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The 2013-2014 round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations failed because the Palestinian Authority (PA) responded to each Israeli concession with new demands and the Obama administration kept taking the Palestinians’ side, according to a veteran Israeli negotiator. Brigadier-General (ret.) Michael Herzog, a member of various Israeli negotiating teams since 1993, disclosed previously unknown details about the peace talks in an essay for the American Interest on February 27. Herzog disputed claims by former State Department envoy Martin Indyk that Israeli housing construction was the main reason the talks failed. “I doubt that even a full settlement freeze would have salvaged these...

Former Secretary of State John F. Kerry has joined the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as its “inaugural visiting distinguished statesman, the global think tank said Wednesday. Mr. Kerry, who served as America’s top diplomat from early 2013 through the end of the Obama administration in January of this year, will focus on “conflict resolution and global environmental challenges,” the endowment said in a statement. Mr. Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who served for nearly three decades in Congress as a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, is expected to use to post to continue pushing his legacy as an advocate...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group the White House recently identified as a key surrogate in selling the Iran nuclear deal gave National Public Radio $100,000 last year to help it report on the pact and related issues, according to the group's annual report. It also funded reporters and partnerships with other news outlets. The Ploughshares Fund's mission is to "build a safe, secure world by developing and investing in initiatives to reduce and ultimately eliminate the world's nuclear stockpiles," one that dovetails with President Barack Obama's arms control efforts. But its behind-the-scenes role advocating for the Iran agreement got more...

A group serving as a central hub of information for congressional town halls was founded by a former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer and its parent company is located at the same address as an organization funded by liberal billionaire George Soros. Democrats have insisted that recent town hall outbursts against Republican politicians occurred organically, likening them to the Tea Party, while President Donald Trump yesterday tweeted that the "so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous occasions, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!" The Town Hall Project, a group that serves as a one-stop shop...

the former secretary of state "will supervise the new school's Kerry Initiative as a distinguished fellow for global affairs," where he's set to teach a seminar next school year. Per Yale's description, Kerry will supervise, "an interdisciplinary program that will tackle pressing global challenges." . . . Now, Yale says, Kerry will work with researchers "on issues including climate change, global economic development, authoritarian populism and violent extremism."

Former Secretary of State John Kerry has not ruled out running for president again in 2020, according to a new interview. The 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, who lost to George W. Bush, is suggesting he could be up for potentially running against President Trump.

"..To many in the anti-Iraq war movement, the liberal opposition to the bill was as maddening as it was mystifying. ?You really have two options here: One is that you can vote for a change of course here and say we?re going to find a way out of Iraq, or, two, you can vote against it and hand George Bush a victory,? said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and co-founder of the anti-Iraq war VoteVets.org . ?It doesn?t make sense to me. George Bush got us into the war. They have challenged him on everything. Why would they give...

A new TV ad featuring a disabled military veteran blasts President Donald Trump for seeking to repeal Obamacare and for imposing a travel ban that primarily affects Muslims. "You want to be a legitimate president, sir? Then act like one," says the veteran, who according to the ad's sponsor is a Marine who lost a leg while on patrol in Afghanistan. The ad aired for the first time Monday on MSNBC's show "Morning Joe" — which Trump is known to avidly watch — and was produced by the progressive veterans group VoteVets. It lasts just 30 seconds. But in that...

An attorney with the Internal Revenue Service’s professional standards office in Washington has been charged with conspiring to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, U.S. prosecutors said. Jack Vitayanon, 41, an IRS attorney since 2012 allegedly participated in a meth ring with others in Arizona and on Long Island between about September 2014 and January, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday. Public records show Vitayanon living in the U Street corridor. In the criminal complaint, prosecutors noted that during one alleged transaction, Vitayanon directed a buyer to make a cash deposit of $1,650 to...

