Tunis: Tunisia welcomed the decision by Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume diplomatic ties, the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Tunisia wished to see the step contribute to strengthening regional security and stability, uprooting tension, and establishing a new phase of cooperation between regional countries, the Ministry added on Saturday in a statement.
The Ministry also praised the role played by China in facilitating the Saudi-Iran agreement, Xinhua news agency reported.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to restore diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies and missions within two months after China-mediated talks in Beijing. They have also agreed to hold talks between foreign ministers to arrange ambassadors’ exchange and explore ways to strengthen bilateral relations.
Srinagar: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday welcomed Iran and Saudi Arabia’s decision to re-establish diplomatic relations after years of tensions and expressed hope that it will act as a harbinger of greater cooperation in the Islamic world.
Iran and Saudi Arabia on Friday agreed to resume diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions. The major diplomatic breakthrough was negotiated with China.
Tensions have been high between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The kingdom broke off ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters invaded Saudi diplomatic posts there.
“Restoration of ties and reopening of diplomatic missions between the two countries is a welcome step that will have wide-ranging implications across the Muslim world,” Abdullah said in a statement here.
The former Union minister expressed hope the move will act as a harbinger of greater cooperation in the Islamic world in particular and the world community in general.
“This dialling down of tensions and de-escalation will not just benefit the Gulf region, but the world at large,” Abdullah said.
Riyadh: World leaders have welcomed the announcement that Saudi Arabia and Iran have reached an agreement to resume diplomatic relations which were severed in 2016.
The decision to re-establish relations came following talks that took place from March 6-10 in Beijing, reports Al Arabiya.
The announcement, which was made on Friday in a joint statement with China, has been welcomed across the globe as a victory for peace and dialogue.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement.
The French Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that the Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna supports dialogue and any initiative that can make a tangible contribution to calming tensions and strengthening regional security and stability.
Jordan on Friday welcomed the trilateral statement issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China on resuming diplomatic relations, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in Amman expressing hope that this agreement would contribute to enhancing security and stability in the region, in a way that preserves the sovereignty of states while avoiding interference in their internal affairs, and serves common interests, Al Arabiya reported.
Pakistan said that it firmly believes that this important diplomatic breakthrough will contribute to peace and stability in the region and beyond.
The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs also affirmed the country support for this agreement, hoping that it would contribute to strengthening the pillars of security and stability in the region.
The Kingdom of Bahrain also welcomed the agreement. The Ministry also expressed hope that this agreement would constitute a positive step on the road to resolving differences and ending all regional conflicts through dialogue and diplomatic means.
It praised the leading role of Saudi Arabia in supporting security, peace, and stability, as well as in pursuing diplomacy in settling regional and international disputes.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey also welcomed the agreement.
In a statement, it congratulated the two countries on the agreement, which it said contributes significantly to laying the foundations for security in the region, Al Arabiya reported.
Videos released by Iranian state media showed Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, with Saudi national security adviser Musaad bin Mohammed al-Aiban and Wang Yi, China’s most senior diplomat.
The joint statement calls for the reestablishing of ties and the reopening of embassies to happen “within a maximum period of two months.” A meeting of their foreign ministers is also planned.
In the video, Wang could be heard offering “wholehearted congratulations” on the two countries’ “wisdom.”
“Both sides have displayed sincerity,” he said. “China fully supports this agreement.”
China, which last month hosted Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, is also a top purchaser of Saudi oil. Xi visited Riyadh in December for meetings with oil-rich Gulf Arab nations crucial to China’s energy supplies.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Shamkhani as calling the talks “clear, transparent, comprehensive and constructive.”
“Removing misunderstandings and the future-oriented views in relations between Tehran and Riyadh will definitely lead to improving regional stability and security, as well as increasing cooperation among Persian Gulf nations and the world of Islam for managing current challenges,” Shamkhani said.
Al-Aiban thanked Iraq and Oman for mediating talks between Iran and the kingdom, according to a transcript of his remarks published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
“While we value what we have reached, we hope that we will continue to continue the constructive dialogue,” the Saudi official said.
Tensions long have been high between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The kingdom broke off ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters invaded Saudi diplomatic posts there. Saudi Arabia had executed a prominent Shiite cleric with 46 others days earlier, triggering the demonstrations.
The execution came as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, then a deputy, began his rise to power. The son of King Salman, Prince Mohammed previously compared Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Adolf Hitler, and also threatened to strike Iran.
