jeopardising
their profits and any nascent
ventures.
Relations with the US
Donald Trump long threatened to
renegotiate the nuclear deal while
on the campaign trail. His administration
said it put Iran “on notice”
in February after issuing a series of
sanctions following ballistic missile
tests. But since then, Trump’s
administration has taken a key
step toward preserving the accord.
Rouhani’s win may ease some of
the tensions between the two nations,
as a hard-line victory could
have further imperilled the deal.
AFGHANISTAN
PAKISTAN
Closer inspections, under
the Additional Protocol,
including potentially of
military bases
IAEA surveillance
equipment to be installed
in mines and nuclear
facilities
Enrichment
The uranium enrichment process
increases the proportion of
U235, needed for energy
production, by separating it
from U238
Civil use: the proportion
of U235 is increased 4-5%
to produce fuel for power
stations
Military use: uranium
enriched to at least 90%
of U235 to produce
nuclear weapons
Under the deal
Slash the number of
uranium centrifuges from
about 19,000 to
5,060 for 10 years
Stockpile of low-enriched
uranium to be reduced
from 10,000 kg to 300 kg
for 15 years
AFP
It’s unlikely relations will ever be as
warm as they were between former
President Barack Obama and Rouhani,
as the two even once shared a
telephone call amid the nuclear negotiations,
the highest-level direct
communication since the 1979 US
Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.
Relations with Saudi Arabia
Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia on
Saturday is not going unnoticed
by Iran. The Sunni kingdom and
Shia power Iran haven’t had diplomatic
relations since early 2016.
That’s when Saudi Arabia executed
a prominent Shia cleric and protesters
in Iran attacked two of the kingdom’s
diplomatic posts. Saudi Arabia
immediately cut diplomatic ties
and other Sunni Arab countries in
the Gulf have taken a harder line on
Iran since. Many of those countries
worry about Iran’s regional intentions.
Iran backs Syrian President
Bashar Assad, supports Shia militias
battling the Islamic State group
in Iraq and has aided Shia rebels,
known as Houthis, holding Yemen’s
capital. Iran and Saudi Arabia have
held talks on allowing Iranians to
attend the annual hajj pilgrimage in
the Sunni kingdom, required of all
able-bodied Muslims once in their
lives. However, tensions remain.
The supreme leader
Khamenei, 77, is only the second
supreme leader in Iran’s history.
There have been concerns about
his health over the last few years.
He underwent prostate surgery in
2014. Iran’s president is one of three
members on a temporary council
that takes over the supreme leader’s
duties should his post become
vacant until a successor is named
by the panel known as the Assembly
of Experts. Rouhani and Raisi
both sit in that assembly. •