Tag: joe biden

India important partner in rapidly shifting international dynamics, says US Defence Secy after talks with Rajnath Singh

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd James Austin III Saturday held delegation-level talks at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. During their meeting, the leaders spoke about wide-ranging defence cooperation, expanding military to military engagement, information sharing and cooperation in emerging areas of defence, and mutual logistics support, Singh said.

Issuing a joint statement, Singh said, “We’re determined to realise the full potential of comprehensive global strategic partnership.”

Singh said the two sides reviewed many bilateral, multilateral exercises and agreed to increase cooperation between the Indian and US militaries. “We reviewed many bilateral and multilateral exercises, and agreed to increase cooperation between the Indian military, US Indo-Pacific command, Centre Command & Africa Command. We’ve signed LEMOA, COMCASA & BECA agreements and we’ve agreed to realise their full potential,” he said.

US Defence Secretary James Austin said, “Our relationship is a stronghold of free and open Indo-Pacific region. PM Narendra Modi stated India stands for freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight, unimpeded lawful commerce in adherence to international law. This reaffirms our shared vision for regional security.”

Austin reaffirmed the US’ commitment to a forward-looking defense partnership with India and said, “India is an increasingly important partner in rapidly shifting international dynamics. I reaffirm our commitment to a comprehensive forward-looking defense partnership with India as a central pillar of our approach to the Indo-Pacific region.”

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and the three Services Chiefs were also present at the meeting.

Had fruitful talks with US Defence Secy, says Defence Min Rajnath Singh Singh said he had fruitful talks with US Defence Secretary James Austin and his delegation. (PTI Photo)

Earlier on Saturday, James Austin visited the National War Memorial at India Gate and was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour.

Austin’s arrival in New Delhi marks the first visit by a senior official of the Biden administration which came to power in January.

Austin arrived in New Delhi on Friday and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and conveyed Washington’s “strong desire” to further enhance the strategic partnership for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. He also conveyed the Biden administration’s “commitment towards strengthening the bilateral defence relations between the two countries”.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, PM Modi “outlined his vision for the strategic partnership between the two countries and emphasized the important role of bilateral defence cooperation in India-US ties”.

The visit comes days after the first-ever summit of the leaders of the Quadrilateral grouping, the Quad. The March 12 summit was attended by Biden, Modi, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morison.

Austin’s visit to India will be part of his first international tour after taking charge as Secretary of Defense. In a statement last week, the Ministry of Defence said: “Austin’s visit to India as part of his first overseas travel emphasizes the strength of the India-US strategic partnership”.

It stated that “both sides are expected to discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation and exchange views on regional security challenges and common interests in maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region”.

In his January 27 phone call to Rajnath Singh, Austin had also noted the “great strides” made in the US-India defence relationship, and had pledged to work with the Defence Minister to sustain progress.

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5 White House Staffers Lose Jobs Over Drugs, Marijuana Use, Says Press Secretary

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Five White House staffers have been fired because of their past use of drugs, including marijuana, press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday.

Marijuana has become a delicate issue for President Joe Biden’s administration because 15 states and Washington, D.C., allow for recreational usage, despite a federal prohibition. The administration has tried not to automatically penalize potential staffers for legal behavior in their communities by developing a more flexible policy, Psaki said in a statement to The Associated Press.

In an effort to ensure that more people have an opportunity to serve the public, we worked in coordination with the security service to ensure that more people have the opportunity to serve than would not have in the past with the same level of recent drug use, Psaki said. While we will not get into individual cases, there were additional factors at play in many instances for the small number of individuals who were terminated.

Hundreds of aides in the 2-month-old Biden administration have cleared the suitability review by career staffers handling security issues. The White House has said there can be multiple factors for dismissals, including hard drug use. The marijuana policy has become less stringent under the Biden administration, allowing for up to 15 past uses in a year among White House staffers.

The broader federal government has also become somewhat more lenient, with the Office of Personnel Management releasing a memo that says a person should not be deemed unfit merely because of past marijuana usage. The seriousness of the use and the nature of the position will also be factors in judging new hires.

Security and suitability reviews have been an issue for past administrations. At least 25 clearance denials were overturned by President Donald Trump’s administration, where people faced possible disqualification because of foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use and criminal conduct.

