Thursday, April 18, 2024

Day 96: Sharing (Intel with Iran) Is Caring?

Interesting things U.S. officials are sharing around the world: Millions of dollars in “urgent” relief for Guatemalan school literacy programs, some vaccines we aren’t quite sure about, and—allegedly—Israeli intelligence.

Climate Czar Kerry Accused of Selling Out Israel To Iran.

Last Monday, leaked audio captured Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif crediting former secretary of state and current climate czar John Kerry with informing him that Israel had covertly attacked Iranian targets in Syria at least 200 times. In contradicting defenses, Kerry has denied that the allegations heard on tape every happened, while the State Department has maintained that the information in question was widely-known. Israeli officials had revealed as much as of September 2018—but Zarif, in the tape, did not specify when Kerry allegedly made the admission.

In a press conference, State Department spokesman Ned Price argued that the information allegedly shared “certainly was not secret.”

“This is purportedly leaked material,” Price said. “Can’t speak to the authenticity, can’t speak to the accuracy of it, can’t speak to any motives that may be behind its dissemination. I would just make the broad point that if you go back and look at press reporting from the time, this certainly was not secret, and governments that were involved were speaking to this publicly on the record.”

Harris Announces Millions in Aid To Northern Triangle.

Root-causes czar Vice President Kamala Harris announced Monday that the United States will be sending $310 million in U.S. government support to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

  • $255 million will “provide emergency food assistance, improve livelihoods, and provide protection for the most vulnerable persons,” as well as “meet the immediate safety and protection needs of refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, and other vulnerable populations in the region.”
  • $55 million for food security will “strengthen the Guatemalan agricultural sector” and “immediately expand access to daily meals and literacy activities to school children.”

Press secretary Jen Psaki still had no word on who decided that a children’s book written by Harris should be included in bags of supplies given to migrant children.

AstraZeneca Stockpile To Be Evaluated By FDA, Shared With The World.

The White House announced Monday that the U.S. will share its stockpile of AstraZeneca vaccines with the rest of the world pending federal safety reviews. It has not yet been determined where the shots will be sent, but about 60 million are expected to become available for export in the coming months.

The stockpiled shots were produced at the troubled Emergent BioSolutions plant in Baltimore, Maryland, which was ordered to stop producing AstraZeneca shots and only produce the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after botching batches. AstraZeneca has not yet filed for an emergency use authorization for its vaccine from the FDA. Meanwhile, the European Commission has announced legal action against AstraZeneca for failing to honor its vaccine supply contract. 

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