In the years since, the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks after that, including one targeting the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry in 2019, temporarily halving the kingdom’s crude production.
Though Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels initially claimed the attack, Western nations and experts have blamed it on Tehran. Iran long has denied launching the attack. It has also denied carrying out other assaults later attributed to the Islamic Republic.
Religion also plays a key role in their relations. Saudi Arabia, home to the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims pray toward five times a day, has long portrayed itself as the world’s leading Sunni nation. Iran’s theocracy meanwhile views itself as the protector of the Islam’s Shiite minority.
The two powerhouses also have competing interests elsewhere, such as in the turmoil now tearing at Lebanon and in the rebuilding of Iraq after decades of war following the U.S.-led 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The leader of the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia and political group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, praised the agreement as “an important development” that could “open new horizons” in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Iraq, Oman and the United Arab Emirates also praised the accord.
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute who long has studied the region, said Saudi Arabia reaching the deal with Iran came after the United Arab Emirates reached a similar understanding with Tehran.
“This dialing down of tensions and deescalation has been underway for three years and this was triggered by Saudi acknowledgement in their view that without unconditional U.S. backing they were unable to project power vis-a-vis Iran and the rest of the region,” he said.
Prince Mohammed, now focused on massive construction projects in his own country, likely wants to finally pull out of the Yemen war as well, Ulrichsen added.
“Instability could do a lot of damage to his plans,” he said.
The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weaponry and intelligence entered the war on the side of Yemen’s exiled government in March 2015. Years of inconclusive fighting created a humanitarian disaster and pushed the Arab world’s poorest nation to the brink of famine.
A six-month cease-fire in Yemen’s war, the longest of the conflict, expired in October despite diplomatic efforts to renew it.
In recent months, negotiations have been ongoing, including in Oman, a longtime interlocutor between Iran and the U.S. Some have hoped for an agreement ahead of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which will begin later in March. Iran and Saudi Arabia have held off-and-on talks in recent years, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether Yemen was the impetus for this new detente.
Yemeni rebel spokesperson Mohamed Abdulsalam appeared to welcome the deal in a statement that also slammed the U.S. and Israel. “The region needs the return of normal relations between its countries, through which the Islamic society can regain its lost security as a result of the foreign interventions, led by the Zionists and Americans,″ he wrote online.
For Israel, which has wanted to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia despite the Palestinians remaining without a state of their own, Riyadh easing tensions with Iran could complicate its own calculations in the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure politically at home, has threatened to take military action against Iran’s nuclear program as it enriches closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. Riyadh seeking peace with Tehran takes one potential ally for a strike off the table. Netanyahu’s government offered no immediate comment Friday to the news.
It remains unclear, however, what this means for America. Though long viewed as guaranteeing Middle East energy security, regional leaders have grown increasingly wary of Washington’s intentions after its chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the announced deal.
However, the White House bristled at the notion that a Saudi-Iran agreement in Beijing suggests a rise of Chinese influence in the Mideast.
“I would stridently push back on this idea that we’re stepping back in the Middle East — far from it,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.
He added: “It really does remain to be seen whether the Iranians are going to honor their side of the deal. This is not a regime that typically honors its word.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Riyadh: Iraq and Oman welcomed on Friday the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to re-establish diplomatic ties, media reported.
The countries earlier on Friday said they would also open embassies and exchange ambassadors within a period of two months, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Iraq hailed “turning a new page” between Riyadh and Tehran, the country’s state press agency said on Friday. Oman also welcomed the plans, its foreign ministry said.
Saudi Arabia and Iran had thanked both Oman and Iraq for hosting previous talks in 2021 and 2022, Al Arabiya reported.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties, reopen embassies and exchange ambassadors within a period of two months, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said on Friday, Al Arabiya reported.
The decision to re-establish relations, which were severed in 2016, came following talks that took place from March 6 through March 10 in Beijing, SPA reported citing a trilateral statement issued by the Kingdom, Iran and China.
“Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to respect state sovereignty and not interfere in internal matters,” the statement said, adding that the two countries’ foreign ministers will meet soon to arrange for the exchange of envoys and discuss means to enhance ties, Al Arabiya reported.
Riyadh and Tehran also agreed to activate the security cooperation agreement signed in 2001 and the trade, economy and investment agreement signed in 1998.