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President Joe Biden Stumbles, Trips Three Times Boarding Air Force One

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US President Joe Biden trips as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on March 19, 2021. President Biden travels to Atlanta, Georgia, to tour the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and to meet with Georgia Asian American leaders, following the Atlanta Spa shootings. Eric BARADAT / AFP AFP

US President Joe Biden trips as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on March 19, 2021. President Biden travels to Atlanta, Georgia, to tour the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and to meet with Georgia Asian American leaders, following the Atlanta Spa shootings.
Eric BARADAT / AFP
AFP

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Unacceptable Says Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan After Joe Biden Calls Vladimir Putin a ‘Killer’

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Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday waded into the war of words between the US and Russian presidents, chastising Joe Biden for calling Vladimir Putin a “killer.” “Mr Biden’s comment about Putin does not suit a head of state,” the Turkish president told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul, lauding Putin for giving a “smart” and “classy response”.

In an interview with ABC News, Biden was asked if he thought Putin was “a killer”. “I do,” Biden replied, immediately sparking the biggest crisis between Russia and the United States in years.

Putin on Thursday mocked the US leader, saying a Russian phrase that translates roughly as “it takes one to know one”, and wishing Biden, 78, good health.

“I’m saying this without irony, not as a joke,” Putin, 68, said. Erdogan’s comments reflect a new spell of tensions that have entered Turkey’s relations with Washington since Biden replaced Donald Trump in the White House in January.

Erdogan is still waiting for a phone call from Biden, whose administration has highlighted Turkey’s deteriorating record on human rights. Turkish-US relations are also hampered by Ankara’s purchase of advanced S-400 air defence systems from Moscow, which Washington says threaten NATO defences.

Biden is also remembered in Ankara for calling Erdogan an “autocrat” in an interview in late 2019. Despite their differences on Syria, Erdogan has called Putin a “friend and a strategic partner.”

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Biden Inauguration Priest Under Investigation in California, Sent on Leave

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The Jesuit priest who presided over an inaugural Mass for President Joe Biden is under investigation for unspecified allegations and is on leave from his position as president of Santa Clara University in Northern California, according to a statement from the college’s board of trustees.

Rev. Kevin O’Brien allegedly “exhibited behaviors in adult settings, consisting primarily of conversations, which may be inconsistent with established Jesuit protocols and boundaries,” according to the statement by John M. Sobrato, the board chairman.

O’Brien gave the service at Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, one of the most prominent Catholic churches in Washington, in January for Biden, who is the nation’s second Catholic president, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris, their families and elected officials before the inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.

O’Brien also presided over services for Biden’s inaugurations as vice president.

The priest has known Biden’s family for about 15 years, according to the university. O’Brien was then serving at Georgetown University, another Jesuit college. O’Brien has been president of Santa Clara University since July 2019.

Sobrato’s statement, posted Monday to the university’s website, did not specify the allegations against O’Brien but said the trustees “support those who came forward to share their accounts.”

Sobrato said that while O’Brien is on leave, the priest will be cooperating with the independent investigation, with conclusions to be shared with the Santa Clara University Board of Trustees. O’Brien didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tracey Primrose, spokeswoman for the Jesuits West Province, which is overseeing the investigation, did not elaborate on the investigations to The Mercury News.

“Jesuits are held to a professional code of conduct, and the Province investigates allegations that may violate or compromise established boundaries,” Primrose told the newspaper.

Primrose did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment Thursday night.

O’Brien joined the Society of Jesus in 1996, according to the university, and was ordained to the priesthood in 2006.

Located in Silicon Valley, the Jesuit institution has an annual undergraduate enrollment of roughly 5,500 students. Ranked as one of the top 25 schools for undergraduate teaching nationwide, the private university has a million-dollar endowment and counts California Govs. Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown among its alumni.

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President Biden Urged to Rescind Trump-Era Ban on H-1B and Other Foreign Work Visas

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Five powerful Democratic senators on Thursday urged President Joe Biden to rescind his predecessor Donald Trump’s ban on some non-immigrant visas, including the H-1B visa which is popular among Indian IT professionals, saying this creates uncertainties for US employers, their foreign-born professional workers and their families. In June 2020, Trump instituted Proclamation 10052, halting the processing of non-immigrant H-1B, L-1, H-2B, and J-1 visas, based on the alleged potential risk to the labour market. Although Proclamation 10052 is set to expire on March 31, 2021, businesses have indicated that inaction will further harm their businesses and economic recovery.

