It’s hard to believe, I know, but lots of things happen in the world, heck, even in the United States, that have nothing to do with Donald Trump or his campaign manager. Yesterday, for example, I read about at least five of them.
1. The campaign to retake Mosul isn’t going well
From USA Today:
Last Thursday's mission was supposed to be a simple operation to harden untested Iraqi army soldiers: clear villages held by Islamic State fighters before crossing theTigris River to retake the larger town of Qayyara, home to an airfield and oil fields. Their longer-term goal is to clear the way for a future push to reclaim the extremist group's stronghold of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city.
Instead, it proved to be a slog because of heavy rains, tougher-than-expected resistance from the militants and reports of the low morale that has dogged the Iraqi military ever since the Islamic State swept into Iraq in 2014. The stalled operation underscored just how difficult it will be to dislodge the militants from Mosul.
In my opinion the lede was buried in this otherwise informative piece. The most important line in it came from a Kurdish colonel quoted as saying, "No one should expect the least success from the Iraqi army. They have no will to fight." Not encouraging, to say the least, something we should all be thinking about. But it has nothing to do with Donald Trump, so who cares?
2. An editor at a Chinese newspaper resigned amid censorship, harassment
From CNN:
Yu Shaolei, an editor for the culture department of the Southern Metropolis Daily, took the unusual step of posting his resignation document on Chinese social media late Monday.
The reason he gave for stepping down was that he was unable to "adopt your surname." That appears to refer to recent calls from Chinese President Xi Jinping for state media to strictly follow the Communist Party's leadership.
Xi said last month that state media organizations should be "surnamed 'Party,'" a sign of fealty.
The English translation of his letter of resignation is very funny and sarcastic: "You should be relieved.… I’m sorry that I have stressed you out these past few years, and I sincerely hope you will take a new direction in your career."
But will Lewandowski resign?
3. Another federal judge granted discovery in the Clinton email case
From the Free Beacon’s Alana Goodman:
A second federal judge has granted discovery to a watchdog group seeking records from Hillary Clinton’s State Department, an unusual move that gives new credibility to claims that State officials intentionally evaded public records laws.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth issued the ruling on Tuesday in response to a 2014 lawsuit by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, which has been suing the State Department for documents related to the Benghazi attack.
Judge Lamberth cited "evidence of government wrong-doing" while issuing the decision.
There has been a lot of good reporting on this issue lately—in particular, pieces in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. I’m sure Mrs. Clinton is thrilled that we’re all talking about something else.
4. We’re ordering Americans out of southern Turkey
From the AP:
The State Department and Pentagon ordered the families of U.S. diplomats and military personnel Tuesday to leave posts in southern Turkey due to "increased threats from terrorist groups" in the country.
The move comes amid heightened security concerns throughout Turkey due to the ongoing fight against Islamic State militants in neighboring Syria and Iraq and was accompanied by an updated travel warning advising U.S. citizens of an increased threat of attacks. It also comes as Turkey's president is set to arrive in Washington to attend President Barack Obama's nuclear security summit.
This is yuuuuge. Turkey is so dangerous that we don’t want Americans over there, but the British government wants to bring it in to the European Union? Debate, discuss, etc.
5. Iran defied the U.N. with its ballistic missile tests
From Reuters:
By launching nuclear-capable missiles Iran has defied a United Nations Security Council resolution that endorsed last year's historic nuclear deal, the United States and its European allies said in a joint letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
Iran's recent ballistic tests involved missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and were "inconsistent with" and "in defiance of" council resolution 2231, adopted last July, said the joint U.S., British, French, German letter to Spain's U.N. Ambassador Roman Oyarzun Marchesi and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.
Maybe one of the networks could have asked the candidates about this. Clinton is supposed to be the only foreign policy professional left in the race, but she still supports the recent nuclear deal. Trump, Cruz, and Kasich don't. What do the people of Wisconsin think?