<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword> and <keyword id="2723" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Venezuela">Venezuela</keyword> have grown closer in recent years, as both countries seek to counter the intense pressure campaign that the US has mounted against them.</li><li>US officials have said that Iran's military presence in Venezuela is growing and that if Iranian missiles start to arrive in the South American country, then the US could step in.</li></ul><p>US officials have watched warming ties between Iran and Venezuela with concern, expressing alarm over what they say are Iran's military presence in and arms sales to the South American country.</p><p>The Trump administration's special representative for Iran and Venezuela, <keyword id="1119759" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Elliott-Abrams">Elliott Abrams</keyword>, is the latest to do so, warning this week that the US would act if Iran sends missiles to Venezuela.</p><p>"I've made one very concrete statement about this: We will not accept, we will not tolerate, the placement in Venezuela of Iranian missiles that can reach the United States," Abrams said Thursday during a webinar hosted by George Mason University's National Security Institute.</p><p>"We will not accept it, and if they try to do it, at least in this administration, we will try to interdict it, and if they arrive in Venezuela, they will be dealt with in Venezuela. It is not acceptable to have Iranian missiles in Venezuela that can reach the United States," Abrams added.</p><div type="image" title="Elliot Abrams" height="1476" width="1968" msid="79599340" hostid="261"></div><p>The Trump administration has mounted an intense campaign to isolate Iran, but as it failed to extend an arms embargo on Tehran this fall, the administration and its allies accused Venezuela of supporting Iran's malign activity.</p><p>During the announcement of more sanctions on Iran in late September, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Venezuelan President <keyword id="969564" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nicolas-Maduro">Nicolas Maduro</keyword> of working with Tehran "to flout the UN arms embargo."</p><p>Days later, Sen. Marco Rubio, an influential advisor to Trump on Latin American affairs, said the expiration of that arms embargo in October could lead to Iran "beginning to share weaponry with the Venezuelan military."</p><p>Rubio added that "many options are on the table" to stop such an exchange, including "physical prevention."</p><p>Adm. Craig Faller, who oversees US military operations in the region as head of US Southern Command, expressed similar concerns this week.</p><p>"We see growing Iranian influence in [Venezuela] to include the Quds force, which is alarming and concerning, and some weapons ties," Faller said at a Defense Writers Group event. Quds force is the external arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.</p><p>Faller said the US is concerned about "what we see as the interactions between Iran and Venezuela."</p><p>"It's not just oil shipments. It's arms shipments as well," Faller added. "We have been tracking that. We saw an uptick in that this year. We're watching the rate of change very carefully to see if it connects to any other Iranian malfeasance around the globe." </p><div type="image" title="Venezuela Nicolas Maduro military soldiers troops fighter jet" height="933" width="1400" msid="79599341" hostid="261"></div><p>Iran and Venezuela, both founding members of OPEC, have longstanding ties, aligning as foes of the US. More recently, Iran has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iranian-tankers-show-venezuelas-role-as-great-power-rivalry-venue-2020-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supported Venezuela with gasoline</a>, which Venezuela now struggles to produce after years of mismanagement and neglect of its oil industry.</p><p>The US seized several Iranian tankers headed to Venezuela earlier this year, which drew warnings about retaliation from Iran. Another flotilla of tankers, the largest Iran has sent so far, is now reportedly <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-05/biggest-iranian-flotilla-yet-en-route-to-venezuela-with-fuel?sref=knBWfeC3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on its way</a> to Venezuela.</p><p>Venezuela has in the past received or made deals for Iranian military hardware, such as small arms or drones, but experts <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-iran-ties-grow-as-us-pressures-iran-before-election-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubt a deal for weaponry like missiles</a> is likely because of Iran's reticence about escalation and Venezuela's lack of funds.</p><p>"Venezuela has increased military purchases from Iran in recent years, but there's no evidence Venezuela is seeking any kind of missiles that could reach the Unites States, from Iran or anyone else," said Geoff Ramsey, director for Venezuela at the Washington Office on Latin America.</p><p>The Trump administration is also seen as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-iran-ties-grow-as-us-pressures-iran-before-election-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unlikely to take military action</a> against Maduro because of the complexity involved and because of Trump's <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tells-pompeo-go-wild-on-iran-just-dont-risk-world-war-iii" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seeming aversion</a> to large-scale military confrontations.</p><p>Asked on Thursday if he was suggesting "a potential Cuban Missile-style crisis" with Iranian missiles in Venezuela, Abrams said no, arguing his comments would help prevent that.</p><p>"We're not going to tolerate it, and I think that making that statement flatly and clearly will serve as an adequate deterrent, and we will never face that," Abrams said.</p><div type="image" title="Juan Guaido" height="1046" width="1395" msid="79599342" hostid="261"></div><p>President-elect Joe Biden <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN28D346" target="_blank" rel="noopener">isn't likely</a> to make a dramatic shift when it comes to dealing with Maduro, but his election, and leadership changes in Congress, suggests there will be a move away from Trump's hardline approach.</p><p>But Abrams, citing his interactions with <a href="https://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/ranking/release/menendez-durbin-statement-ahead-of-maduro-regimes-sham-elections-in-venezuela" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some Democratic lawmakers</a>, said Thursday that there had been broad agreement on Trump's handling of the crisis in the South American country.</p><p>"Venezuela policy has been remarkably bipartisan in the last four years," Abrams said. "When [opposition leader] Juan Guaidó was invited to the State of Union ... he stood up in the balcony, everybody rose and applauded, and right behind [Trump] was Nancy Pelosi doing it, so it's been a bipartisan policy."</p><p>Ramsey said the US has "truly hit maximum pressure" on Venezuela and that its "options are limited at this point."</p><p>"The Trump administration has isolated the Maduro regime in every conceivable forum and sanctioned everything in Venezuela except oxygen," Ramsey told Insider. "At some point the US government is going to have to look at the massive leverage it has given itself in Venezuela and be realistic about what can honestly be achieved toward the goal of advancing a peaceful, democratic solution."</p>

Iranian missiles 'will be dealt with' if they get to Venezuela, Trump's envoy for Iran and Venezuela says

