'Bloody Saturday' at US-supported Media Outlets
Trump administration cuts to VOA, RFE/RL described as arson attacks
The Trump administration revealed it informed Russia about deadly attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen in an effort to bolster diplomatic communications, according to a report. The State Department revealed that earlier Saturday, Secretary Marco Rubio called Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to inform him of the US on Yemeni targets, according to a release. The release issued by the State Department said Rubio’s outreach was in furtherance of a previous agreement “to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia.” On Saturday afternoon, President Trump ordered the bombing of dozens of Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the Iran-backed terror groups attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
It’s worth mentioning that the Russians have colluded with the Houthi rebels in Yemen, providing them with targeting information to strike commercial vessels in the Red Sea. So it seems counterintuitive to tip them off ahead of a strike. Amateur hour at the White House?
At least 51 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a nightclub fire in North Macedonia, according to the interior ministry. The blaze broke out in the early hours of Sunday at the Pulse club in Kocani, a town around 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital, Skopje. Footage posted on social media shows the building engulfed in flames, with smoke billowing into the night sky. The fire is said to have started around 03:00 (02:00 GMT) during a performance by the band ADN, a hip-hop duo popular in the country, with the venue still ablaze hours later - BBC
Journalists showed up at the Voice of America Saturday to broadcast their programs only to be told they had been locked out: Federal officials had embarked on indefinite mass suspensions. All full-time staffers at the Voice of America and the Office for Cuba Broadcasting, which runs Radio and Television Martí, were affected — more than 1,000 employees. The move followed a late Friday night edict from President Trump that its parent agency, called the U.S. Agency for Global Media, must eliminate all activities that are not required by law. In addition, under the leadership of Trump appointees, the agency has severed all contracts for the privately incorporated international broadcasters it funds, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. "The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's grant agreement would be a massive gift to America's enemies," Steve Capus, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said in a statement today shared with NPR. "The Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years. Handing our adversaries a win would make them stronger and America weaker. We've benefitted from strong bipartisan support throughout RFE/RL's storied history. Without us, the nearly 50 million people in closed societies who depend on us for accurate news and information each week won't have access to the truth about America and the world." Grant Turner, the former chief financial officer at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, called it "Bloody Saturday" for the agency and its networks - NPR
The Agency for Global Media has a budget of roughly $270 million and more than 2,000 employees, broadcasts in 49 languages. It has a weekly estimated audience of more than 361 million people. By Saturday morning, many journalists and other employees at Voice of America were informed they were being placed on administrative leave, according to an email reviewed by The New York Times. Journalists there said the cuts were so widespread that they would effectively shut down the international broadcaster - NYT
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders called the Trump administration’s decision to axe VOA as “the latest abandonment of US’s historic role in championing press freedom.” It added: “RSF stands in solidarity with VOA’s employees and is worried for the 10 employees of USAGAM currently detained abroad for doing their work: producing journalism.’
Apart from USAGM, Trump’s order included the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and the Minority Business Development Agency - The Hill
“The Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years. Handing our adversaries a win would make them stronger and America weaker.”
— Steve Capus, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer convened many of Ukraine's allies on a call yesterday to discuss his "coalition of the willing" idea. A joint British-French drive, the coalition of the willing would see troops from European countries (and perhaps further afield) deployed to Ukraine to act as peacekeepers after a peace deal was signed. Health secretary Wes Streeting told Sky News Sunday that it would be an "extraordinary escalation" for Russian troops to be in conflict with the UK.
As I told BBC News early this morning, while moves to assemble a coalition force that will monitor a potential ceasefire in Ukraine will be welcome news in Kyiv, it seems as if leaders are placing the cart before the horse. Mr. Putin’s forces must be stopped first, and displaying the sheer might of a united, western coalition can only do that. Mr. Starmer could not answer questions as to what his ‘Plan B’ is - that is if an increasingly unhinged and unpredictable Trump administration refuses to provide the security backstop that the UK has asked for. Or if the administration continues to further back the Russian side with concessions and other moves that will serve to only empower Mr. Putin.
President Trump railed against the media on Friday, suggesting some of the actions of the press be deemed illegal and should be investigated. In a speech at the Department of Justice (DOJ), during which Trump railed against people and entities that he claims have targeted him, said he views CNN and MSNBC as corrupt. “I believe that CNN and MS-DNC, who literally write 97.6 percent bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party and in my opinion, they’re really corrupt and they’re illegal, what do they do is illegal,” Trump said. He also claimed the media outlets work in coordination and that their reporting is able to influence the opinions of judges. “These networks and these newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative,” Trump said. “And it has to stop, it has to be illegal, it’s influencing judges and it’s really changing law, and it just cannot be legal. I don’t believe it’s legal, and they do it in total coordination with each other,” he added - The Hill
A federal judge on Saturday said the Trump administration must halt use of an obscure wartime law, called the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to deport Venezuelans. The judge also ordered the return of any planes that had departed the United States with immigrants under the order. Separately, Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, is pushing ahead with a plan to decentralize the agency’s command structure and divide the bureau into three regions. Under the move, the top agents in 52 field offices around the country will no longer answer to the deputy director, a significant departure from the way the bureau has done business - NYT
The path ahead for Hong Kong’s opposition voices looks increasingly bleak. Compared to a decade ago, the camp of parties are not even a shadow of their former selves – none of these parties hold any seats in the LegCo under a revamped electoral system designed to keep those critical of Beijing or the government of the day out of the legislature. Indeed, the largest and most successful of them, the Democratic Party, is moving to disband in the coming months. The second largest, the Civic Party, was dissolved in 2023, with other opposition outfits having shut down earlier. Some observers say it is “the end of the road” for opposition representation in the city, although others remain hopeful for negotiation room in the narrowing space for differing views in civic society, albeit not in the legislature. Hong Kongers, however, appear to want some alternative voices in Parliament, according to a recent survey. The biannual poll conducted by local think-tank Path of Democracy and released on March 12 found that 48 per cent of the 1,000 Hong Kongers it polled in January and February were dissatisfied with the city’s opposition-free legislature. But under the new electoral system put in place in 2021, only government-approved “patriots” can run Hong Kong, whether in the executive or legislative branch. These “patriots” have first to be approved by an election committee stacked with Beijing allies, making it easy to weed out opposition candidates and effectively shut them out of the political arena - Straits Times
The journals…
