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Alastair Thompson Profile picture
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11 Jan, 13 tweets, 7 min read
The @AP's Cara Anna has a report on the Biden/Abiy call - widely carried. abcnews.go.com/International/…

..as does Reuters >> reuters.com/world/africa/e…

Both playing up negative angles.
Only @AlArabiya_Eng reported on Abiy's tweet. So they got the Scoop. english.alarabiya.net/News/world/202…
CNN's report. edition.cnn.com/2022/01/10/afr…
For completeness. @PMEthiopia statement.
Weirdly @StateDept has nothing about the call, Ethiopia did not come up in Yesterday’s briefing. @SecBlinken appeared on TV shows yesterday, no mention and @StateDeptSpox did not tweet it. state.gov/press-releases/
Nor have @PressSec or @JakeSullivan46 (at White House) or @SecBlinken or @USAmbUN or @AsstSecStateAF at the @StateDept, yet. Though it is only 8am.
The call was first revealed by @AbiyAhmedAli at 6pm CEST = around midday ET US. So the absence of reaction is a bit peculiar. @LaurenBinDC was on the ball as always though. And her account contains references to what US reaction there was.
This included several responses from Congress. Including the GOP and DNC Senate Foreign Relations Cmtte. Leads, in their official capacity.
Democrats tweeted first.
But @RepGregoryMeeks chair of the HOR Committee on Foreign Relations was first. Though I am not sure if we can read anything into that.
Lauren herself tweeted a short thread here very soon after the readout was released by the @WhiteHouse around and perhaps at the same time as Abiy’s tweet.
All very interesting. To me this suggests that the call was a fairly closely kept secret untill it was announced and that the @StateDept played a minimal role in it. My understanding is that it roughly coincided with Jeffrey Feltman’s departure.
And reading between the lines I think this all points to Feltman having resigned. Satterfield was available to take over and perhaps dropped in because the President did not want to not have an Envoy. Would be interesting to know if Biden and Satterfield have ties.

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More from @althecat

Alastair Thompson Profile picture
12 Jan
The @JoeNBC crew are looking very serious on the TV this morning. For good reason. @Sen_JoeManchin's decision to reflexively dismiss his President's call to change the filibuster is a big moment.

I'm with @morningmika & @TheRevAl on the @JoeBiden speech. It was necessary. Image
@JoeNBC @Sen_JoeManchin @morningmika @TheRevAl @JoeBiden Forcing @SenatorSinema and @Sen_JoeManchin to vote against this during Martin Luther King week is a very clever way to elevate this issue - as is needed - to the level of public interest which is needed to get this done.
@JoeNBC @Sen_JoeManchin @morningmika @TheRevAl @JoeBiden @SenatorSinema The future of the Union itself is at stake here. And doing this before the State of the Union makes a lot of sense. Congressional DNC constitutional wets who don't think that defending the constitution is their duty have no business calling themselves democrats.
Read 23 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
11 Jan
Now we have an official explanation/Q&A on the @JoeBiden @AbiyAhmedAli call. This is an excellent development. It mens it’s getting and will get increasing media attention.

I have it on good sources European media are now also casting nets wider on Ethiopia war narrative.
Reuters reported just a tiny fraction of this yesterday.

Reading it now, but one quick point. Of course @AbiyAhmedAli asked to speak with @JoeBiden. He should have had a call with him back in November 2020, or June 2021.
Biden is commander in chief. He has personal decision making authority over foreign affairs/international relations and military.
Read 19 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
11 Jan
This article is an indictment of the UK post Brexit, but it touches on issues with the global order much deeper rooted than that. bylinetimes.com/2022/01/11/the…
The author a former diplomat says she was triggered to write the article watching events in Kazakhstan. And specifically the shoot to kill orders issued by the President, a former senior UN official, not that this was what upset her. Image
Her list of things which upset her is much more run-of-the milk, things we now take for granted, things which for the most part are based in, standard operating procedure.

Which brought to my mind the “banality of evil”. Image
Read 6 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
10 Jan
THREAD

#MiddleEastRainEvent2 Status Update:

Image below shows the situation as at roughly 2pm AST/EAT. A large storm with a line of thunderstorms sits over Saudi Arabia heading North East towards Iraq.

Quoted Tweet shows video from near Medina
It has been a big night of storms, with a large storm over Medina for several hours. This morning it has also been raining in the Prophet's home town.
These two video gifs are from the live stream broadcast continuously of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi / المسجد النبوي.

You can find out more here >> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Masjid…
& watch live here >> makkahlive.net/madinalive.aspx
Read 33 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
10 Jan
This looks a bit hairy. Another colossal tropical atmospheric river driven rain event, this time all the way up the Eastern Seaboard at the same time.
Fortunately it will soon move out into the Atlantic.
Like the forecast Middle East Event come, this has very high IWVT numbers.
The difference is that this event is fast moving and its total duration appears to be 48 hours vs a forecast 72 hours for the intense period of what is coming in Saudi Arabia in a few days time.
This is a 63 hour IVWT forecast for this US Mid West/East Coast #ExtremeWeather event which is still underway.
Read 6 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
9 Jan
A special request to gobal news media. Please do not report this as fact. TPLF's efforts at peace ended the day they announced them with attacks on Ab'ala in Afar.

A major TPLF offensive in Western parts of Tigray was launched on or about December 28th.
This offensive has continued and intensified over the past 13 days, and the air-strikes that Reda Getachew complains about are part of the defensive operations against a renewed offensive, which appears to be aimed at opening a path to Sudan.
This offensive remains large scale renewed use of unarmed child soldiers and civilians as human waves and human shields. It is obscene in the extreme. And 1000s more innocent conscripted Tigrayans are dying for the TPLF leadership.
Read 6 tweets

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