Share this page!

Alastair Thompson Profile picture
Twitter logo
Mar 23 • 13 tweets • 11 min read
No sign of any hearings today on #HR6600 or #S3199 foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearings
foreign.senate.gov/hearings?mode=…

Borkena has a report that Envoy Satterfield is in Addis and not being granted meetings. borkena.com/2022/03/22/us-…
Also. What is this about?

Has AAA read the "Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace, and Democracy Act"?

The bill looks like it was drafted by TPLF misinformation operatives - the preamble is factually challenged and it is paternalistic/imperialist in extremis. amharaamerica.org/post/statement…
The bill was proposed by Senators @ChrisCoons and @SenatorRisch back on Nov 4th 2021, as TPLF was marching on Addis - and @StateDept was calling for Americans to leave.

Senate info on the bill is here >> congress.gov/bill/117th-con…
Bill sponsor Senator @ChrisCoons, one time Presidential Envoy to Ethiopia, gave this interview to the BBC in December, after it was clear that the TPLF was once again in retreat.
The bill shot back into the spotlight last week with the publication of this letter from NJ Senator @BobMenendezNJ / @SenatorMenendez to President Joe Biden.
Senator Menendez is the current chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, and also served as chair under the Obama Administration 2013-2015.
Senator Menendez's letter is dated March 17th.

The HoR bill was introduced by NJ Congressman (former @StateDept @HRW) @Malinowski on 4th Feb, and quickly marked up by the Foreign Affairs committee on March 8-9 and ordered to be reported by Voice Vote.
Four amendments were made to the draft bill (As drafted in the Senate) can be seen here. congress.gov/event/117th-co…

There is no video/audio recording available of the markup meetings. >> "Video of Proceedings - Data will display when it becomes available."
Tom @Malinowski gave this interview with CSIS "Ethiopia and the US role in human rights" in February 2017 which provides some interesting additional background. soundcloud.com/csis-57169780/…
His Wikipedia biography is here >> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Malin…

His Democratic Party lineage is deep, dating back to 1988 when aged 23 he worked for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He also worked for SOS's Albright & Christopher and for the Clinton Admin NSC 1998-2001.
This biography makes Malinowski even more of a Democratic Party foreign policy insider than Samantha Power.
In 1998 President Bill Clinton launched a his famous "wag-the-dog" bombing attack on Iraq to distract from the Monica Lewinsky hearings - a prelude to the 2003 Iraq war.
Whilst it is unclear where the #HR6600 / #S3199 effort is headed, it is clear from the text of his bill - and the way in which it is being rushed through - that following the departure of HoA Envoy Jeffrey Feltman, @StateDept policy with respect to Ethiopia has reverted.
The text of Senate Bill #S3199, introduced by another DNC "insiders-insider", @ChrisCoons on a bi-partisan basis with Republican @SenatorRisch, is very similar to the House Bill which was under consideration in June 2021 before the confirmation of @AsstSecStateAF Molly Phee.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Alastair Thompson

Alastair Thompson Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @althecat

Alastair Thompson Profile picture
Mar 23
Putin is playing a game of Chicken with the EU over natural gas, which was always predictable.

I can't help thinking that arming Ukraine was a strategic mistake, had it not been able to defend itself so effectively this war would not have escalated so far so quickly.
Whilst doubtless an unpopular viewpoint now, if the Russian attempted occupation and war continues through the summer, with all its attendant death, mayhem and ensuing economic and global chaos, the alternative of having a short war and negotiations may grow more attractive.
Of course its too late now. And this request will likely be refused during the EU-US summit tomorrow, risking further escalation in the form of gas supplies to the EU being curtailed/halted.

On the positive side, like Covid, this might result in a fall in carbon emissions.
Read 26 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
Mar 23
#GeostrategicWeather #UkraineWar #UkraineThaw

The long term forecast for weather over Europe shows temperatures rising in Ukraine for the next 9 days through to April 1st. This animation shows midday temperatures each day from the @ECMWF model.
@ECMWF The cause of this clear weather is a fairly stable stationary high pressure system over Europe.
Here is the GFS model version of the same data - Europe wide. Ukraine is not the only beneficiary of this period of favourable weather across Europe.

At the end of this 16-day animation you can see the impact of an atmospheric river which will also bring rain to Ukraine.
Read 4 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
Mar 22
Right on schedule, @SamanthaJPower Power - on the eve of another attempt to undermine Ethiopian Sovereignty on Capitol Hill - tweets a piece of terrible, @StateDept funded faux-journalism by @declanwalsh and @MarksSimon in the @nytimes.
But what is perhaps most despicable about this latest @dnc Democratic Party led effort to destroy Ethiopian independence, is the cowardly manner in which it is being pushed through under the cover of the war in Ukraine.

The parallels and hypocrisy here are legion.
Imperialism by way of war is imperialism by way of war, whether it is practiced by Russia over a former territory of the Russian empire, or by the U.S. in support of a former proxy authoritarian govt in Africa.
Read 5 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
Mar 22
#Equinox is also the moment when the incoming energy balance shifts from the Southern to the Northern Hemisphere, and it was marked this year with some extraordinary temperature anomalies in the Arctic and Antarctic. Both caused by atmospheric rivers.

#ClimateChangeNow thread... ImageImage
And this year the northern hemisphere #extremeweather season has a Herald, a designated tropical disturbance which the JTWC had thought might become a cyclone. Whilst early this morning a cyclone formation warning was cancelled, the storm appears to not be giving up so easily.
This @zoom_earth animation shows the last six hours of explosive convection which picked up quickly after the storm moved back over the sea in the Bay of Bengal.
Read 37 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
Mar 22
Global model forecasts show rains are arriving in East Africa now. Forecasts show heavier rains arriving earlier than last year, with significant rains forecast for the next fortnight in the HoA + Uganda & Western Tanzania.

See 2021 rain thread below:
The forecast above is from 19th March as is this satellite animation which shows convection increasing over Ethiopia's highlands the source of the majority of flow in the Nile river.
This animation from today shows a very similar picture. Both show a period of 24 hours of cloud activity over the horn.
Read 9 tweets
Alastair Thompson Profile picture
Mar 21
The bit about this IV that annoyed me was the usually polite @margbrennan constantly talking over the Ambassador, and missing the bit where he used the word “complicity”, expanding on that would have helped unravel what is really happening with China here.
Whilst Russia is the villain here, the efforts by the US to tar others with this conflict, China, Eritrea and the numerous African nations which did not vote on the UNGA resolution are tone-deaf at best, and just remind the world of US’s own destructive wars.
The U.S.’s consistent posture as savior/guardian/scolder in chief wrt a world order which it pays scant/inconsistent service to does little to endear it in many parts of the world.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @althecat has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @althecat!

Read all threads by @althecat

:(