Page 10A
NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
Saturday, April 8, 2017
U.S. strikes win global praise; ratchets up Russia tension
PALM BEACH, Fla.
(AP) — The United States
vowed Friday to keep the
pressure on Syria after the
intense nighttime wave of
missile strikes from U.S.
ships, despite the prospect
of escalating Russian ill will
that could further infl ame
one of the world’s most
vexing confl icts.
Standing fi rm, the Trump
administration signaled new
sanctions would soon follow
the missile attack, and the
Pentagon was even probing
whether Russia itself was
involved in the chemical
weapons
assault
that
compelled President Donald
Trump to action. The attack
against a Syrian air base was
the fi rst U.S. assault against
the government of President
Bashar Assad.
Much of the international
community rallied behind
Trump’s decision to fi re the
cruise missiles in reaction
to this week’s chemical
weapons attack that killed
dozens of men, women
and children in Syria. But
a spokesman for Russian
President Vladimir Putin
warned that the strikes dealt
“a signifi cant blow” to rela-
tions between Moscow and
Washington.
At the United Nations,
Russia’s deputy ambassador,
Vladimir Safronkov, strongly
criticized what he called the
U.S. “fl agrant violation of
international law and an act
of aggression” whose “conse-
quences for regional and
international security could
be extremely serious.” He
called the Assad government
a main force against terrorism
and said it deserved the
presumption of innocence in
the chemical weapons attack.
U.S. offi cials blame
Moscow for propping up
Assad.
“The world is waiting
for the Russian government
Trump’s military action unnerves
GOP libertarians, Democrats
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s
military strike against Syria drew strong pushback from
an odd mix of libertarian Republicans, Democrats and
the far-right conservatives who have long insisted on
Congress’ constitutional authority for acts of war.
Trump burnished an “America fi rst” foreign policy
during his 2016 campaign, warning that rival Hillary
Clinton would dangerously order U.S. soldiers into
international confl icts. He was often critical of former
President Barack Obama’s handling of the Syria crisis
in 2013 and urged him at the time to seek congressional
approval for any military action.
But the president said Thursday night that the airstrikes
were in the “vital national security interest” of the U.S.
and accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of having
“choked” his own citizens in a chemical attack.
Trump’s decision to launch the airstrikes on a Syrian
military base represented an about-face at the start of his
presidency and angered Republicans and Democrats,
who said the Constitution gave Congress sole power to
declare war.
They urged Trump to come to Congress to get authori-
zation for military force.
“The Constitution is very clear that war originates
in the legislature,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a leader
of the party’s non-interventionist wing who challenged
Trump for the GOP nomination.
Paul, who called the Syria strike unconstitutional, said
Friday before a closed-door briefi ng for lawmakers that
they weren’t learning about the intelligence that led the
president to order the strike until the day after the missiles
were launched.
White House via AP
In this image provided by the White House, President Donald Trump receives a
briefi ng on the Syria military strike from his National Security team after the strike at
Mar-a-Lago on Thursday.
to act responsibly in Syria,”
Nikki Haley, the U.S.
ambassador to the U.N., said
during an emergency Secu-
rity Council session. “The
world is waiting for Russia
to reconsider its misplaced
alliance with Bashar Assad.”
Haley said the U.S. was
prepared to take further
action in Syria but hoped it
wouldn’t be necessary.
In Florida with the pres-
ident, meanwhile, Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin
said: “We will be announcing
additional sanctions on Syria
as part of our ongoing effort
to stop this type of activity
and emphasize how signifi -
cant we view this. We expect
that those will continue to
have an important effect
on preventing people from
doing business with them.”
Thursday night’s strikes
— some 60 cruise missiles
fi red from two ships in the
Mediterranean — were
the culmination of a rapid,
three-day
transformation
for Trump, who has long
US strikes after Syria chemical attack
Syrian military
base or facility
50 mi
TURKEY
50 km
Khan Sheikhoun
Idlib
Location of
chemical attacks
Aleppo
SYRIA
CYPRUS
Homs
Shayrat air base
Location of
U.S. airstrikes
LEB.
Mediterranean
Sea
Damascus
IRAQ
JORDAN
SOURCE: Institute of the Study of War
opposed
deeper
U.S.
involvement in Syria’s civil
war. Advisers said he was
outraged by heartbreaking
images of young children
who were among the dozens
killed in the chemical attack
and ordered his national
security team to swiftly
AP
prepare military options.