According to the statement, China’s President Xi Jinping had made an initiative to host and sponsor talks between delegates from Iran and Saudi Arabia to resolve disputes via dialogue and diplomacy, Al Arabiya reported.
The Saudi delegation was headed by Minister of State and National Security Adviser Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, while the Iranian delegation was headed by Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
During the talks, China was represented by Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi.
Saudi Arabia and Iran thanked China for hosting and sponsoring the recent talks and for the efforts exerted to help them succeed. They also thanked Iraq and Oman for hosting dialogue sessions between the two countries’ representatives in 2021 and 2022, Al Arabiya reported.
“Saudi Arabia, Iran and China are keen on making all (necessary) efforts to strengthen regional and international peace and security.”
Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran after two of its diplomatic posts were attacked in Tehran and Mashhad in 2016.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
PARIS — Vegetarian sushi and rugby brought the leaders of Britain and France together after years of Brexit rows.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday held the two countries’ first bilateral summit in five years, amid warm words and wishes for closer post-Brexit cooperation.
“This is an exceptional summit, a moment of reunion and reconnection, that illustrates that we want to better speak to each other,” Macron told a joint press conference afterward. “We have the will to work together in a Europe that has new responsibilities.”
Most notably from London’s perspective, the pair agreed a new multi-annual financial framework to jointly tackle the arrival of undocumented migrants on small boats through the English Channel — in part funding a new detention center in France.
“The U.K. and France share a special bond and a special responsibility,” Sunak said. “When the security of our Continent is threatened, we will always be at the forefront of its defense.”
Macron congratulated Sunak for agreeing the Windsor Framework with the European Commission, putting an end to a long U.K.-EU row over post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland, and stressing it marks a “new beginning of working more closely with the EU.”
“I feel very fortunate to be serving alongside you and incredibly excited about the future we can build together. Merci mon ami,” Sunak said.
It has been many years since the leaders of Britain and France were so publicly at ease with each other.
Sunak and Macron bonded over rugby, ahead of Saturday’s match between England and France, and exchanged T-shirts signed by their respective teams.
Later, they met alone at the Élysée Palace for more than an hour, only being joined by their chiefs of staff at the very end of the meeting, described as “warm and productive” by Sunak’s official spokesman. The pair, who spoke English, had planned to hold a shorter one-to-one session, but they decided to extend it, the spokesman said.
They later met with their respective ministers for a lunch comprising vegetarian sushi, turbot, artichokes and praline tart.
Macron congratulated Sunak for agreeing the Windsor Framework with the European Commission | Christophe Archambault/AFP via Getty Images
Speaking on the Eurostar en route to Paris, Sunak told reporters this was the beginning of a “new chapter” in the Franco-British relationship.
“It’s been great to get to know Emmanuel over the last two months. There’s a shared desire to strengthen the relationship,” he said. “I really believe that the range of things that we can do together is quite significant.”
In a show of goodwill from the French, who pushed energetically for a hard line during Brexit talks, Macron said he wanted to “fix the consequences of Brexit” and opened the door to closer cooperation with the Brits in the future.
“It’s my wish and it’s in our interests to have closest possible alliance. It will depend on our commitment and willingness but I am sure we will do it,” he said alongside Sunak.
Tackling small boats
Under the terms of the new migration deal, Britain will pay €141 million to France in 2023-24, €191 million in 2024-25 and €209 million in 2025-26.
This money will come in installments and go toward funding a new detention center in France, a new Franco-British command centre, an extra 500 law enforcement officers on French beaches and better technology to patrol them, including more drones and surveillance aircraft.
The new detention center, located in the Dunkirk area, would be funded by the British and run by the French and help compensate for the lack of space in other detention centers in northern France, according to one of Macron’s aides.
According to U.K. and French officials, France is expected to contribute significantly more funding — up to five times the amount the British are contributing — toward the plan although the Elysée has refused to give exact figures.
A new, permanent French mobile policing unit will join the efforts to tackle small boats. This work will be overseen by a new zonal coordination center, where U.K. liaison officers will be permanently based working with French counterparts.
Sunak stressed U.K.-French cooperation on small boats since November has made a significant difference, and defended the decision to hand more British money to France to help patrol the French northern shores. Irregular migration, he stressed, is a “joint problem.”
Ukraine unity
Sunak and Macron also made a show of unity on the war in Ukraine, agreeing that their priority would be to continue to support the country in its war against Russian aggression.
