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Middle East
Obama To Lay Out Economic Recovery Plan For Middle East In Major Speech
President Obama plans to outline an ambitious economic recovery plan for the Middle East and Northern Africa designed to spur economic growth and build on democratic reforms that began in Egypt and Tunisia and have swept to countries across the region this Spring.
In major speech at the State Department Thursday, Obama will announce U.S. steps to cancel nearly a billion dollars worth of Egyptian and Tunisian debt, establish a Egyptian-American private enterprise fund and guarantee up to a billion dollars in borrowing through the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a U.S. agency that mobilizes private-sector investment in new and emerging markets, according to senior administration officials.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bahrain, Barack Obama, Egypt, George Mitchell, Libya, Middle East, Middle East peace, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, democratic reforms
Syria
Obama Imposes Tougher Sanctions On Syria
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
President Obama Wednesday announced tougher sanctions against Syria and its President, Bashar al Assad, as well as other senior officials in his government, in an effort to turn up the pressure on his regime and their increasingly deadly crackdown against peaceful protesters.
Previously, the United States has frozen assets and banned trade deals with senior Syrian government officials including al Assad in an effort to convince him to end the violent response rebel groups in Syria and their desire to institute democratic reforms.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Bashar al-Assad, Middle East, Syria, Treasury, democratic reforms
Osama Bin Laden
U.S. Officials Interviewed OBL's Wives, White House Confirms
Osama Bin Laden
The White House confirmed Friday that Pakistan has allowed U.S. officials to interview three of Osama bin Laden's wives, all of whom were living with him at his Abbottabad compound before a Navy SEAL team stormed it and killed bin Laden nearly two weeks ago.
In the aftermath of the U.S. raid on the hideaway, U.S. lawmakers and officials have accused at least some elements of the Pakistani government of helping harbor bin Laden and have been watching Pakistan's reaction to his killing closely. The wives, one of whom was injured during the raid, were taken into custody by Pakistani security forces after the SEALs left the compound.
White House spokesman Jay Carney was tight-lipped about the interrogation aside from confirming that it had occurred. He would not say who questioned the women or whether they cooperated.
"I can't characterize the interaction except to say that we have had access," Carney said, "And we obviously appreciate the cooperation we've received from the Pakistani government."
The White House and the Pentagon have not said exactly when this week U.S. officials questioned the wives. The Pakistani Taliban on Friday took credit for twin suicide bombings that killed at least 80 people outside a paramilitary training center in Shabqadar, Pakistan earlier in the day. A Taliban spokesman said the explosions were in retaliation for the killing of bin Laden.
Carney said the U.S. government remains in a "state of high vigilance" since the raid.
"We take very seriously the fact that while al Qaeda is weakened, it is not dead," Carney said.
President Obama plans to deliver a major speech on the events in the Middle East and North Africa and U.S. Policy in the region Thursday at the State Department.
From Carney's descriptions, the speech will be "fairly sweeping and comprehensive" focused on the democratic uprisings in the region that have taken place since January and how the U.S. has responded to the upheaval.
"[The President] has always viewed the future of the region through the prism of democratization and the yearning of the people...in the region for greater political freedom, participation in their government, desire for responsive governments that address their grievances," Carney said. "I'm sure he will call as he has in the past on the governments in the region to respond to those demands through peaceful political dialogue."
Obama plans to focus on the irony he sees in some leaders' violent crackdowns in the name of stability when those brutal actions are only leading to great instability in the country and the region, Carney told reporters.
At one point during the press briefing, Carney was asked whether he had information about Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's whereabouts and reports that he was no longer in Tripoli and is likely injured.
"Nothing I can share," Carney replied.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Barack Obama, CIA, Libya, Middle East, Muammar Qaddafi, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, democratic reforms
Syria
Obama Imposes New Sanctions Against Syria
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
The White House imposed new sanctions on Syria Friday and called on other U.S. allies to follow suit.
President Obama announced the sanctions through a White House executive order in response to a violent crackdown on protesters airing grievances with the government of Bashar Al-Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for four decades.
Syrian citizens Friday crowded the streets in more than 30 cities and towns across the country for its latest "day of rage" protests, promptly a deadly blow from Al-Assad's military, which killed nearly 30 people, according to a Syrian human rights group.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Bashar al-Assad, Middle East, Syria, United Nations, White House, democratic reforms, human rights abuses
Syria
U.S. Considering Targeted Syria Sanctions
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
The Obama administration is weighing targeted sanctions against Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime for their increasingly violent backlash against anti-government protesters.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that targeted sanctions is one way to turn up the heat on Assad and convince him to allow protesters to air their grievances against the government without fearing for their lives.
"We are considering targeted sanctions to respond to the crackdown in Syria," Carney told reporters at a Monday briefing as the administration stepped up its denunciations of the Syrian government. "We're looking at other means to increase the pressure on Syria in a meaningful way."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Bashar al-Assad, Libya, Middle East, Muammar Qaddafi, Syria, democratic reforms
Barack Obama
State Department Signed Off On McCain's Libya Trip
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
The U.S. State Department signed off on and supports Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) Friday trip to Libya where he met with rebel forces engaged in a fierce battle with Muammar Qaddafi over control of the country.
"We were aware that Sen. McCain would be making the trip and State supported the codel," White House spokesman Jay Carney told TPM in an e-mail Friday afternoon.
When asked whether McCain was there as an official emissary for the State Department or White House, Carney told reporters earlier only: "No. No that I'm aware of."
An early proponent of U.S. military strikes in Libya, McCain arrived in the country Friday just hours before Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's joint chiefs of staff, publicly warned that the conflict was moving into a stalemate as Qaddafi's troops pressed on in an attempt to take back the rebel-controlled areas in Misrata.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Jay Carney, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, State Department, democratic reforms
Libya
U.S., UK and France: Qaddafi Must Comply With No-Fly Zone
President Barack Obama
President Barack Obama and his British and French counterparts are demanding that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi immediately comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution creating a no-fly zone aimed at protecting civilians from attacks.
Obama phoned British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy Thursday evening after the Security Council vote on the resolution authorizing the no-fly zone and "all necessary measures" to protect the Libyan people from Qaddafi's forces, the White House said in a statement.
Topics: Arab League, Barack Obama, China, David Cameron, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, Nicolas Sarkozy, Russia, democratic reforms, no-fly zone
Egypt
President Obama to Mubarak: Please Explain the Changes You Have Made
President Barack Obama
President Obama is calling on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to clearly and quickly explain the changes he has made to the government and pledged transfer of power and urged him not to react with violence to the increasing calls for his removal.
Obama was reacting to a rambling and sometimes confusing speech in which Mubarak pledged to transfer at least some of his powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman, change the constitution and heed the calls of the Egyptian people for democratic reforms.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Omar Suleiman, democratic reforms
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