US Will Lift Ban On Offensive Weapons Sales To Saudi Arabia
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US Will Lift Ban On Offensive Weapons Sales To Saudi Arabia

zerohedge

Via Middle East Eye

The Biden administration will lift its ban on the sales of offensive weaponry to Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported on Friday, a move that reverses the three-year US ban amidst ongoing attempts by the administration to broker a Saudi-Israel normalisation deal.

The move comes against the backdrop of the 10-month-long Israeli war on Gaza and after Middle East Eye’s reporting that Russia has deployed military intelligence officers to assist Yemen’s Houthis with targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

Saudi army officers walk past F-15 fighter jets at King Salman air base in Riyadh, AFP.

A congressional aide told Reuters that the administration briefed Congress this week on the decision, and another source said that Biden was moving ahead on Friday afternoon with notifications about a sale. “The Saudis have met their end of the deal, and we are prepared to meet ours,” a senior Biden administration official told Reuters.

Middle East Eye reached out to the White House for comment on the report, but didn’t hear back by time of publication.

The Biden administration first invoked the ban on offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia in February 2022, a move that came after US lawmakers, progressive activists, and antiwar groups were calling on Washington to end its support of the Saudi-led coalition’s war efforts in Yemen.

War broke out in Yemen in 2014 after the Houthi rebel group seized the capital Sanaa, prompting Saudi Arabia and allied Gulf Arab countries – chiefly the United Arab Emirates – to launch a coalition to fight against the Houthi gains and reinstate the internationally recognised government.

The Saudi-led coalition launched a brutal bombing campaign that killed thousands of Yemeni civilians. Outrage spread in the US when reports began to emerge that US-supplied bombs were being used by coalition forces in attacks that killed civilians.

However, the harder line taken by the Biden administration against Saudi Arabia soon began to fade, most notably since last year as the US attempted to broker a historic deal that would see Saudi Arabia and Israel normalise diplomatic relations for the first time in history.

At the same time, the US and the UK have for months been actively battling Yemen’s Houthis in the Red Sea, launching several air strikes on Houthi military sites as the armed group responded with attacks on American naval vessels and downing multiple armed reaper drones.

The Houthis, whose fight against the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has been paused due to a UN-brokered ceasefire in April 2022 that has so far held, began to target ships travelling to and from Israel in the Red Sea last year, in what they said was in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

The Houthis also claimed responsibility for a deadly drone attack in Tel Aviv in July, which prompted Israel to launch air strikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. “We are regularly conducting airstrikes to degrade Houthi capabilities, an effort that is ongoing and will continue together with a coalition of partners,” a senior Biden official told Reuters.

“We have designated the Houthis as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, and we will have imposed sanctions and additional costs on the Houthi smuggling networks and military apparatus. This pressure will continue to build over the coming weeks.”

Middle East Eye’s reporting of the assistance to the Houthis provided by Moscow, a major rival to the US, has added another dimension to the situation.

The US has been actively providing Ukraine with billions of dollars in military support, including advanced weaponry such as tanks, amid Kyiv’s efforts to fend off a Russian invasion that began in 2022.

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Originally Posted at; https://www.zerohedge.com//

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Nine US Senators Launch Inquiry Into Kamala Harris’ Failure As ‘Broadband Czar’

Nine US Senators Launch Inquiry Into Kamala Harris’ Failure As ‘Broadband Czar’

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr criticized the Biden-Harris administration, pointing out that their $42.45 billion program to bring high-speed internet to rural America has yet to connect a single person. He said it had been 1,038 days, and “not a single person has been connected” since the program debuted.

Carr on X pushed out a post in the early afternoon of Wednesday featuring a new letter from nine US senators, including Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), stressing concern about VP Harris’ time as ‘broadband czar’ entirely mismanaged the $42.45 billion program to connect rural America. Considering that not a single home in rural America has been connected, the senators warned that the failures are piling up for VP Harris, citing her failure as ‘border czar.’

Dear Vice President Harris:

We are writing to express serious concerns regarding your role as the Biden-Harris administration’s “broadband czar” and the mismanagement of federal broadband initiatives under your leadership. It appears that your performance as “broadband czar” has mirrored your performance as “border czar,” marked by poor management and a lack of effectiveness despite significant federal broadband investments and your promises to deliver broadband to rural areas.

As you are aware, Congress, through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, provided the National Telecommunications and Information Administration with $42.45 billion for the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. These funds are intended to provide broadband access to unserved communities, particularly those in rural areas.

In 2021, you were specifically tasked by President Biden to lead the administration’s efforts to expand broadband services to unserved Americans. And at the time, you stated, “we can bring broadband to rural America today.” Despite your assurances over three years ago, rural and unserved communities continue to wait for the connectivity they were promised. Under your leadership, not a single person has been connected to the internet using the $42.45 billion allocated for the BEAD program. Indeed, Politico recently reported on “the messy, delayed rollout of” this program.

Instead of focusing on delivering broadband services to unserved areas, your administration has used the BEAD program to add partisan, extralegal requirements that were never envisioned by Congress and have obstructed broadband deployment. By imposing burdensome climate change mandates on infrastructure projects, prioritizing government-owned networks over private investment, mandating the use of unionized labor in states, and seeking to regulate broadband rates, your administration has caused unnecessary delays leaving millions of Americans unconnected.

The administration’s lack of focus on truly connecting the unconnected has failed the American people and represents a gross misuse of limited taxpayer dollars. The American public deserves better.

‘All-In’ podcast host Jason Calacanis recently said, “Our government is corrupt and stealing our money. United airlines just put Starlink on 1,000+ planes, but the FCC claims we need to spend 5-10k per rural home for wired connections?!? These homes are putting starlink in on their nickel while they wait for a cable modem in 10 years — wtf??? Pure corruption or insane stupidity — you decide!”

Carr recently chimed in and said Elon Musk’s Starlink offered the FCC a secured commitment of $1,300 per household for 640,000 rural locations. He said in 2023, the federal government rejected Starlink and decided to spend $100,000 per location. 

Musk said Wednesday that the FCC rejected Starlink because of “lawfare.” 

Here’s what X users are saying about an inefficient and what appears to be a ‘corruption’ within the Biden-Harris admin:

Good question.

* * *

Tyler Durden
Wed, 09/18/2024 – 18:00

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