On Nov. 16, 2014, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took the unusual step of designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Muslim American Society (MAS) – as terrorist organizations.They were among 83 groups named for their connections to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.This outraged CAIR officials, who immediately began efforts to get their organization removed from the list. They found a powerful ally in Secretary of State John Kerry, who authorized State Department officials to meet regularly with UAE officials to lobbying on behalf of CAIR and MAS .CAIR already had a sympathetic ear in the Obama administration, including...

Add Secretary of State John Kerry to list of those skipping the inauguration Friday. A State Department official confirmed to Fox News that the outgoing chief diplomat “will not attend the inauguration.” The official did not give a reason.

Secretary of State John Kerry won't be attending President-elect Trump's inauguration on Friday, according to the State Department. "The secretary will not attend the inauguration," a State Department official told the Washington Examiner. The official had no comment on why Kerry wouldn't attend.

How could John Kerry pardon Hillary Clinton? After all, it is the President of the United States, not the Secretary of State, who is empowered by the Constitution “to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” Art. II, Section 2, United States Constitution. Secretary of State John Kerry will not be President of the United States on Friday, so how could he pardon Hillary Clinton? The incumbent President’s term expires, and Donald Trump’s Presidency begins, at noon, on January 20th. XXth Amendment, Section 1, United States Constitution. But Donald Trump will not...

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Geneva on Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry said that he does not believe that president-elect Donald Trump will repeal everything he says he will when his administration comes into power on Friday, but if he does it could cause significant damage for "a year, two years, whatever, while the [Trump] administration is there."(continued)

Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday said that it was the fault of Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) that a peace deal was not agreed upon during the Obama administration. Speaking to Christiane Amanpour on CNN, Kerry rejected Amanpour’s assertion that the administration failed to broker a peace deal. “The leaders of the two countries involved — one country and one entity, the Palestinian Authority — have failed to come to the table and reach agreement. You know the old saying — you can lead a horse to water, you can’t make it drink. Now, we...

He ends his political career as he began it: wrong about everything With mere days remaining in office, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry returned to Southeast Asia to reminisce with his Communist friends and ideological soulmates in Vietnam. He was welcomed with open arms in Vietnam, still a Communist dictatorship after all these decades. And why shouldn’t he be? He’s one of the reasons the United States lost the war there.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday it was "inappropriate" for Donald Trump to brand German Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policy "a catastrophic mistake". "I thought frankly it was inappropriate for a president-elect of the United States to be stepping into the politics of other countries in a quite direct manner," Kerry told CNN's Christiane Amanpour during a one-day visit to London in the last week of the Obama administration. "He will have to speak to that. As of Friday, he is responsible for that relationship." Trump, who will be sworn in as president on Friday, had said...

Monday on CNN International’s “Amanpour,” commenting on President-elect Donald Trump’s first UK interview with The Times of London, which covered several international issues, Secretary of State John Kerry said, “I thought frankly it was an inappropriate for a president-elect of the United States to be stepping into the politics of other country in a quite direct manner.” KERRY: He’ll have to speak to that as of Friday. You know he’s responsible for that relationship. AMANPOUR: You're talking about Angela Merkel's refugee policy which he did call catastrophic. KERRY: He did call it that and I think that she was extremely...

The State Department held stress management sessions following Donald Trump’s presidential election victory, providing employees tips for how to cope with change so they do not “become paralyzed by fear.” . . . The State Department’s Employee Consultation Service sponsored the stress management events. Workers were given excused absence from their work duties in order to attend the one-hour sessions.

Viet Cong veteran Vo Ban Tam remembers the first time he crossed paths with John Kerry on the banks on the Bay Hap river, a day that ended in bloodshed. Almost a half-century later, the now 70-year-old Mekong Delta shrimp farmer locked eyes with the US Secretary of State on Saturday and they warmly grasped hands in mutual respect. Kerry returned to the Vietnam waterway at the end of a visit to the Communist nation, less than a week before he was to leave office, searching for the spot where he won a Silver Star for bravery as a young...