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c52128e2bdd7f117b1eae38-2400/trump-maduro-venezuela-4x3.png" border="0" alt="trump maduro venezuela 4x3" data-mce-source="Chip Somodevilla/Getty; Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo; Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider" data-mce-caption="Trump, Abrams and Maduro." /><p class="source"><span>Chip Somodevilla/Getty; Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo; Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Trump, Abrams and Maduro.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The Trump administration last week appointed Elliot Abrams as envoy to Venezuela to spearhead its efforts against Nicolas Maduro's authoritarian government. </li><li>Abrams has a long, controversial history as a foreign policy adviser in Washington, including being convicted over his role in the Iran-Contra affair. </li><li>There appear to be fears among some experts that Abrams' appointment signals the White House is leaning toward intervention in Venezuela due to his record of supporting aggressive actions in Latin America. </li></ul><p>The Trump administration last week tapped Elliot Abrams, a hawkish foreign policy veteran with a complicated history and reputation in Washington, as its envoy to Venezuela to deal with the escalating crisis there. </p><p>Abrams will be the administration's point man in its efforts to oust Venezuela's authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro, and will be working closely with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in that capacity. </p><p>In appointing Abrams, some in the foreign policy community seem to fear that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/01/29/dangerous-game-donald-trump-is-playing-with-venezuela/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.a48251e20527">the White House could be stumbling toward intervention in Venezuela</a>, which is an unsettling prospect to many given the US government's long, calamitous history of sticking its nose in Latin America's business. </p><h2>Abrams was a key player in the US' disastrous Latin American interventionism in the Reagan era</h2><p>Abrams, who has recently been working as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, served as a top foreign policy adviser in the administrations of both former President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush.</p><p>He was instrumental in pushing the US to prioritize thwarting Marxism in Latin America for a significant portion of the Cold War. During that era, both before and during the height of Abrams' influence, the US <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/world/americas/chile-coup-cia-museum.html">orchestrated coups</a> against democratically elected leaders, propped up dictators, and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/trump-and-el-salvador/550955/">directly aided and trained death squads</a> in the region. The consequences of the US government's activities in Latin America, especially Central America, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvnyzq/central-america-atrocities-caused-immigration-crisis">are still being felt to this day.</a></p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bio-juan-guaido-self-proclaimed-interim-president-of-venezuela-2019-1">Meet Juan Guaidó, the self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela who's challenging Nicolas Maduro for power</a></em></p><p>In the early 1990s, Abrams was convicted of misleading Congress in the Iran-Contra affair, but was ultimately pardoned by President George H.W. Bush. Abrams had been a staunch advocate of arming the rebel Contras in Nicaragua. He <span>pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress about covert efforts to assist the rebels.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c51e8f32bdd7f7d0c55caab-2000/elliot abrams.jpg" border="0" alt="Elliot Abrams" data-mce-source="Terry Ashe/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Then-Assistant Secretary of State Elliot Abrams being sworn in at Iran-Contra hearings." /><p class="source"><span>Terry Ashe/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Then-Assistant Secretary of State Elliot Abrams being sworn in at Iran-Contra hearings.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><h2><span>Critics say Abrams has downplayed human rights abuses committed by dictators the US aligned with under Reagan</span></h2><p>He's also been accused of working to cover up human rights abuses and atrocities in Latin America linked to his time with the Reagan administration, and was one of the architects of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. </p><p>According to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/pdfs/e/elsalvdr/elsalv923.pdf">a Human Rights Watch report</a>, Abrams in testimony to the Senate "<span>artfully distorted several issues in order to discredit the public accounts" of the infamous December 1981 massacre of nearly 1,000 people in the Salvadoran village of El Mozote. The mass killing was committed by forces trained and equipped by the US.  </span></p><p><span>Human Rights Watch was unavailable to comment on Abrams' appointment as envoy to Venezuela.  </span></p><p><span><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-decries-maduro-authoritarianism-in-venezuela-but-embraces-brazilian-strongman-bolsonaro-2019-1">Trump is decrying Maduro's authoritarianism in Venezuela as he simultaneously embraces the region's newest strongman in Brazil</a></em></span></p><p>While serving as <span>assistant secretary of state for human rights during the Reagan administration, Abrams fervently <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/upside-genocide/">supported arming Guatemalan dictator Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt.</a> </span></p><p><span>As the Guatemalan dictator carried out a bloody campaign against indigenous Mayans in the 1980s, Abrams claimed Montt <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/an-actual-american-war-criminal-may-become-our-second-ranking-diplomat/">"brought considerable progress"</a> on human rights issues and was reducing the number of civilian deaths "step by step." Montt in 2013 was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/01/obituaries/efrain-rios-montt-guatemala-dead.html">convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.</a>  </span></p><p>Abrams has also faced allegations of supporting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/21/usa.venezuela">an attempted military coup in Venezuela in 2002.</a> The failed coup <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/15/venezuela.alexbellos">helped solidify the power of Hugo Chavez</a> - Maduro's predecessor and the father of the socialist revolution in Venezuela - and bolstered his image as an anti-imperialist hero among Venezuelans. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bed8bbcda27f828277a87ae-1433/2018-11-14t132647z1lynxnpeead14krtroptp4venezuela-zte.jpg" border="0" alt="Former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez" data-mce-source="Kimberly White/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Former Venezuelan army paratrooper Hugo Chavez waves to supporters from the door of the Congress building moments after being sworn-in as the country's new president, in Caracas, Venezuela February 2, 1999." data-link="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2018%3Anewsml_KCN1NJ1TM%3A5&amp;search=all%3AVenezuela" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2018%3Anewsml_KCN1NJ1TM%3A5&amp;search=all%3AVenezuela">Kimberly White/Reuters</a></span></p><p class="caption">Former Venezuelan army paratrooper Hugo Chavez waves to supporters from the door of the Congress building moments after being sworn-in as the country's new president, in Caracas, Venezuela February 2, 1999.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Abrams was pardoned over his role in the infamous Iran-Contra affair, but many haven't forgotten</h2><p>Given Abrams' convoluted, controversial background in Latin America and world affairs more generally, some experts question why the Trump administration didn't look to someone else to spearhead its efforts against Maduro. </p><p>"I was surprised," said Brown University Professor Ross Cheit, a political science scholar who's led projects on the Iran-Contra affair. "I'd certainly heard reports that he had been nixed for top positions at the State Department, and I would certainly say his Iran-Contra days are infamous."</p><p>Abrams, Cheit said, <span>was involved in soliciting private donations for the Contras from foreign governments who were encouraged to "voluntarily give money" to the cause. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Cheit said, asked Abrams if he was soliciting money from other people, a notion he denied, saying the White House was not encouraging people to do that.</span><span></span></p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marco-rubio-op-ed-on-us-brazil-ties-bolsonaro-venezuela-2019-1">As tensions in Venezuela heighten, Marco Rubio says US should 'go big' on its relationship with Brazil's new right-wing president</a></em></p><p><span>"They were blatant lies. He had solicited foreign governments. He knew there was money in Swiss bank accounts, and he lied to Congress," Cheit told INSIDER. </span>"He was convicted of two felonies, and I know he was pardoned, but he certainly lied to Congress."</p><p>Cheit pointed out that Abrams' appointment as US envoy to Venezuela coincidentally occurred days after Roger Stone was indicted for lying to Congress. </p><p><span>"People are giving some attention to what we should think about people who lie to Congress," he said. "Some people have never taken that crime very seriously." </span></p><p><span>Abrams, Cheit said, embodies a certain American arrogance and inclination to get involved in other countries' conflicts. The man, Cheit said, has "a willingness" to conduct "adventurous" interventions in Latin America - and a deep disregard for Congress.</span></p><p><span>"It's alarming to have someone who was involved in that get an important role in the current government," he said.</span></p><h2><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c51eba62bdd7f036e542584-2000/abrams iran-contra.jpg" border="0" alt="Abrams Iran Contra" data-mce-source="Getty Images" data-mce-caption="In December 1987, Nicaraguan contra rebel field commander Enrique Bermudez, left, is applauded by then-Sub-Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs Elliot Abrams, December 12th, at a 'Day of the Freedom Fighter' program sponsored by the Concerned Citizens for Democracy. More than 1,00 persons attended." /><p class="source"><span>Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">In December 1987, Nicaraguan contra rebel field commander Enrique Bermudez, left, is applauded by then-Sub-Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs Elliot Abrams, December 12th, at a 'Day of the Freedom Fighter' program sponsored by the Concerned Citizens for Democracy. More than 1,00 persons attended.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></h2><h2>Abrams' appointment seems to signal America's willingness to do whatever it takes to bring Maduro down</h2><p><span>Cynthia J. Arnson, director of the Wilson Center's Latin American Program, told INSIDER that there "were several other outstanding possibilities that would not have been as polarizing as Elliot Abrams, who ... for people who remember his role in Central America, is likely to raise some eyebrows on the Democratic side of the aisle."</span></p><p><span>"That said, I'm not sure how many members of the House or the Senate were around in the bad old days of the Central America wars," she added. </span></p><p>Arnson said there were other "credible" people who could've filled the role, but added that Abrams' appointment is "consistent with other foreign policy appointments that Trump has made."</p><p><span>"What so many people question are [Abrams'] human rights and democracy credentials on an issue like El Salvador where he was part of a Reagan administration effort to deny abuses," Arnson added. "It is certainly a very problematic record."</span><span></span></p><p><span>While some might feel Abrams' appointment is a sign the Trump administration favors a military intervention in Venezuela, Arnson seems to feel that's a premature assessment. "I don't see the naming of Abrams as providing any indication whatsoever that military options are moving further along, I think that's a false connection to make," she said.</span></p><p><span>The White House has said that all options are on the table in Venezuela, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-crisis-white-house-could-deploy-us-troops-to-colombia-2019-1">including the use of military force.</a> </span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c4f2e732bdd7f37356be286-2000/2019-01-27t203549z1lynxnpef0q0s0rtroptp4venezuela-politics.jpg" border="0" alt="Venezuela Maduro" data-mce-source="Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS" data-mce-caption="Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro takes part in a military exercise in Valencia, Venezuela January 27, 2019." /><p class="source"><span>Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS</span></p><p class="caption">Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro takes part in a military exercise in Valencia, Venezuela January 27, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Meanwhile, Latin America historian Alejandro Velasco, a professor at New York University, said a Venezuelan opposition movement that is seeking to promote human rights, democracy, and self-determination should not desire to align itself with Abrams. </span></p><p><span>"W</span>hen one thinks about Elliott Abrams, you don't associate any of those things with him," he told INSIDER. America's selection of Abrams, Velasco added, signals its willingness to do <span style="font-weight: 400;">"whatever it takes to make sure that the Maduro government falls."</span></p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-crisis-white-house-could-deploy-us-troops-to-colombia-2019-1">Bolton's notepad reveals Trump is considering sending 5,000 troops to Colombia amid Venezuela crisis</a></em></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"They're not playing around, they're not diddle-dawdling," he said. "This is a signal that's being sent not just to Venezuela and the Maduro government, but it's also being sent to people like Putin in Russia, to the Chinese, to Turkey, that the strategy here is regime change in as quick a time frame as possible." </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Last week, the US threw its support behind Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader who the Venezuelan National assembly named as the country's interim president. Other South American countries, including Brazil and Colombia, also recognized Guaidó as Venezuela's legitimate leader, angering Maduro. But Velasco raised the concern that the opposition's reputation - internationally and domestically - might be compromised by an allegiance with Abrams. </span></p><p>"<span style="font-weight: 400;">It takes so much of their credibility on the promotion of democracy, human rights, and self-determination to align so closely with somebody like Abrams and somebody like John Bolton," he said. </span></p><h2><strong>The White House is standing by Abrams despite criticism of his record</strong></h2><p><span>Experts seem to be in agreement that much of Abrams record is deeply troubling and has unsettling implications for Trump's policy in Venezuela and Latin America more broadly. </span></p><p><span>With that said, </span><span>Arnson also </span><span>emphasized that Abrams played a key role in decrying Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet's human rights abuses in the 1980s, highlighting the mixed nature of his history and influence in Washington. </span></p><p><span>"Abrams," she said, "was very active in efforts to bring about a return to democracy in Chile at a time when General Pinochet was in power." </span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c51eac92bdd7f796325d472-2000/pinochet.jpg" border="0" alt="Pinochet" data-mce-source="Getty Images" data-mce-caption="General Augusto Pinochet, head of Chile's ruling military junta, holds a news conference at Santiago's War College on September 21, 1973. Pinochet states that neither the US nor any other foreign nation was involved in the coup d'etat that overthrew the Marxist government of President Salvador Allende." /><p class="source"><span>Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">General Augusto Pinochet, head of Chile's ruling military junta, holds a <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> conference at Santiago's War College on September 21, 1973. Pinochet states that neither the US nor any other foreign nation was involved in the coup d'etat that overthrew the Marxist government of President Salvador Allende.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p>Kathryn Sikkink, a Harvard professor and human rights policy expert, said that the best one could hope for right now is that Abrams' policy in Venezuela aligns more with his work in Chile than his work in Central America. </p><p><span>"What we hope now is something along the lines of when the US government realized that they should be with civil society in Chile and they should support the plebiscite vote," she said. That vote, she said, stopped </span><span>"Pinochet from his attempt to endure himself in power."</span></p><p><span>"That turned out to be very successful," she said. "So there is a model of the US government taking the side on behalf of democracy against an authoritarian leader, one that it had cozied up to previously, and it was a very successful outcome."</span><span></span><span></span><span></span></p><p><span>It is because of Abrams' key role in the successful take-down of Pinochet that the Trump administration, perhaps, does not appear </span><span>to agree with the notion Abrams is a "polarizing" figure, despite his past. </span></p><p>National Security Adviser John Bolton vehemently rejected the notion Abrams is not the right man for the job.</p><p><span>"Elliott is exactly the type of tough-minded foreign policy veteran necessary to overcome the oppression and destabilizing corruption that is facing Venezuela," Bolton told INSIDER. "I have personally known him for years, and he is more than qualified to approach the fundamental human rights challenges in the region."</span></p><p><span>The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. </span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-marriage-three-times-ivana-melania-marla-maples-divorce-2016-2">Meet the three women who married Donald Trump</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/nLYgFlFe-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Trump's new Venezuela envoy Elliot Abrams has 'polarizing' history of supporting dictators in Latin America, experts say