The senators said that because the visas that Proclamation 10052 halted either target low-unemployment professions or require that the visa holder does not displace an American worker, businesses that rely on foreign workers have struggled to fill jobs despite increased unemployment. Reports have suggested that jobs in fields such as information technology — which H-1B visa holders would have filled — have remained open or were moved overseas, said senators Michael Bennet, Jeanne Shaheen, Angus King, Cory Booker, and Bob Menendez.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. The continuation of this ban creates delays and uncertainties for US employers, their foreign-born professional workers, and their families, wrote the senators in a letter to President Biden. Rather than attracting talented individuals to the United States, allowing these bans to remain in effect makes the immigration system harder to navigate and drives foreign talent to other countries, they wrote.

Additionally, many businesses in seasonal communities that Proclamation 10052 has affected rely on foreign workers to meet the demand of the high-visitation summer months. Failing to revoke the visa ban immediately threatens both workers and employers in these communities who cannot adequately and safely prepare for the surge season, they said. Every day these visa bans remain in place undermines our collective vision for a new, more prosperous and welcoming nation. We urge you to follow through on your promise to rescind Proclamation 10052 without delay, resume timely processing of nonimmigrant visas, and direct US Embassies and Consulates to open up visa appointments for nonimmigrant visas as soon as possible, the senators wrote.

Despite the increased unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), businesses that rely on foreign workers struggled to fill jobs as the nonimmigrant categories affected by PP10052 either target low-unemployment professions (e.g., H-1B and L-1 visas) or require that the nonimmigrant will not displace an American worker (e.g., H-2B, J-1), the senators wrote. The H-2B programme allows US employers or agents to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs. Several of these categories (H-2B and J-1 Summer Work Travel and Camp Counselor) by regulation are seasonal and heavily used during the summer months when seasonal communities across the country welcome an influx of visitors. The J-1 visa is an exchange visitor visa for individuals approved to participate in work-and-study-based exchange visitor programmes in the United States. The L-1 Visa is reserved for managerial or executive professionals transferring to the US from within the same company, or a subsidiary of it. “Failing to revoke the Proclamation immediately places these programmes at risk because both workers and employers cannot adequately prepare for the surge season, they wrote.

Looking ahead to long-term economic recovery, the deficit of foreign workers to fill available American tech jobs will worsen through any further lack of access to foreign talent, they said. Reports also suggest that many jobs in fields such as information technology that would have been filled by H-1B nonimmigrants have remained open or were moved permanently overseas. “Moreover, these same businesses have also noted that Proclamation 10052, coupled with defunct executive orders, has kept U.S. citizens and permanent residents separated from their parents, adult children, and siblings, the senators wrote.

We believe that it’s possible to continue processing these visas while also preventing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This specific Proclamation is not premised on the safety and welfare of American citizens, they said.

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US Def Secretary scheduled to begin India visit Friday; focus on expansion of strategic ties | India News – Times of India

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NEW DELHI: Ways to further strengthen India-US strategic ties, boosting cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in the face of growing Chinese assertiveness and the Afghan peace process are expected to be the key focus areas in talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin on Saturday, people familiar with the development said Thursday.
Secretary Austin is scheduled to arrive here late Friday afternoon as part of his first overseas trip that also took him to Japan and South Korea.
The US Defence Secretary is expected to meet National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
His visit to India, also first by a top member of President Joe Biden‘s cabinet, came days after the top leadership of the Quad grouping of India, the US, Japan and Australia vowed to expand their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
Cooperation under bilateral and Quad framework is expected to be discussed in the talks, said the people cited above.
Ahead of the high-profile visit, Senator Robert Menendez, the Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote in a letter to Austin, urging him to take up with Indian leaders the issue of New Delhi procuring Russian S-400 missile defence system.
In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning from the Trump administration that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions.
Recently, the US imposed sanctions on Turkey under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for purchase of S-400 missiles from Russia.
On March 10, the defence ministry said India and the US are expected to discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation and exchange views on regional security challenges and common interests in maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific during Austin’s visit.
The evolving situation in the Indo-Pacific region in the wake of China’s increasing military muscle flexing has become a major talking point among leading global powers. The US has been favouring making Quad a security architecture to check China’s growing assertiveness.
The visit is also taking place at a time when India and China are looking to achieve the objective of disengagement from all friction points in eastern Ladakh after completing withdrawal of troops in the North and South banks of Pangong lake areas.
Austin and Singh had a telephonic conversation on January 27.
The Indo-US defence ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.
In June 2016, the US had designated India a “Major Defence Partner”.
The two countries have also inked key defence and security pacts over the past few years, including the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016 that allows their militaries to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies as well as provides for deeper cooperation.
The two sides have also signed COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement) in 2018 that provides for interoperability between the two militaries and provides for sale of high end technology from the US to India.
In October last year, India and the US sealed the BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement) agreement to further boost bilateral defence ties. The pact provides for sharing of high-end military technology, logistics and geospatial maps between the two countries.

