(ANTIWAR) Last week, US officials suggested what was seemingly a major policy change, insisting that the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad was up to the Syrian people, and that the US was accepting “reality” in moving away from demands for Assad’s ouster.
(COMMONDREAMS) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday lifted the government’s human rights restrictions on arms sales to Bahrain, in a move that Amnesty International called “galling” and “a dangerous signal.”
(ANTIMEDIA) Tokyo — While in Tokyo on Thursday for his first visit to Asia as secretary of state, Rex Tillerson said a “new approach” to the North Korea situation is needed. At the same time, the North Koreans themselves were denouncing the United States’ use of heavy firepower in its ongoing drills with South Korea.
Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump’s pick for US Secretary of State, has obtained confirmation from the Senate, doing so by a margin of 56 to 43.
Tillerson has now been sworn in, which means that the US State Department now has a proper head, with Tillerson taking over from acting Secretary of State Tom Shannon, who has been running the State Department since John Kerry left on 20th January 2017.
Wednesday, Mexico's president, Enrique Peña Nieto, announced he was thinking about canceling his meeting with Señor el Presidente Trumpanzee in Washington next week, as a matter of Mexican national pride. Within hours, Thursday morning, he tweeted that he canceled the meeting with the deranged, Adderall-addicted orange orangoutang.
US President Trump looks set to get all his nominations for cabinet posts confirmed by the Senate after Senators McCain and Lindsey Graham said they would support Trump’s nomination of Rex Tillerson for the key post of US Secretary of State.
In a statement the two Republican Senators – who have a well-earned reputation as anti-Russian uber-hawks – dropped their objections to Tillerson on the grounds of his previous links whilst CEO of Exxon to Russia
Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2107, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (AP/Steve Helber)
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ExxonMobil CEO and chairman Rex W. Tillerson gives a speech at the annual Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
President-elect Donald Trump has officially picked Texas oil executive Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state, going ahead with the Exxon Mobil CEO’s nomination despite early signs of unease over his close relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