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Organizers of an event claim the Museum of Jewish Heritage banned Florida Gov. Ron <keyword id="12020322" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="desantis" source="Orion">DeSantis</keyword> from speaking.</li><li>The event chairman accused the museum of back-peddling once it discovered the Florida firebrand was a speaker.</li></ul><p>A Jewish museum in NYC that's hosted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio backed out of hosting an event where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was a scheduled speaker, according to two organizers of an event originally scheduled to be held there next month. </p><p>The Museum of Jewish Heritage agreed to host an annual event for <a href="https://tikvahfund.org/">Tikvah</a>, a Jewish educational and cultural institution, called the <a href="https://www.jewishleadershipconference.org/">Jewish Leadership Conference</a>, on June 12, which was in the works for months, according to the organizers.</p><p>But, according to an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fholocaust-memorial-new-york-museum-jewish-heritage-ron-desantis-judaism-florida-cancel-culture-tivka-speech-event-aoc-censorship-11651759681">opinion piece</a> in the Wall Street Journal co-authored by Tikvah chairman, Elliott Abrams, and CEO, Eric Cohen, once the museum discovered the list of some 15 speakers included Florida's firebrand governor, the museum issued an ultimatum: it's either DeSantis or us. The museum has denied this was the reasoning.</p><p>"We were working closely with the museum on the details for the June 12 event — until, out of the blue, we were told by the museum staff that Mr. DeSantis didn't 'align with the museum's values and its message of inclusivity.' Either we disinvite the governor, they said, or our event was unwelcome," read the article. </p><p>The governor was invited to discuss the Sunshine State's "remarkable Jewish renaissance," according to the op-ed, largely attributed to his efforts to allocate state funding for professional security for Jewish day schools and signing a law requiring schools to teach Holocaust curriculum at every grade level in an age-appropriate manner. </p><p>The authors of the op-ed accused the museum of "intolerance" and "cancel culture."</p><p>Through a representative, the museum denied the allegations, calling the WSJ piece "fictionalized" and insisting that no contract was ever signed and no deposit was made.</p><p>"No one was banned or canceled," said the <a href="https://mjhnyc.org/press/statement-from-the-museum-of-jewish-heritage-no-one-was-banned-or-cancelled/">statement</a>, adding that the piece "contains many factual inaccuracies, including fictionalized quotes."</p><p>"This is not a free speech or censorship issue. The Tikvah Fund is trying to create a fight where none exists. This was simply a contractual and logistical decision," read the statement, adding that DeSantis and elected officials from across the spectrum are "welcome" to visit the museum.</p><p>Abrams, a former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush and deputy national security advisor in his administration, blasted the museum's defense, claiming that it's not about whether DeSantis is allowed to enter the building, but whether he's allowed to speak there.</p><p>"The museum is not telling the truth," Abrams told Insider, adding that Tikvah signed its part of the contract and saying that the museum issued an ultimatum only when it learned that the Florida governor was a speaker. He added that minutiae of the event were being hashed out, including discussions of audio-visuals and catering. "They then refused to finally sign it because they said of DeSantis," Abrams told Insider.</p><p>The Journal's op-ed noted that polarizing pols including AOC and de Blasio, who have been <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/02/20/queens-jewish-leader-slams-aoc-for-suggesting-israel-cages-palestinian-kids/">accused of hostility</a> to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/de-blasio-tweet-jewish-community-coronavirus-social-distancing-rules-2020-4">Jewish community and Israel</a>, have spoken at the museum. </p><p><keyword id="11921345" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york-city" source="Orion">New York City</keyword> Council member Joe Borelli <a href="https://twitter.com/InnaVernikov/status/1522364295757062144">co-authored a scathing letter</a> to the museum with City Council member Inna Vernikov.</p><p>DeSantis faced some controversy earlier this year with the <a href="https://twitter.com/ADL_Florida/status/1488263457069805575?s=20&amp;t=UFE2nAhtmfDSYTiAK42CFQ">Florida chapter of the Anti-Defamation League</a> calling on him to denounce a neo-Nazi rally in Orlando.</p><p>But local Florida Republican politicians have championed the popular governor's relationship with the Jewish community.</p><p>"He's been a friend of the Jewish community through and through and it's an absolute shame that the Jewish community did not put politics aside and be thankful for what he's done, whether they're Republicans or Democrats," Bal Harbour, Miami, Republican mayor Gabe Groisman, a former Democrat, told Insider, adding that he's traveled to Israel with the governor on numerous occasions.</p><p>The governor's spokesperson Christina Pushaw told Insider via email, "He has stood with Florida's Jewish community not only in his words but also in his actions."</p><p>Adding, "As long as Governor DeSantis is in office, Florida will continue to be a safe and welcoming home for the Jewish people. That is the message the governor has always delivered and plans to deliver in New York City."</p><p>Observers are waiting to see if there's any internal fallout within the museum, which has at least one <a href="https://www.rjchq.org/george_klein">prominent Republican supporter</a>, George Klein, who's been a longtime benefactor of the museum <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/14/nyregion/after-50-years-struggle-redemption-holocaust-museum-realized-with-it-promise.html">since it opened 25 years ago</a>.</p>