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Vladimir Putin on Joe Biden’s ‘Killer’ Comment

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File photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Image: AP)

File photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Image: AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in televised remarks, “We always see in another person our own qualities and think that he is the same as us.”

  • AFP Moscow
  • Last Updated:March 18, 2021, 18:32 IST
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday mocked US President Joe Biden over his “killer” comment but said that Moscow would not sever ties with Washington over the spat.

Speaking at an event marking seven years since Russia’s takeover of Crimea, Putin said Moscow would continue working with Washington but aimed a barb at the US leader.

“It takes one to know one,” Putin said in televised remarks, using a saying from his childhood. “That’s not just a children’s saying and a joke. There’s a deep psychological meaning in this.

“We always see in another person our own qualities and think that he is the same as us.” Putin added that he wished Biden, 78, good health. “I’m saying this without irony, not as a joke.”

In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, when asked if he thought Putin, who has been accused of ordering the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, is “a killer”, Biden said: “I do.”

The US president’s remarks sparked the biggest crisis in bilateral relations in years, and later Wednesday Russia ordered its Washington ambassador back to Moscow for urgent consultations in an unprecedented move in recent diplomatic history.

Putin said the United States was “the only country in the world that used nuclear weapons”. Russia, he added, knows how to “defend its interests” and will work with Washington on terms that are “beneficial” for Moscow. “And they’ll have to deal with it.”

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Kim Yo Jong Warns US Not to ‘Cause a Stink’: Three Times Kim Jong Un’s Sister Revealed Her Dark Side

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s ‘tough’ sister Kim Yo Jong has over time emerged as one of the most influential leaders in the country – one who doesn’t shy away from ruffling some diplomatic feathers to make her point. On Tuesday, Deputy Director of the United Front Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) slammed the US and South Korea, offering a “word of advice to the new administration of the United States that is struggling to spread the smell of gunpowder on our land from across the ocean”.

Addressing the new Joe Biden administration in the US which began joint military exercises last week with South Korea, Kim Yo Jong said, “If you wish to sleep well for the next four years, it would be better not to create a stink”. With Biden about to lay out his Korean policy, North Korea’s statement came even as the new US secretaries of state and defence began a visit to Tokyo and Seoul and is the first statement in acknowledgement of Joe Biden, who became the 46th American President four months ago, though she did not address him by his name.

Slamming the joint exercises as a precursor to military invasion, Yo Jong said, “The South Korean government yet again chose the ‘March of War’, the ‘March of Crisis’.”

This, however, is not the first time Kim Yo Jong has shown her dark side.

Yo Jong, who emerged as a new face in North Korea’s political leadership in the last couple of years, has often been touted as a successor to the secretive nation’s governance. The 32-year-old went viral across media earlier in the year when her brother reportedly fell ill in May, allowing her to step in and take control in his absence. She is also a trusted adviser to Kim Jong Un. And much like her brother, Yo Jong is also quick with her temper and shocking statements.

She was a key voice when inter-Korean tensions mounted last year, culminating in the North blowing up a South Korean liaison office on its side of the border.

‘Frightened Barking Dog’

In April last year when Seoul protested against live-fire military exercise carried out by the North, Yo Jong made her first public statement condemning South Korea as a “frightened dog barking”.

In March, she had gone public with her praise for former Republican President Donald Trump. The latter had sent a letter to Kim Jong Un offered support to tide over the coronavirus crisis. He had also said he hoped to maintain friendly bilateral relations with the nation.

‘Pay Dearly for it’

Yo Jong also reportedly said that South Korea’s foreign minister would “pay dearly” after she questioned the North’s claim to be coronavirus free.

South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said in December last year that it’s hard to believe North Korea’s claim that there has been no virus outbreak on its soil. She added that the North has been unresponsive to South Korea’s offer for cooperation to jointly tackle the pandemic.

Warning of potential consequences for the comments, she Yo Jong said, “It can be seen from the reckless remarks made by her without any consideration of the consequences that she is too eager to further chill the frozen relations between North and South Korea”.

“Her real intention is very clear. We will never forget her words and she might have to pay dearly for it,” Yo Jong said in a statement.

Sister tougher?