The French president said the “ambition short-term is to help Ukraine to resist and to build counter-offensives.”
“The priority is military,” he said. “We want a lasting peace, when Ukraine wants it and in the conditions that it wants and our will is to put it in position to do so.”
The West’s top priority should remain helping Ukrainians achieve “a decisive battlefield advantage” that later allows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sit down at the negotiating table with Russian President Vladimir Putin from a stronger position, Sunak said en route to the summit.
“That should be everyone’s focus,” he added. “Of course, this will end as all conflicts do, at the negotiating table. But that’s a decision for Ukraine to make. And what we need to do is put them in the best possible place to have those talks at an appropriate moment that makes sense for them.”
The two leaders also announced they would start joint training operations of Ukrainian marines.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
Even Fox News, a network that has kept Trump at arm’s length in recent months, ended up airing some of his speech live on television following complaints from the CPAC mainstage a day earlier about a lack of Trump coverage.
In his one-hour, 45-minute CPAC finale speech, Trump boasted that the crowd here was firmly with him while bashing Republicans who were once stars of the annual confab.
“We had a Republican Party that was ruled by freaks, neocons, globalists, open border zealots, and fools, but we are never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove, and Jeb Bush,” Trump said to the crowd. “People are tired of RINOs and globalists. They want to see America First.”
Speaking to a not-quite-full convention hall, Trump painted a bleak picture of the current state of the world, complained about the numerous investigations he faces and described his run for president as the “final battle” for his supporters.
“Either they win or we win. And if they win, we no longer have a country,” Trump said.
Earlier, during a gaggle with reporters, Trump said he would “absolutely” stay in the 2024 race even if indicted in any of the investigations he faces over handling of classified documents and the aftermath of the 2020 election.
Trump received some of the loudest applause from the audience when taking on culture war battles over parental rights and women’s sports. And while he railed about election laws, he drastically changed his tune on mail-in ballots and early voting. “We have to change our thinking because some bad things happened,” Trump said. “You have to do it.”
The annual conference once welcomed Republicans of all stripes, but this year it was clearly steeped in MAGA. Beyond Trump, headliners included some of the former president’s most loyal allies in Congress. And while there were other 2024 contenders like former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and “anti-woke” entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, the biggest threat to Trump’s presidential run, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and other prominent Republicans were hundreds of miles away.
That didn’t seem to matter to the crowd here.
During one of the most rousing speeches of the multi-day conference, former Trump adviser and conservative talk show host Steve Bannon on Friday suggested that the Republican primary starting to play out was a futile exercise.
“Don’t fall for the primary stuff,” Bannon said from the CPAC stage. “You have good and decent people. Gov. DeSantis, Mike Pompeo, Tim Scott, you have Nikki Haley — that’s all fine. It’s not relevant.”
Bannon continued by telling the crowd they “don’t have time for on-the-job training” for a new leader, when Republicans have “a man that gave us four years — four years — of peace and prosperity.”
“Buckle up,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the No. 3 House Republican, told POLITICO in an interview at the conclusion of the conference. “Trump is going to win the primary and defeat Joe Biden.”
It was a sentiment shared by most CPAC attendees — who literally wore their Trump support on their sleeve, like one attendee with a tattoo of Trump’s face. People wore Trump T-shirts and bedazzled Trump clutches. They posed for photos in a mock Trump Oval Office set up by a pro-Trump super PAC, complete with a faux Resolute Desk that was sourced from a souvenir shop near the White House. Overall, they seemed uninterested in any other 2024 candidate. And many weren’t exactly polite about their unwavering support for Trump.
Despite garnering applause throughout parts of her speech, Haley stepped out of the main hall Friday to a crowd of MAGA hat-wearing hecklers. Part of the mob surrounding her broke out in chants of “Trump.”
And during a speech by Ramaswamy, another declared presidential candidate, a voice in the crowd shouted out “Trump 2024!” Ramaswamy sought to defuse the brief moment of tension, saying he “love(s) the man” and would discuss the former president later in his speech.
But when Ramaswamy got to that point, he didn’t take even a minor swipe at Trump, as he had initially planned. Excerpts from his prepared speech, obtained by POLITICO beforehand, showed that Ramaswamy was going to say that he respects Trump and believes he cares about national unity, but Trump would have already delivered on unifying the country if he had truly intended to do so.