Museum of Jewish Heritage backed out of hosting event where Ron DeSantis was set to speak, organizers said

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US has been publicly and privately warning <keyword id="2723" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Venezuela">Venezuela</keyword> and <keyword id="16815" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cuba">Cuba</keyword> not to let in Iranian warships.</li><li>Two Iranian ships thought to be carrying arms, possibly for transfer, are crossing the Atlantic.</li><li>The Pentagon has said that "delivery of such weapons would be a provocative act and a threat."</li></ul><p>The US has been warning Venezuela and Cuba not to allow two Iranian warships sailing across the Atlantic to dock in their ports, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/09/venezuela-cuba-iran-ships-492602?nname=politico-nightly&amp;nid=00000170-c000-da87-af78-e185fa700000&amp;nrid=0000016c-a5de-d088-a3ef-b7df92720000&amp;nlid=2670445nlid=2670445">Politico reported Thursday</a>, citing several people briefed on the matter.</p><p>The Makran, an oil tanker <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword> converted into a massive sea base for expeditionary naval operations, is accompanied by the frigate Sahand and is thought to be carrying weapons. The two vessels have completed about half of their journey to across the Atlantic. Venezuela is believed to be the intended destination.</p><p>Satellite images taken about a month ago by Maxar and <a href="https://news.usni.org/2021/06/01/iranian-warship-thought-to-be-headed-to-venezuela-left-port-with-7-high-speed-missile-boats-aboard">reported by USNI News</a> showed the large vessel carrying several fast-attack craft like the ones Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has repeatedly used to harass US Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf.</p><div type="image" title="Iranian naval ship, the Makran, is seen in Bandar Abbas, Iran, in this satellite image taken on April 28, 2021. Picture taken April 28, 2021" height="2240" width="3990" msid="83406930" hostid="261"></div><p>It is, however, unclear if it is still carrying those boats. If they are still on board, it is unclear if Iran intends to transfer those boats or other weapons or to carry out some other mission entirely.</p><p>Iran has not made its intentions known. Either way, the US has made its position on this particular issue very clear.</p><p>Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/03/politics/us-iran-ships-venezuela/index.html">told CNN last week</a> that "we would note that the delivery of such weapons would be a provocative act and a threat to our partners in this hemisphere. As such we would reserve the right to take appropriate measures in concert with our partners to deter the delivery or transit of such weapons."</p><p>The Biden administration has also been putting pressure on Venezuela and Cuba through diplomatic channels, urging Caracas and Havana not to let in the two Iranian vessels, Politico reported, citing two defense officials and a congressional official.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/09/venezuela-cuba-iran-ships-492602?nname=politico-nightly&amp;nid=00000170-c000-da87-af78-e185fa700000&amp;nrid=0000016c-a5de-d088-a3ef-b7df92720000&amp;nlid=2670445nlid=2670445">current administration official told Politico</a> that Iran is possibly delivering weapons from a sale made under the previous administration and blamed the Trump administration for pushing Iran and Venezuela together through maximum pressure campaigns.</p><div type="image" title="Iranian naval ship, the Makran, is seen near Larak Island, Iran, in this satellite image taken on May 10, 2021. Picture taken May 10, 2021" height="4620" width="7000" msid="83406935" hostid="261"></div><p>Elliott Abrams, who served as the special envoy for Iran and Venezuela during the Trump administration, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/09/venezuela-cuba-iran-ships-492602?nname=politico-nightly&amp;nid=00000170-c000-da87-af78-e185fa700000&amp;nrid=0000016c-a5de-d088-a3ef-b7df92720000&amp;nlid=2670445nlid=2670445">told Politico</a> that such accusations were "petty" and "political" and indicated that the official is "far more interested in blaming predecessors than in protecting US national security."</p><p>"We all hope diplomacy works," he said. "If it does not, this administration should get ready to act - not ready to blame more and more people for their inaction."</p><p>During final months of the Trump administration, there were concerns about possible Iranian missiles sales to Venezuela.</p><p>"I've made one very concrete statement about this: We will not accept, we will not tolerate, the placement in Venezuela of Iranian missiles that can reach the United States," <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elliott-abrams-iranian-missiles-in-venezuela-will-be-dealt-with-2020-12">Abrams said in December</a>.</p><p>"We will not accept it," he stressed at the time. "And if they try to do it, at least in this administration, we will try to interdict it, and if they arrive in Venezuela, they will be dealt with in Venezuela."</p>