The decision undercut
another campaign promise
for Trump: his pledge to
try to warm relations with
Moscow. After months of
allegations of ties between
his election campaign and
the Kremlin — the subject
of current congressional and
FBI investigations — Trump
has found himself clashing
with Putin.
On Friday, senior U.S.
military
offi cials
were
looking more closely at
possible Russian involvement
in the poison attack. Offi cials
said a drone belonging to
either Russia or Syria was
seen hovering over the site
after the assault earlier this
week. The drone returned late
in the day as citizens were
going to a nearby hospital for
treatment. Shortly afterward,
offi cials say the hospital was
targeted.
The offi cials, who insisted
on anonymity in order to
discuss the sensitive matter,
said they believe the hospital
attack may have been an
effort to cover up evidence
of the earlier assault.
White House offi cials
caution that Trump is not
preparing to plunge the
U.S. deeper into Syria.
Spokesman Sean Spicer said
the missile attack sent a clear
message to Assad, but he
avoided explicitly calling for
the Syrian to leave offi ce.
“The president believes
that the Syrian government,
the Assad regime, should
at the minimum agree to
abide by the agreements they
made to not use chemical
weapons,” Spicer said when
asked if Assad should step
down.
Possible Trump, Xi showdown fails to materialize at Mar-a-Lago
PALM BEACH, Fla.
(AP) — What was billed as
a showdown between the
leaders of the United States
and China over trade and
North Korea ended with little
sign of confrontation Friday
— or of concrete progress in
resolving their differences.
President Donald Trump
had predicted a “very diffi -
cult” meeting with Chinese
President Xi Jinping.
After their fi rst face-
to-face at the Mar-a-Lago
resort, he trumpeted they had
developed an “outstanding”
relationship.
U.S. offi cials said the
two sides agreed to increase
cooperation on trying to get
North Korea’s to abandon its
nuclear weapons program,
and China acknowledged the
need for more balanced trade
with the U.S.
But the two days of
meetings appeared heavier
on optics than substance.
The most powerful message
for the Chinese leader may
have been Trump’s decision
to launch U.S. missile strikes
at Syria.
Those strikes added
weight to Trump’s threat
last week to act unilaterally
against
North
Korea’s
weapons
program
—
although a much heavier risk
would be required to take
military action against the
nuclear-armed North, which
has its artillery and missiles
trained on a key U.S. ally,
South Korea.
The U.S. administration’s
fi rst recourse is very likely
to be economic — pushing
China to crack down on
Chinese banks and compa-
nies said to provide North
Korea access to the interna-
tional fi nancial system.
In a possible harbinger
of the kind of punishments
Washington could infl ict, a
leading Chinese telecoms
company, ZTE, was fi ned
nearly $900 million in March
for shipping sensitive U.S.-
made technology to Iran in
violation of U.S. sanctions.
“They recognize that
shows our clear determina-
tion to crack down on this
sort of activity,” Commerce
Secretary Wilbur Ross told
reporters.
Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson said the U.S. and
China “agreed to increase
cooperation and work with
the international community
to convince the DPRK
to peacefully resolve the
issue and abandon its illicit
weapons programs.” DPRK
stands for North Korea’s offi -
cial name, the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea.
Tillerson said Trump
and Xi noted the urgency of
the threat of North Korea’s
weapons
program
and
that they reaffi rmed their
commitment to a denuclear-
ization of the divided Korean
Peninsula.
On trade issues, Trump
called for China to “level the
playing fi eld” for American
workers, stressing the need
for reciprocal market access.
He also noted the importance
of protecting human rights,
and asked China to adhere
to international norms in the
seas of East Asia, Tillerson
said.
As a candidate and pres-
ident, Trump has taken an
aggressive posture toward
China, labeling Beijing a
“tremendous problem” and
arguing that lopsided trade
deals with China shortchange
American businesses and
workers. Some $347 billion
of the $502 billion trade
defi cit recorded by the U.S.
last year was with China.
Trump said in a brief
appearance before reporters
Friday that he and Xi made
“tremendous progress” in
their talks and that he believes
“lots of very potentially
bad problems will be going
away.” He did not elaborate.
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UMATILLA ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
& MEMBERSHIP DINNER
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Hermiston Conference Center
5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Our Annual Meeting theme
“Reaching New Heights” is a recognition of
the milestones reached over the last 80 years
and what we expect in 2017.
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a celebrated author,
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Electric’s 2017
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