“That’s what I can deliver that he can’t,” Ramaswamy had planned to say, according to the prepared remarks.
Instead, Ramaswamy skipped over that line, only saying that both he and Trump care about national unity.
Save for a couple of vague comments that could be construed as digs at Trump — Pompeo cautioning against following “celebrity leaders” with “fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality,” and Haley again calling for competency tests for politicians over 75 — no one dared to criticize the former president.
Trump’s rivals, however, were by no means rewarded by him for holding their fire. A few hours before he took the stage on Saturday, Trump posted a meme on his social media app of rows of empty chairs while Haley was on stage Friday. “Nikki Haley speaking at CPAC,” was emblazoned across the bottom of the image.
But Trump mostly held off when he was asked by reporters ahead of his speech about a potential DeSantis challenge and what it says about his own leadership if former Trump administration officials, like Haley, are getting in the race. Many Trump allies see an advantage with a large primary field, with the non-Trump candidates potentially splintering the vote — a scenario similar to the one that played out in the 2016 primary.
“I really say the more the merrier. I mean, they think they did a good job,” Trump said. “They’re very ambitious people, but they think they did a good job.”
Despite holding off on the broadsides, Trump did not commit to signing any kind of loyalty pledge in order to participate in RNC debates.
“There are people I probably wouldn’t be very happy about endorsing … I won’t use names, I don’t want to insult anyone, but I wouldn’t be happy about it,” Trump said.
Trump overwhelmingly won CPAC’s conference straw poll, garnering 62 percent support from attendees compared to 20 percent for DeSantis. Trump’s 40-point margin was similar to straw polls conducted at prior years’ CPAC events, illustrating the former president’s enduring grip on the party’s activist class.
But the poll did feature one twist: Perry Johnson, a little-known Michigan millionaire and failed gubernatorial candidate who announced his presidential run last week, earned 5 percent support. That put Johnson in third place, ahead of Haley and Ramaswamy.
Johnson, whose bus was prominently parked outside the Gaylord National, had the only campaign booth in the CPAC exhibit hall on Thursday. His staffers passed out branded items and invited guests to attend a VIP reception while also encouraging attendees to cast a vote for him in the straw poll.
The conference once attracted a broad spectrum of conservative voices from Paul Ryan to Rick Santorum. But now, it has become almost entirely focused on Trump and the America First movement he inspired. On Friday night at the annual Ronald Reagan Dinner, attendees paid $375 for a steak and fish dinner and to hear from Kari Lake, the failed gubernatorial candidate who is considering a run for Senate in Arizona and is a popular Trump surrogate.
“We took the whole thing over,” said conservative radio host John Fredericks, calling this year’s event the “disruptor CPAC of all time.”
Some of the GOP’s top leaders didn’t show at the large gathering this year, while a past major sponsor, Fox News, also steered clear. Matt Schlapp, who heads CPAC, has not appeared on the network since allegations surfaced in January that he sexually assaulted a GOP campaign staffer in October — a claim Schlapp denies.
“CPAC was a sanitized, corporatized, Wall Street-backed organization with big donors. They’re all eradicated,” Fredericks said. “The populist movement has taken it over.”
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., his daughter in law, Lara Trump, and future daughter in law, Kimberly Guilfoyle, were main-stage speakers. Other headliners included some of Trump’s biggest allies in Congress, like Sen. J.D. Vance from Ohio and Rep. Matt Gaetz from Florida. But notably, the only member of Republican congressional leadership to attend was Stefanik, the New York congresswoman who was one of the first to endorse Trump for president. She said the support for Trump at CPAC was a reflection of the “grassroots,” adding, “Trump is in the strongest position by a longshot.”
“I don’t know about you guys, but this feels like MAGA Country,” Trump Jr. said as he took the stage on Friday, instructing attendees to check under their seats for a gold chocolate bar — “a golden ticket,” he said, for entry to an exclusive reception Saturday held by a super PAC supporting his father.
Trump Jr. then quickly pivoted to attacking other Republicans mulling a primary run against Trump, most of whom skipped CPAC to attend a Club for Growth donor retreat in Palm Beach this weekend. Among those appearing at the anti-tax group’s cattle call were DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu. Trump was not invited to attend the dueling event.
“They’re raising money from the people who don’t necessarily believe in America First,” Trump Jr. continued. “But they need their money.”