US warns neighboring countries not to let in Iranian warships sailing across the Atlantic and thought to be carrying weapons

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5beb30d166be503a3b513dd6-2250/camp fire destruction.jpg" border="0" alt="camp fire destruction" data-mce-source="Noah Berger/AP" data-mce-caption="The Camp Fire burns along a ridgetop near Big Bend, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018. Crews working to contain the blaze overnight faced deteriorating weather conditions according to CalFire as winds picked up and humidity dropped." /><p class="source"><span>Noah Berger/AP</span></p><p class="caption">The Camp Fire burns along a ridgetop near Big Bend, Calif., in November 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Pacific Gas &amp; Electric, the bankrupt California utility that's been found partially responsible for causing two of the state's devastating wildfires, has been a target for dozens of hedge funds. </li><li>In a bankruptcy hearing on Monday, a judge will decide between a deal put forth by the equity holders, which would benefit Seth Klarman's Baupost Group, and a settlement from bond holders, led by Paul Singer's Elliott Management and supported by victims of the wildfires. </li><li>Major shareholders in the company agreed to an $11 billion Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan in early September that would have paid out funds like Baupost and TPG that held insurance claims at a premium, but that plan no longer has support of wildfire victims.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.  </li></ul><p>The final decision in the sprawling multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy of Pacific Gas &amp; Electric will make some well-known hedge fund managers very happy, and ruin the years-long work of others. </p><p>The California utility that was found partially responsible for some of the state's recent massive wildfires had the backing of its major shareholders - including David Abrams' Abrams Capital, John Paulson's hedge fund, Fidelity, and dozens of other managers - for an $11 billion Chapter 11 plan that would have paid out insurance claims at a rate that would make Seth Klarman's Baupost Group hundreds of millions.</p><p>Baupost owns more than $3 billion in insurance claims that the Boston-based manager would have been paid back 59 cents on the dollar for under the bankruptcy plan - double the amount of what the firm paid for some of the claims.  </p><p>But the plan has been challenged by another high-powered group of hedge funds and asset managers, led by Paul Singer's Elliott Management and Pacific Investment Management Company, who own the utility's bonds. They have put forward a bankruptcy proposal where the group of bondholders would pump $29.2 billion into the company to take control of it - and basically push the equity-holders out of the equation. </p><p>One important group representing the victims of the wildfires has made its allegiance known. It has sided with bondholders, under a plan in which $14.5 billion would go to those who lost homes, cars, and loved ones in the natural disasters. </p><p>The latest iteration of the saga will play out on Monday, when Judge Dennis Montali is set to rule on whether both plans would be able to move ahead. Below is a rundown of the funds that will be hanging on his every word. </p> 

Hedge funds have billions on the line at PG&E's bankruptcy hearing - and equity-holder Seth Klarman is pitted against bond-holder Paul Singer

