{"id":6308,"date":"2014-07-16T16:25:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T16:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=6308"},"modified":"2014-07-18T12:15:35","modified_gmt":"2014-07-18T12:15:35","slug":"new-press-secretary-already-challenges-carney-for-mendacity-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=6308","title":{"rendered":"New Press Secretary Already Challenges Carney For Mendacity Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/themillenniumreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Screen-Shot-2014-07-15-at-4.57.50-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-750\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2014-07-15 at 4.57.50 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/themillenniumreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Screen-Shot-2014-07-15-at-4.57.50-PM.png\" width=\"253\" height=\"355\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>WH: We&#8217;ve \u2018Substantially Improved the Tranquility of the Global Community\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">(CNSNews.com) \u2013 White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday the Obama administration\u2019s foreign policies in a number of areas have enhanced the world\u2019s \u201ctranquility\u201d \u2013 a word that raised eyebrows as reporters pointed to situations in Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine and the South China Sea.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">More than one reporter during Monday\u2019s press briefing referred to a front-page\u00a0<i>Wall Street Journal<\/i><a style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #005291;\" href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/articles\/obama-contends-with-arc-of-instability-unseen-since-70s-1405297479?mod=e2tw\" target=\"_blank\">article<\/a>\u00a0highlighting some of those crises, and citing security strategists as saying \u201cthe breadth of global instability now unfolding hasn\u2019t been seen since the late 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cHow does the White House react to the notion that the president is a bystander to all these crises?\u201d asked Fox News\u2019 Ed Henry, citing the widening gaps between the sides in the Iranian nuclear talks, the conflict in and around Gaza, and the Syrian civil war.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cI think that there have been a number of situations in which you\u2019ve seen this administration intervene in a meaningful way, that has substantially furthered American interests and substantially improved the, uh, you know, the \u2013 the tranquility of the global community,\u201d Earnest replied. \u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"MRC TV video player\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mrctv.org\/embed\/128243\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">ABC News\u2019 Jon Karl quoted Attorney General Eric Holder\u2019s assessment in an interview aired Sunday that the terrorist potential arising from Westerners returning home after fighting in Syria was \u201c<a style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #005291;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cnsnews.com\/news\/article\/susan-jones\/holder-potential-threats-arising-syria-iraq-more-frightening-anything-i\" target=\"_blank\">more frightening than anything I think I\u2019ve seen<\/a>\u00a0as attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl then pointed to \u201cwhat\u2019s looking like an all-out war\u201d between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Sunni jihadist successes in \u201ctaking over vast territory in Iraq and in Syria,\u201d Russian aggression in Ukraine, and concerns about Chinese handling of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem like a time to be touting tranquility on the international scene,\u201d he told Earnest. \u201cDo you think the president\u2019s foreign policy bears any responsibility for any of this, or is there anything he can do about any of this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Earnest said President Obama\u2019s thinking about foreign policy was guided by one core principle \u2013 \u201cthe national security interests of the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Syria chamical weapons deal touted<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">He raised as examples of actions that advanced American interests the negotiated removal of the Assad regime\u2019s \u201cdeclared\u201d chemical weapons (CW) stockpile, and mediation in recent days between \u201ctwo competing presidential candidates in Afghanistan, who were prepared to sort of take that process off the rails.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Secretary of State John Kerry\u2019s efforts in\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #005291;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cnsnews.com\/news\/article\/afghans-express-relief-election-deal\" target=\"_blank\">brokering of an agreement<\/a>calling for a full audit of votes in an Afghan election marred by allegations of rigging have drawn praise, although it will be weeks yet before the deal&#8217;s success or otherwise will be seen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">The Syria chemical deal has brought fewer plaudits from outside the administration, however. The Assad regime slow-walked the process, missing multiple deadlines set by the international community in a clearly-defined program of action.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Questions also remain about the completeness of its declaration \u2013 there are suspicions it may have kept some CW back \u2013 and the regime is also accused of using chlorine gas in the fighting this year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Moreover, one key part of the CW agreement that has not been achieved is the destruction of 12 Syrian CW production facilities, a process that was meant to have begun last December and been completed by March 15. Almost four months after that deadline the 12 facilities, five of them located underground, remain standing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cSyria continues to drag its feet in complying with its obligation to destroy chemical weapons production facilities,\u201d U.S. ambassador to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Robert Mikulak, told a meeting of the body\u2019s executive council last week.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe international community has questions that must be adequately answered by Syria regarding the declaration of its entire chemical weapons program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Mikulak added that the U.S. \u201cremains deeply concerned by the reports of systematic use of chlorine gas and other chemicals in opposition areas by Syrian government forces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Apart from questions about the agreement\u2019s implementation, some critics also believe the deal overall\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #005291;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cnsnews.com\/news\/article\/patrick-goodenough\/kerry-disputes-chemical-weapons-deal-strengthened-assad\" target=\"_blank\">left President Bashar Assad\u2019s regime stronger<\/a>, because it transformed him in the space of several days from a pariah who had been\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #005291;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cnsnews.com\/news\/article\/patrick-goodenough\/ex-cia-chief-felt-embarrassment-when-obama-backed-away-red-line\" target=\"_blank\">facing promised U.S. airstrikes<\/a>\u00a0for using chemical agents to kill more than 1,400 people, to a partner whose cooperation was needed to achieve the touted CW handover.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; WH: We&#8217;ve \u2018Substantially Improved the Tranquility of the Global Community\u2019 (CNSNews.com) \u2013 White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday the Obama administration\u2019s foreign policies in a number of areas have enhanced the world\u2019s \u201ctranquility\u201d \u2013 a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=6308\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}