At the Club for Growth event, DeSantis touted his record as Florida governor and criticized Republicans who have sat like “potted plants” during “woke ideology” debates, according to Fox News. Haley sought to make her case for being the GOP alternative to Trump, calling herself “decisive” for officially getting in the primary while other candidates at the retreat were “hemming and hawing on the sidelines.”
“All the major conferences that cater to the grassroots are with MAGA and the people are with Trump,” said Alex Bruesewitz, a Republican strategist and influencer. “The donors are with the Washington establishment Republicans — and there is a major disconnect.”
This year’s CPAC had the usual trappings of the annual grassroots confab, like an exhibition hall filled with an assortment of pro-Trump paraphernalia and information booths for businesses run by or catering to Republicans, such as a booth for the Right Stuff, a dating app for right wing singles run by a former top Trump White House aide, Johnny McEntee.
Inside a private reception ahead of Trump’s speech, an event sponsored by a super PAC supporting him, Make America Great Again Inc., showed off right-wing luminaries who have remained loyal endorsers of Trump.
Gaetz and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) were whisked through the crowd as attendees chowed down on Rice Krispy Treats, brownies and miniature cupcakes. The pair walked on stage to entertain the audience while Trump took questions from reporters in another room prior to making his appearance before the VIP crowd. Lake and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) trickled in separately, stopping to take photos with members of the invite-only audience.
And throughout his public speech Saturday, Trump at times paused to acknowledge some of his high-profile supporters in the audience who have continued to stick with him as a primary field has emerged. Trump praised people like Greene, Gaetz, right-wing talk show host Mark Levin and others — flaunting the conservative influencers who have tied themselves to him despite others in the party quietly pushing for his replacement.
“I didn’t know this was a rally, Matt,” Trump said to Schlapp as he stepped up the lectern to a chorus of “USA” chants in the audience. “It really is a rally.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“It got him elected the first time, and I think it will get him elected the second time,” Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Budget Committee’s top Republican, said of Trump’s rhetoric. “But it doesn’t do anything for our children and grandchildren that aren’t going to have a program that I’m enjoying right now.”
Others say the GOP has changed for the better in the past 10 years — finally accepting that the voters aren’t as divided as elected officials over whether to touch the two decades-old programs, as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) put it.
“I distinctly remember somebody basically ran a presidential campaign on this in 2012: the Paul Ryan budget, the austerity budget,” Hawley said, invoking the former GOP vice presidential nominee’s famous fiscal hawkishness. “I don’t recall that ticket performing very well. I personally don’t care to go back to that.”
Trump’s pugnacious messaging comes at a crossroads for the party internally, as a group of senators quietly meets about possible changes to endorse on Medicare and Social Security. And Trump’s tactics have some Republicans clamming up or endorsing more modest ideas aimed at ensuring the programs don’t go bankrupt, despite projections that both may be headed for insolvency in about a decade.
Among the alternate GOP suggestions as the party shapes its approach to the upcoming debt-limit fight: targeting fraud and waste; imposing work requirements or raising the eligibility age; and other benefits formula changes. A number of Republicans have also pointed to legislation from Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) that would create “rescue committees” aimed at negotiating changes designed to save the programs in the long term.
It’s enough to send Republican eyes rolling up and down the Capitol.
“The best thing to do is just ignore him,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of Trump. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) called Trump’s attack on DeSantis “very unfortunate.”
“We need an adult as president who is going to take on the tough challenges, the tough problems, and be prepared to share with the American people how serious it is. That we use facts. And not scare tactics,” said Rounds, a member of the Senate’s working group on entitlements.
But Trump clearly sees a promise to leave Medicare and Social Security alone as a winning message. He assailed primary opponent Nikki Haley for decade-old comments about even considering entitlement cuts in order to slow the growth of the government.
Trump’s also broken on the matter with DeSantis, who as a congressman voted on three non-binding budgets that called for gradually raising Medicare’s eligibility age, and his former vice president (Mike Pence said on CNBC recently that Social Security and Medicare should be “on the table in the long term”).
DeSantis, Pence and Haley aren’t alone in potential vulnerability to attack from Trump over the issue. Other possible presidential candidates, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), have supported entitlement changes.
As GOP debate over entitlements first stirred last month, Trump delivered a brushback pitch to congressional Republicans in a video warning them not to lay a finger on Social Security or Medicare as part of the debt ceiling showdown. Aides say he will continue to make the issue of entitlement reform a key part of his campaign, despite GOP handwringing.