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c6486db2628985bb202d7e8-2000/ilhan%20omar.jpg" border="0" alt="Ilhan Omar" data-mce-source="Jonathan Ernst/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) participates in a news conference to call on Congress to cut funding for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. February 7, 2019."><p class="source"><span>Jonathan Ernst/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) participates in a news conference to call on Congress to cut funding for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. February 7, 2019.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar on Wednesday had a heated exchange with the Trump administration's envoy to Venezuela over his record in Latin America.</li><li>The Minnesota congresswoman pressed Elliot Abrams on his <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-new-venezuela-envoy-elliot-abrams-polarizing-figure-latin-america-2019-1">conviction in the Iran-Contra affair and role in downplaying the worst massacre in recent Latin American history.</a></li><li>"I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful," Omar said.</li><li>Abrams replied that Omar's inquiries amounted to a "ridiculous question" and said the lawmakers comments were a "personal attack."</li></ul><p>In a contentious exchange before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar confronted Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration's special envoy for Venezuela, over his role in US policy toward Central America in the 1980s - a period marked by brutal actions by US-backed forces in the region.</p><p>Omar began her remarks by mentioning Abrams' 1991 guilty plea to charges of withholding information from Congress over his role in the Iran-Contra affair, in which the Reagan administration used the the proceeds of illegal arms sales to Iran to fund the right-wing Contras of Nicaragua in their campaign against the country's socialist government.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-new-venezuela-envoy-elliot-abrams-polarizing-figure-latin-america-2019-1">Trump's man to handle Venezuela crisis was convicted in Iran-Contra affair and fought to cover-up worst massacre in recent Latin American history</a></em></p><p>"I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful," Omar said. Abrams <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-pompeo-names-hawkish-gop-veteran-to-run-venezuela-policy-2019-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was later pardoned</a> by President George H.W. Bush, who was Reagan's vice president.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c51e8f32bdd7f7d0c55caab-2000/elliot%20abrams.jpg" border="0" alt="Elliot Abrams" data-mce-source="Terry Ashe/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Then-Assistant Secretary of State Elliot Abrams being sworn in at Iran-Contra hearings."><p class="source"><span>Terry Ashe/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Then-Assistant Secretary of State Elliot Abrams being sworn in at Iran-Contra hearings.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>Abrams began to reply and said Omar's statement "wasn't a question," but he was quickly cut off. The two sparred before Omar moved to Abrams' Senate testimony a few months after <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/01/30/elliott-abrams-venezuela-coup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the December 1981 massacre</a> in the Salvadoran village of El Mozote.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/pdfs/e/elsalvdr/elsalv923.pdf">Human Rights Watch report</a> said that Abrams in his testimony "artfully distorted several issues in order to discredit the public accounts" of the infamous massacre to downplay the Reagan administration's role. The forces responsible for the 1981 mass killing were trained and armed by the US.</p><p>"In that hearing, you dismissed as communist propaganda a report about the massacre of El Mozote, in which more than 800 civilians, including children as young as two years old, were brutally murdered by US-trained troops," Omar said on Wednesday. "During that massacre, some of those troops bragged about raping a 12-year-old girl[s] before they killed them. You later said that the US policy in El Salvador was fabulous achievement. Yes or no, do you still think so?"</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-bolton-venezuelas-president-maduro-could-end-up-in-guantanamo-2019-2" data-analytics-position="3">John Bolton says Venezuela's Maduro could end up in a 'beach area like Guantánamo'</a></em></p><p>Abrams replied that from the early 1984 election of Jose Duarte as president to now, El Salvador "has been a democracy. That's a fabulous achievement."</p><p>Omar asked him specifically about El Mozote and whether it was a "fabulous achievement," prompting Abrams to call it a "ridiculous question" before throwing his hands up and saying "no."</p><p>Abrams then turned to the chairman of the committee, saying he would not respond "to that kind of personal attack, which is not a question."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c648aa4598e2341be4d186a-1400/ap16275696603493.jpg" border="0" alt="El Mozote El Salvador massacre human remains" data-mce-source="(AP Photo/Michael Stravato)" data-mce-caption="Argentine forensic anthropologist Claudia Bernard brushes dirt from human remains, in El Mozote, El Salvador, October 23, 1992."><p class="source"><span>(AP Photo/Michael Stravato)</span></p><p class="caption">Argentine forensic anthropologist Claudia Bernard brushes dirt from human remains, in El Mozote, El Salvador, October 23, 1992.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>Omar then asked Abrams if he would support "an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide if you believed they were serving US interests, as you did in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua?"</p><p>"I am not going to respond to that question, I'm sorry," Abrams said. "I don't think this entire line of questioning is meant to be real questions, and so I will not reply."</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bio-juan-guaido-self-proclaimed-interim-president-of-venezuela-2019-1">Meet Juan Guaidó, the self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela who's challenging Nicolas Maduro for power</a></em></p><p>"Whether under your watch a genocide will take place, and you will look the other way because American interests were being upheld is a fair question," Omar said. "Because the American people want to know that any time we engage a country that we think about what our actions could be and how we believe our values are being furthered."</p><p>"Will you make sure that human rights are not violated and that we uphold international and human rights?"</p><p>"I suppose there is a question in there," Abrams responded, adding that the "entire thrust of American policy in Venezuela is to support the Venezuelan people's effort to restore democracy to their country."</p><p>Omar followed-up, asking specifically if the interest of the US included protecting human rights and protecting people from genocide.</p><p>"That is always the position of the United States," Abrams said.</p><p>The testy exchange occurred amid a House Foreign Relations Committee hearing on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bio-juan-guaido-self-proclaimed-interim-president-of-venezuela-2019-1">the Trump administration's approach to the situation in Venezuela.</a></p><p>Abrams' role in the Iran-Contra affair and George H.W. Bush's controversial decision to pardon him and others <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-new-venezuela-envoy-elliot-abrams-polarizing-figure-latin-america-2019-1">has long made him a divisive figure in Washington</a>.</p><p>He was a foreign-policy adviser during a period when the US government was criticized for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/world/americas/chile-coup-cia-museum.html">undermining democratic governments</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/trump-and-el-salvador/550955/">abetting human-rights abuses</a> as part of a policy of anti-communism.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bolton-message-about-troops-to-colombia-was-trick-to-scare-maduro-2019-1" data-analytics-position="4">Bolton's not-so-subtle note about sending 5,000 US troops to Colombia may have just been a bluff to spook Venezuela's embattled Maduro</a></em></p><p>After he was tapped to be Trump's Venezuela envoy, some <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/01/29/dangerous-game-donald-trump-is-playing-with-venezuela/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.f501d87d5dd7">foreign policy experts</a> have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-new-venezuela-envoy-elliot-abrams-polarizing-figure-latin-america-2019-1">expressed concern the White House was moving toward intervention</a> against Nicolas Maduro's authoritarian government.</p><p>Abrams has been accused of supporting <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-pompeo-names-hawkish-gop-veteran-to-run-venezuela-policy-2019-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an attempted military coup in Venezuela in 2002</a> while serving as an adviser to former President George W. Bush.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c5e1358b3a20258c439aa73-1400/2019-02-07t022527z1368016606rc1fbe9f4300rtrmadp3venezuela-politics.jpg" border="0" alt="Venezuela military Nicolas Maduro" data-mce-source="Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS" data-mce-caption="Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks to soldiers at a military exercise in Maracaibo, February 6, 2019."><p class="source"><span>Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS</span></p><p class="caption">Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks to soldiers at a military exercise in Maracaibo, February 6, 2019.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>Omar, a freshman congresswoman and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is among those dismayed by Abrams' appointment. She also <a href="https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1090001125493874689">criticized President Donald Trump's recent sanctions aimed at hurting Maduro</a>.</p><p>Over the past week, Omar made headlines over tweets about the nature of US support for Israel and a pro-Israel lobbying organization - the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She was widely accused of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/democrats-criticize-ilhan-omar-aipac-israel-tweets-2019-2">trafficking in anti-Semitic tropes</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rep-ilhan-omar-apologizes-over-tweets-anti-semitic-tropes-2019-2">ultimately apologized for her tweets</a>.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Special Envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams and Rep. Ilhan Omar clash in testy exchange at House Foreign Affairs hearing.<br><br>"Whether...a genocide will take place and you will look the other way because American interests were being upheld is a fair question," she says. <a href="https://t.co/YUZfvuCirF">pic.twitter.com/YUZfvuCirF</a></br></br></p>- ABC <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> (@ABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1095773284975722496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2019</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-was-latin-americas-richest-country-heres-how-it-fell-apart-2017-7">Venezuela was Latin America's richest country and now it is in complete crisis - here's how it fell apart</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/OYA3woRt-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Rep. Ilhan Omar had a heated exchange with Trump's Venezuela envoy over his role in the US's violent history in Central America

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58b4b2d4549057dc008b704b-2000/ap040622017453.jpg" alt="john huntsman" data-mce-source="Douglas C. Pizac/AP" data-mce-caption="Jon Huntsman, Jr., arrives at his campaign party during the Republican primary election Tuesday, June 22, 2004, in Salt Lake City. Huntsman is opposing Nolan Karras to be the GOP's gubernatorial candidate." /><p class="source"><span>Douglas C. Pizac/AP</span></p><p class="caption">Jon Huntsman arrives at his campaign party during the Republican primary election, June 22, 2004, in Salt Lake City.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Former ambassador to China and Singapore, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is said to be in talks for the deputy secretary of state post, US officials <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-utah-gov-jon-huntsman-in-talks-to-be-state-departments-no-2-1488232616" target="_blank">told The Wall Street Journal</a> on Monday.</p><p>Huntsman was said to be a serious candidate for secretary of state before President Donald Trump <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-senate-confirms-rex-tillerson-as-secretary-of-state-2017-2" target="_blank">selected</a> former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson instead.</p><p>Huntsman is a Mandarin-speaking former 2012 GOP presidential candidate who served under former President Barack Obama.</p><p>Tillerson earlier this month recommended Elliott Abrams for the deputy post, but Abrams was passed over after rump learned of Abrams' criticism's during Trump's presidential campaign. Such previous criticisms could also pose a problem for Hunstman. At one point during the 2016 election, Huntsman asked Trump to drop out of the race.</p><p>"In a campaign cycle that has been nothing but a race to the bottom - at such a critical moment for our nation - and with so many who have tried to be respectful of a record primary vote, the time has come for Governor Pence to lead the ticket," <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/home/4928565-155/source-huntsman-in-line-for-top" target="_blank">Huntsman</a><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/home/4928565-155/source-huntsman-in-line-for-top" target="_blank">told the Salt Lake Tribune</a> last fall.</p><p>Huntman later said he would <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/home/4928565-155/source-huntsman-in-line-for-top" target="_blank">support Trump</a> even though he had "fundamental philosophical differences."</p><p>Trump administration officials said that the decision wasn't final and that other candidates were under consideration.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-secretary-of-state-putin-rex-tillerson-exxon-mobil-2016-12">Trump's pick for secretary of state has a personal relationship with Putin that's been called a 'matter of concern'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="pjb2U4ODE63jr9acsu6R65nSNzsvwDM9" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'pjb2U4ODE63jr9acsu6R65nSNzsvwDM9',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Former US ambassador in talks to be deputy secretary of state