In May last year, Yo Jong led the decimation of a Joint Liaison Office between North and South Korea in Kaesong over a diplomatic tussle with the country regarding some dissent flyers that had been flown in by activists questioning Jong Un’s policies. Blowing up the liaison office, built-in 2018 to improve inter-Korean communications, was a move both tactical and symbolic. With it, Jong Un not only put herself at the forefront of North Korea’s stand on South Korea but also emerged as one of the top leaders in the North Korean politburo after her brother Jon Un himself. The move is symbolic as blowing up a liaison office sends a powerful message. And spearheading the change is the tough Yo Jung. The Supreme Leader’s sister previously warned South Korea that she would shut down the liaison office.

(With inputs from Associated Press)

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Russia Recalls Envoy as Biden Says ‘Killer’ Putin Will ‘Pay the Price’ for Election Meddling

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Russia called its US ambassador back to Moscow for consultations on Wednesday after Joe Biden described Vladimir Putin as a “killer” who would “pay a price” for election meddling, prompting the first major diplomatic crisis for the new American president.

In an interview with ABC News, Biden was asked about a US intelligence report that the Russian leader tried to harm his candidacy in the November 2020 election and promote that of Donald Trump. “He will pay a price,” the 78-year-old Biden said.

Asked if he thought Putin, who has been accused of ordering the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and other rivals, is a “killer,” Biden said: “I do.”

The comments were aired as the US Commerce Department announced it was toughening export restrictions imposed on Russia as punishment for Navalny’s poisoning.

Russia responded by summoning its envoy home, though the State Department did not reciprocate by recalling its own ambassador to Moscow.

“The Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, has been invited to come to Moscow for consultations conducted with the aim of analyzing what should be done and where to go in the context of ties with the United States,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA Novosti that “responsibility for further deterioration of Russian-American ties fully rests with the United States.”

In Washington, the State Department noted the Russian move and said the United States will “remain clear-eyed about the challenges that Russia poses.”

A State Department spokeswoman told AFP said the US envoy would remain in Moscow in in the hopes of maintaining “open channels of communication” and in order to “reduce the risk of miscalculation between our countries.”

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked by reporters whether the president considers Putin literally or just metaphorically a killer.

“He does not hold back on his concerns about what we see as malign and problematic actions,” Psaki said, citing election interference, Navalny’s poisoning, cyberattacks and bounties on US troops in Afghanistan.

“He’s not going to hold back in his direct communications, nor is he going to hold back publicly,” she said. “We are not going to look the other way as we saw a little bit over the last four years.”

Biden told ABC News he had a “long talk” with Putin after taking office in January. “The conversation started off, I said, ‘I know you and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared’,” Biden said.

Biden’s assessment that Putin is a “killer” marked a stark contrast with Trump’s steadfast refusal to say anything negative about the Russian president.

In a 2017 interview with Fox News, Trump was asked about Putin being a “killer.” “There are a lot of killers,” he replied. “You think our country’s so innocent?”

‘Know the other guy’

Despite his thoughts about the Russian leader, Biden said “there are places where it’s in our mutual interest to work together.”

“That’s why I renewed the START agreement with him,” he said of the nuclear treaty. “That occurred while he’s doing this, but that’s overwhelmingly in the interest of humanity, that we diminish the prospect of a nuclear exchange.”

Biden said he had learned from dealing with “an awful lot” of leaders during a political career spanning almost five decades — including eight years as vice president — that the most important thing was to “just know the other guy.”

Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, denounced Biden for agreeing with the description of Putin as a “killer.”

“Biden insulted the citizens of our country,” Volodin said. “Attacks on (Putin) are attacks on our country.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the US determination that Russia had targeted election infrastructure during the 2020 presidential election as “absolutely groundless and unsubstantiated” and an excuse for new sanctions.

Tense relations

According to US intelligence, Putin and other senior officials “were aware of and probably directed” Russia’s influence operation to sway the vote in Trump’s favor.

It concluded, however, that the election results were not compromised. 

Russia faced allegations of US election meddling in 2016 for launching a social media campaign to boost Trump’s candidacy and discredit his opponent Hillary Clinton.

After Biden’s victory over Trump, Putin was among the last world leaders to congratulate the newly elected Democratic president.

Tensions between the former Cold War rivals have soared in recent months over hacking allegations and US demands that Russia free Navalny.

Navalny returned to Russia in January after being treated for the poisoning in Germany, and is serving a two-and-a-half year jail term in a penal colony outside Moscow.

The Commerce Department said the new sanctions prevent export to Russia of more items controlled for national security reasons, including technology and software.

“The Department of Commerce is committed to preventing Russia from accessing sensitive US technologies that might be diverted to its malign chemical weapons activities,” it said.

The latest sanctions add to US penalties imposed on Moscow since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. 

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