“It goes to the broader picture of how this isn’t just Trump against Democrats — it’s Trump against the establishment,” said a Trump adviser who sought anonymity to speak. “This is a defining policy moment for a lot of Republicans.”
Republicans have long struggled to trim popular programs, from former President George W. Bush’s failed Social Security privatization plan to the GOP’s bids to repeal Obamacare and scale back its Medicaid expansion. Party leaders are currently vowing to stay away from entitlements as they pursue still-unspecified spending cuts in exchange for agreeing to raise the debt ceiling, harmonizing with Trump.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy said last month that Social Security and Medicare cuts are “completely off the table.”
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said while Trump is “gifted at making the complex simple,” he is irked by the former president’s “intellectually dishonest” campaign rhetoric on entitlements. Trump’s allies see it differently, calling out a party they say focused too much on trimming or changing the eligibility age for some of the government’s most popular programs.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) said talking about entitlement cuts is “politically stupid.”
“I really don’t like the political attitude that so many people take where they will take a set of programs that are wildly popular and very beneficial for Republican voters, and point to all of the other things that are more important than them,” said Vance, who has endorsed Trump.
Notably, Trump’s past budgets haven’t exactly aligned with his argument against cutting entitlements. His fiscal 2021 budget, for example, sought steep safety net cuts, including tens of billions of dollars in reductions to Social Security benefits for disabled workers and Medicare changes designed to yield about $500 billion in savings without reducing benefits.
Democrats have shown little interest in uniting around any proposed entitlement changes of their own despite dire projections for the programs’ fiscal future. But they see an advantage in the GOP split.
Republican division on the matter “shows a lack of discipline,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). “You would not think it’s a group of individuals that have an organized plan on how we deal with our budget, debt and deficit over a long period of time.”
And the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee gave Trump begrudging credit for resonating with his base.
“I give the devil his due,” Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) said. “I think he has a better finger on the pulse of the Republican primary electorate than the Romney-Ryan wing.”
Exploiting their opponents’ internal feud could also help Democrats after a midterm campaign that left Republicans acknowledging the success of entitlement-themed attacks on GOP Senate candidates. Last year’s Arizona Senate nominee Blake Masters, toyed with the idea of privatizing Social Security before backtracking.
“Telling old folk … that Blake Masters wants to privatize Social Security is probably going to scare them a little bit,” Arizona-based GOP strategist Barrett Marson said of Masters, who’s considering another run in 2024.
Meridith McGraw and Holly Otterbein contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The background of a toxic parent-child relationship is often the parent’s untreated substance abuse problem or personality disorder, says Psychotherapist Katriina Järvinen. Picture: Soile Saarelainen / HS
Year after year, nothing but criticism, invalidation and litigation, sometimes even chilling manipulation. HS readers tell why they have finally ended up breaking up with their own parents.
“Yes it is your ass is spread again. When you look like that, you’ll never find a man. You would even get a decent job. Now don’t get angry, I mean it, I’m only thinking of your best!”
For example, such things Psychotherapist and social psychologist Katriina Järvinen has heard at his reception when people have told what their own parents have told them.
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#Family #Relations #mother #criticized #life #readers #cut #ties
( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )
Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has said Tehran welcomes the normalisation of relations with Riyadh and Cairo within the framework of its policy of strengthening ties with Muslim countries.
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks at a joint press conference in Baghdad with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein following their meeting earlier on Wednesday, according to the official news agency IRNA.
The Foreign Minister praised efforts by Iraq’s officials, particularly the Foreign Minister, to host rapprochement talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Baghdad, and to bring about a detente between Tehran and Cairo, Xinhua news agency reported.
He also thanked his Iraqi counterpart’s efforts to bring Iran’s views closer to those of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Turning to bilateral ties with Iraq, Amir-Abdollahian highlighted Tehran’s sustained efforts to improve relations with its western neighbor.
He said Iran supports Iraq’s territorial integrity and independence, as well as the Iraqi government.
Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday morning and met with the country’s top officials.
Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in early 2016 in response to attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran after the kingdom executed a Shia cleric.
To improve bilateral relations and ease regional tension, Baghdad hosted several rounds of direct talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia over the past two years.
In recent years, Iran announced readiness to mend ties with Egypt by settling differences on certain issues.