<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/52c2dd3d69beddd86c880eaf-800-600/first-commercial-flight-st-petersburg-1914-4.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="first commercial flight st petersburg 1914" width="480"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Benoist_xiv.jpg">Wikipedia Commons</a></span></p></img></div><p></p></div><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Just over a century ago this month, commercial aviation was born. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line operated the </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">first scheduled airline flight, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">a 23-minute hop across Tampa Bay that covered 18.6 miles.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">It flew on January 1, 1914.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The first customer was the former mayor of </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">St. Petersburg, Abram Pheil, who paid $400 at auction for the ticket. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He wore a raincoat. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Tony Jannus piloted an airboat built by Thomas Benoist, flying just 15 feet above the water, according to an <a href="http://www.floridaahs.org/flight-2014.html" target="_blank">account by the Florida Aviation Historical Society</a>.  </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Oh how far we have come! Flash forward ten decades: 52 commercial flights take off every minute. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Commercial aviation is a $13 billion industry, carrying 3.1 billion passengers. By 2016, the <a href="http://www.releasd.com/0411/new-years-day-2014-marks-100-years-of-commercial-aviation" target="_blank">International Air Transport Association predicts</a> that number will rise to 3.6 billion.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here's a look at what the dawn of air travel was like. This is the aircraft taking off: </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/52c2da57eab8ea4b7703686a-1191-751/screen shot 2013-12-31 at 9.09.18 am.png" border="0" alt="1914 first commercial flight"><p class="source"><span>IATA</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">From left to right: Percival Elliott Fansler, who organized the funding for the airline; passenger Abram Pheil; pilot Tony Jannus.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/52c2da5769bedd6562880ea9-1200-750/screen%20shot%202013-12-31%20at%209.09.51%20am.png" border="0" alt="1914 first commercial flight" width="800"><p class="source"><span>IATA</span></p></img></div><p></p></div><br /></span></p>
<p><em><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">[An earlier version of this article was written by Alex Davies.]</span></em></p>
<p> </p>

This Is What Commercial Flight Looked Like 101 Years Ago

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c4cab3e2bdd7f29b717dde2-2000/pomp.jpg" border="0" alt="mike pompeo" data-mce-source="Carlo Allegri/Reuters" data-mce-caption="U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the United Nations during a Security Council meeting about the situation in Venezuela in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 26, 2019." data-link="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2019%3Anewsml_KCN1PK0EL%3A7&amp;search=all%3Apompeo" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2019%3Anewsml_KCN1PK0EL%3A7&amp;search=all%3Apompeo">Carlo Allegri/Reuters</a></span></p><p class="caption">U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the United Nations during a Security Council meeting about the situation in Venezuela in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 26, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued several stern warnings against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council Saturday. </strong></li><li><strong>Pompeo urged the Security Council to "pick a side" and recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido over Maduro, who he said was leading an "<span>illegitimate mafia state."</span></strong></li><li><strong>Guaido, who took the helm of the National Assembly on January 5, proclaimed himself interim president on Wednesday though Maduro, who has led the oil-rich nation since 2013 and has the support of the armed forces, has refused to stand down.</strong></li><li><strong>Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Belgium said they would recognize Guaido as interim president unless Maduro called fresh elections within eight days, a deadline to which China and Russia objected. </strong></li></ul><p>US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told countries at the United Nations on Saturday to "pick a side" on Venezuela, urging them to back Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and calling for free and fair elections as soon as possible.</p><p>Pompeo was addressing the 15-member UN Security Council, which met at his request after Washington and a string of countries in the region recognized Guaido as head of state and urged Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down.</p><p>"Now it is time for every other nation to pick a side ... Either you stand with the forces of freedom, or you're in league with Maduro and his mayhem," Pompeo told the council. "We call on all members of the Security Council to support Venezuela's democratic transition and interim President Guaido's role."</p><p>Pompeo called Venezuela an "<span>illegitimate mafia state" under Maduro and doubled down on US support for the leader's ouster. </span></p><p>"The United States stands with the Venezuelan people," he said. "We're here to urge all nations to support the democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people as they try to free themselves from former President Maduro's illegitimate mafia state."</p><p>Guaido, who took the helm of the National Assembly on Jan. 5, proclaimed himself interim president on Wednesday though Maduro, who has led the oil-rich nation since 2013 and has the support of the armed forces, has refused to stand down.</p><p>Maduro cruised to re-election in May last year amid low turnout and allegations of vote-buying by the government. The domestic opposition, the United States and right leaning Latin American governments declined to recognize the result of the vote.</p><p>Under Maduro, Venezuela has sunk into turmoil with food shortages and daily protests amid an economic and political crisis that has sparked mass emigration and inflation that is seen rising to 10 million percent this year.</p><p>Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Belgium all said on Saturday they would recognize Guaido as interim president unless Maduro called fresh elections within eight days.</p><p>"Europe is giving us eight days? Where do you get that you have the power to establish a deadline or an ultimatum to a sovereign people," Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told the Security Council. "It's almost childlike."</p><p>Arreaza said Maduro's government still hopes to establish communication and dialogue with US President Donald Trump's administration. "That offer stands," he told the council.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: </em><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-juan-guaido-in-hiding-as-military-backs-nicolas-maduro-2019-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Venezuela's 'interim president' is in hiding - despite US backing - and appears to be failing one of his own 3 tests for securing power</a></em></p><p>Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called the eight day ultimatum "absurd." Moscow opposes the US efforts and has accused Washington of backing a coup attempt, placing Venezuela at the heart of a growing geopolitical duel.</p><p>"This is not about foreign intervention in Venezuela," former US diplomat Elliott Abrams, who Pompeo named on Friday to lead US efforts on Venezuela, told the council.</p><p>Russia failed in a bid to stop Saturday's Security Council meeting. China, South Africa and Equatorial Guinea voted with Moscow to block the meeting, while nine countries voted in favor of the meeting. Ivory Coast and Indonesia abstained.</p><p>"We strongly condemn those who are pushing the Venezuelan society to the edge of a bloodbath. The US are painting a picture of a confrontation between the Maduro regime and the people of Venezuela. This picture is far from reality," Nebenzia told the Security Council.</p><p>Russia, China, South Africa and Equatorial Guinea also blocked a US push for a UN Security Council statement expressing full support for Venezuela's National Assembly as the country's "only democratically elected institution."</p><p>"China does not interfere in other countries internal affairs. We hope the country that accuses others can do likewise itself," said China's UN Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu, referring to the United States.</p><p>The United States previously signaled it was ready to step up economic measures to try to drive Maduro from power.</p><p>Pompeo told reporters on Saturday that he hopes countries "will ensure that they disconnect their financial systems from the Maduro regime and allow assets that belong to the Venezuelan people to go to the rightful governors of that state."</p><p>(Reuters reporting by Michelle Nichols. Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Washington, Editing by William Maclean and Diane Craft)</p>

