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☆ Biden and Kishida discuss Japan ‘stepping up’ security
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Inside the Oval Office, the U.S. president praised Japan for its "historic" increase in defense spending and pledged close cooperation on economic and security matters. Japan's defense spending has historically remained below 1% of GDP. "Japan is stepping up and doing so in lockstep with the United States," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. Kishida also discussed with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron his hopes to improve security cooperation between Japan and their respective nations. Kishida met with Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday before his meeting with Biden to discuss U.S.-Japan space cooperation and other issues.

Vindman first joined Twitter while working in the Trump administration because it was often the way his then-boss, the president, made policy. His wife, liberal activist and podcaster Rachel Vindman, has almost 400,000 followers, making them a progressive Twitter power couple. In a clubby city obsessed with status and information, Twitter delivers both, all from the comfort of one’s mobile phone. No one wants to leave Twitter until everyone else does, but there’s no obvious place to go next. Some think Musk will kill Twitter regardless of whether there’s a mass exodus of its users.

☆ Despite GOP criticism of the prisoner swap that freed Brittney Griner, Fiona Hill said Trump was 'not particularly interested' in freeing Paul Whelan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Critics, including Trump, asked why Brittney Griner was freed while Paul Whelan remains jailed. Hill said Trump wasn't "particularly interested in Paul [Whelan]'s case" while in office. "If I made that deal the Dems would chant, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA!" "I also have to say here that President Trump wasn't especially interested in engaging in that swap for Paul Whelan," Hill said. However, she added, Whelan, Griner, and Reed were all caught up in what she called "political games" while doing things that "seemed completely ordinary."

☆ Russian military leaders discussed using nukes in Ukraine, a dire possibility that alarmed the US, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian leaders discussed using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, The New York Times reported. Senior US officials told the publication that the group of Russian military leaders had discussed how and when Russia might deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. But US officials did tell the Times that there was no sign that nuclear weapons were being readied for use by Russia. It is not clear when exactly these Russian military conversations took place, but the Times reported that the US government got intelligence about them in mid-October. Putin has annexed territory in east Ukraine, and said Russia would attack the West with nuclear weapons if it sought to interfere.

CNN —Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied a claim that he spoke directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks about the war in Ukraine and a proposed “peace plan” to end the conflict. Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, American political scientist Ian Bremmer, president of political consulting firm Eurasia Group, claimed Musk told him directly about his conversation with Putin last month. “Elon Musk told me he had spoken with Putin and the Kremlin directly about Ukraine. “My recommendation…would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable, probably won’t make everyone happy,” Musk told the Financial Times in an interview published last week. “Musk also appeared concerned about more direct threats from Putin,” Bremmer wrote.

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