About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2018)
4A Friday, December 14, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com WASHINGTON/POLITICS Senate rebukes Saudis over Khashoggi, Yemen war J. SCOn APPLEWHITE I Associated Press Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis arrives to give House members a classified security briefing, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, not shown, on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 13. BY MARY CLARE JALONICK AND LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON — Sena tors voted Thursday to recommend that the U.S. end its assistance to Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen and put the blame for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi squarely on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a direct challenge to both the longtime Middle East ally and President Donald Trump’s handling of the relationship. The succession of biparti san votes came two months after the Saudi journal ist’s slaying at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and after Trump persistently equivocated over who was responsible. U.S. intelli gence officials concluded that bin Salman must have at least known of the plot, but Trump has repeatedly praised the kingdom. Senators made clear where they put the blame. The resolution, passed by unanimous agreement, says the Senate believes the crown prince is “responsible for the murder” and calls for the Saudi Arabian gov ernment to “ensure appro priate accountability.” Senators voted 56-41 to recommend that the U.S. stop supporting the war in Yemen, a direct affront to the administration’s war powers abilities. The floor action brought an unusual show of bipar tisan resolve in the Senate over U.S foreign policy, even amid an uncertain out come as the measures move to the House. Frustration with the crown prince and the White House prompted several Republicans to support the Yemen resolution as a way to rebuke the longtime ally. Seven Republicans and all Democrats voted for it. Some already had concerns about the war, which human rights groups say is wreak ing havoc on the country and subjecting civilians, many of them children, to deadly disease and indis criminate bombing. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who co sponsored the Yemen reso lution with Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, called the vote a “historic moment.” Lee said Khashoggi’s death focused attention “on the fact that we have been led into this civil war in Yemen half a world away” and “we’ve done so fol lowing the lead” of Saudi Arabia. “What the Khashoggi event did was to demon strate, hey, maybe this isn’t a regime that we should just be following that eagerly into battle,” Lee said. The resolution con demning Saudi Arabia for Khashoggi’s slaying was introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Chair man Bob Corker and Sen ate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Both Republi cans opposed the Yemen resolution and voted against it. McConnell said sena tors have grave concerns about Khashoggi’s killing, but “we also want to pre serve a 70-year partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and we want to ensure it continues to serve American interests and stabilizes a dangerous and critical region.” But McConnell urged col leagues to back the resolu tion on Khashoggi’s death. Its passage, he said, pro vided “a clear and unambig uous message about how we feel about what happened to this journalist.” The resolution also calls the war in Yemen a “human itarian crisis” and demands that all parties seek an immediate cease-fire. It appears unlikely that the House would be willing to consider the Yemen reso lution. House leaders added a provision to an unrelated House rule that would make it more difficult for lawmak ers there to call it up. CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed House leaders on the Khashoggi slaying on Wednesday, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mat tis briefed the full House on Thursday. Pompeo and Mattis briefed the Senate last month and told senators there was “no direct report ing” or “smoking gun” to connect the crown prince to Khashoggi’s death at the Saudi consulate. But a smaller group of senators leaving a separate briefing with Haspel days later said there was “zero chance” the crown prince wasn’t involved. House Republicans were less eager than their Sen ate counterparts to criticize Saudi Arabia and the Trump administration. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said after Thursday’s briefing that he was waiting to see the outcome of the administration’s ongoing investigation. Scalise said there had been “discussions” about action before the end of the year but wouldn’t say if GOP leaders would consider Corker’s resolution. Khashoggi, who had lived in the U.S. and wrote for The Washington Post, had been critical of the Saudi regime. He was killed in what U.S. officials have described as an elaborate plot as he vis ited the consulate for mar riage paperwork. Trump’s new Africa strategy takes sharp aim at China, Russia BY MARIA DANILOVA AND CARA ANNA Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday announced a sharp refocus of its Africa strategy to counter what it called the “predatory” practices of China and Russia, which are “deliberately and aggres sively targeting their invest ments in the region to gain a competitive advantage.” National security adviser John Bolton laid out the new strategy in remarks at the Heritage Foundation, saying the U.S. will now choose its African partners more care fully. He took special aim at China, accusing it of wielding “bribes, opaque agreements, and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa cap tive to Beijing’s wishes and demands.” Russia, he alleged, is also “seeking to increase its influ ence in the region through corrupt economic dealings.” Russia and China’s efforts across the African continent, he said, “stunt” its economic growth. Some critics have said this administration has let Africa policy drift for too long, while the president is well known for his disparaging remarks about the continent that is home to 1.2 billion people. Addressing members of Congress on Wednes day, Assistant Sec retary of State Tibor Nagy was the latest to warn of China’s increasing economic, military and political influence in Africa, a continent with some of the world’s fastest- growing economies and trillions of dollars’ worth of natural resources. Africa’s population is set to double by 2050, he said, a “demo graphic tsunami.” Any renewed U.S. effort to counter China in Africa, however, comes years late. China became the continent’s top trading partner nearly a decade ago and has invested billions of dollars in high-pro file infrastructure projects. In response to warnings by the U.S. and others about indebtedness to China, some in Africa have noted some times uncomfortable finan cial terms set out by Western powers in the past. Others praise China’s no-strings- attached terms with no insistence on human rights reforms. Congress passed legislation earlier this year creating a $60 billion inter national devel opment agency, widely viewed as a response to Chinese overseas develop ment programs. Under the new “Prosper Africa” strategy, Bolton said, “we will encour age African leaders to choose high-quality, transparent, inclusive, and sustainable foreign investment projects, including those from the United States.” He warned that the U.S. will “reevaluate its support for U.N. peacekeeping mis sions” as well as aid to coun tries whose governance it finds troublesome, including South Sudan. “The United States will no longer provide indiscrimi nate assistance across the entire continent,” Bolton said. He added that “countries that repeatedly vote against the United States in international forums, or take action coun ter to U.S. interests, should ‘Russia is also “seeking to increase its influence in the region through corrupt economic dealings.’” John Bolton National security adviser Bolton not receive generous American foreign aid.” On the military front, China opened its first overseas mili tary base last year in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, the site of the only permanent U.S. mili tary base on the continent. Bolton warned of a possible shift of the strategic region, along the lucrative and busy Red Sea shipping lane, to China. As Beijing and others seek to grow their military pres ence, the U.S. is pulling back. The Pentagon in November said it planned a 10 percent cut in the U.S. Africa Com mand’s total force of 7,200 troops, to be carried out over several years, as its global focus shifts from counterter rorism to perceived threats from Russia and China. Whatever steps the U.S. takes next, perceptions are an immediate hurdle. The president is known for his reported unflattering remarks: comparing some countries to a filthy toilet, referring to the nonexistent nation of “Nambia” and saying Nigerians — from Africa’s biggest economy and a top oil producer — would never return to their “huts” once they saw the U.S. While Congress has restrained some of his administra tion’s proposed deep cuts in foreign aid, Trump has put forth no signature Africa project and there is no sign he intends to visit. Jennifer Cooke, director of the Insti tute for African Studies at George Washington Univer sity, said the U.S. should avoid trying to be too transactional. “We are not going to beat China at its own game, which is massive investments and in infrastructure and roads, ports, railroads and vanity projects,” Cooke said. “What sets the U.S. apart has been a broader engagement, beyond government, looking at development, civil society and, frankly, serving as some thing of a moral authority on human rights, democracy and governance issues.” African nations will ulti mately benefit from this com petition, Judd Devermont, who was the U.S. national intelligence officer for Africa until earlier this year, told the Senate Armed Services Com mittee on Wednesday. “Some of the current uproar over Chinese invest ment in Africa is overblown and ill-informed,” he warned, saying many of China’s infra structure projects address desperate needs. i t E ?? •Gift baskets •Embroidery •Unique gifts •Screen printing •Balloons for all occasions •Full Service Pharmacy •Free Local Delivery •Compounding Unit Dose Packaging lUvenide Pharmacy 935 Green St., Gainesville, GA 770.532.6253 • callriversidepharmacy.com Trump I HH f NorthCeorgia I HomeHubeEj Your Source for Property in North. 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