Pompeo urged the United Nations to support Venezuela's ouster of Maduro to fix 'illegitimate mafia state'

<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/52c2dd3d69beddd86c880eaf-800-600/first-commercial-flight-st-petersburg-1914-4.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="first commercial flight st petersburg 1914" width="480" /><p class="source"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Benoist_xiv.jpg">Wikipedia Commons</a></p></div></div>Just a few weeks after marking the </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wright-brothers-not-first-in-flight-2013-12" target="_blank">110th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, the <keyword id="31907" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Aviation">aviation</keyword> world has another historical moment to celebrate.</span></p>
<p>A century ago today, commercial aviation was born. The <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line operated the </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">first scheduled airline flight, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">a 23-minute hop across Tampa Bay that covered 18.6 miles.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The first customer was the former mayor of </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">St. Petersburg, Abram Pheil, who paid $400 at auction for the ticket. He wore a raincoat. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Tony Jannus piloted an airboat built by Thomas Benoist, flying just 15 feet above the water, according to an <a href="http://www.floridaahs.org/flight-2014.html" target="_blank">account by the Florida Aviation Historical Society</a>.  </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Today, 52 commercial flights take off every minute. The </span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">commercial aviation was a $12.9 billion industry in 2013, carrying 3.1 billion passengers. By 2016, the <a href="http://www.releasd.com/0411/new-years-day-2014-marks-100-years-of-commercial-aviation" target="_blank">International Air Transport Association predicts</a> that number will rise to 3.6 billion.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">St. Petersburg will mark the anniversary of the birth of commercial aviation by recreating that first flight, using a reproduction of the original plane, built by Kermit Weeks of Fantasy of Flight, a collection of vintage aircraft.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here's the plane as it takes off: </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/52c2da57eab8ea4b7703686a-1191-751/screen shot 2013-12-31 at 9.09.18 am.png" border="0" alt="1914 first commercial flight" /><p class="source">IATA</p></div></div></div></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">From left to right: Percival Elliott Fansler, who organized the funding for the airline; passenger Abram Pheil; pilot Tony Jannus.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52c2da5769bedd6562880ea9-1200-750/screen%20shot%202013-12-31%20at%209.09.51%20am.png" border="0" alt="1914 first commercial flight" width="800" /><p class="source">IATA</p></div></div></span></p>

The Very First Commercial Flight Took Off 100 Years Ago Today - It Cost $400 And Lasted 23 Minutes

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54578814ecad04b32fc3034e-1200-924/joe-biden-48.jpg?maxX=600" alt="joe biden" border="0" width="600"><p class="source"><span>CNN</span></p><p class="caption">Vice President Joe Biden on CNN.</p></img></div><p></p></div>Vice President Joe Biden appeared to accidentally deviate from the White House's official line on Russia's annexation of territory in Ukraine by actually calling it an invasion during a Monday morning interview on CNN.</p>
<p>Speaking on CNN, Biden listed overseas crises like the Ebola virus that he claimed the US government had dealt with successfully. Biden said this proved the US public "should not be as anxious as they are" about the world right now.</p>
<p>"When the Russians invaded - crossed the border - into Ukraine. It was, 'My god. It's over,'" Biden said, not even pausing a full second before switching the word "invaded" to "crossed the border."</p>
<p>"We've put it under control," Biden assured.</p>
<p>President Barack Obama's administration initially <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-crisis-why-the-u-s-avoids-calling-russia-s-actions-an-invasion-1.2750469">awkwardly and repeatedly refused</a> to use the word "invasion" - preferring to instead to deploy terms like "incursion" to describe Russian troops crossing the Ukrainian border last summer in support of Moscow-backed separatists.</p>
<p>According to some foreign policy experts, the terminology debate can be important because certain loaded words could demand direct US action when the White House would prefer a more cautious approach.</p>
<p>"Some words have both legal and emotional effects. And in the case of invasion, it's emotional and political," Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-crisis-why-the-u-s-avoids-calling-russia-s-actions-an-invasion-1.2750469">told CBC News</a> last August. <span>"I think they don't want to</span><span> use </span>the word invasion because<span> it </span>makes harder <span>the next question: And what are you going </span>to do about it?"</p>
<p>View Biden's comments on CNN below.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.cnn.com/video/api/embed.html#/video/politics/2014/11/03/newday-borger-biden-democrats-senate.cnn" frameborder="0" height="234" width="416"></iframe></p>

Joe Biden Corrects Himself After Saying Russia 'Invaded' Ukraine

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56fee40752bcd063018ba5ac-820-615/victoria coates.jpg" alt="Victoria Coates" data-mce-source="Stacey Sonneborn Fitzpatrick / Courtesy of Javelin" /><p class="source"><span>Stacey Sonneborn Fitzpatrick / Courtesy of Javelin</span></p><p class="caption">Victoria Coates.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has made some of the most contentious foreign-policy statements of this election cycle.</p><p>The Texas senator has advocated "carpet bombing" terrorists in the Middle East and has called for the rules of engagement to be loosened - the former is typically considered a potential war crime, and experts say the latter could lead to more civilian casualties.</p><p>Behind those policies and more is a <a href="https://www.tedcruz.org/news/ted-cruz-announces-national-security-coalition/">recently released list</a> of foreign-policy advisers working on his campaign.</p><p>One name near the top was that of an art historian who took an unconventional path to a career in <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword>.</p><p>Victoria Coates has a Ph.D. in art history and previously worked at the Cleveland Museum of Art as a consulting curator. She recently wrote a book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Davids-Sling-History-Democracy-Works/dp/1594037213/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1458856024&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=david%27s+sling">"David's Sling: A History of Democracy in Ten Works of Art</a>," about famous art that commemorates free societies.</p><p>But she always had an interest in politics - she studied the subject in college along with art history - and Coates started blogging for RedState after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Eventually, her work got noticed by the staff of former US <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Defense">Defense</keyword> Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.</p><p>Keith Urbahn, a former chief of staff for Rumsfeld, remembers that while Coates was blogging for RedState, she wrote a post about journalist Bob Woodward's book on some of George W. Bush's wartime strategy, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/State-Denial-Bush-War-Part/dp/0743272234">"State of Denial."</a></p><p>"I thought it was a compelling piece and we sent it up" to Rumsfeld's speech writer, Urbahn told Business Insider.</p><p>Rumsfeld liked what he saw.</p><p>"It was immediately clear to me that she had a knack for smart analysis and sharp writing," Rumsfeld said in a statement to Business Insider.</p><p>Coates later met Rumsfeld at an event in Philadelphia, and after he left the Bush administration and decided to write a book, he called on her to work for him as a researcher.</p><p>It didn't matter that Coates wasn't traditionally trained.</p><p>"She is someone who can talk about art history, US Russia policy, and the latest record of the Phillies with ease, humor, and smarts," Rumsfeld said. "She is meticulous, persuasive and forthright, which is a potent combination for anyone trying to weave their way through Washington."</p><p>Urbahn echoed this sentiment.</p><p>"The foreign policy think tanks … are an echo chamber in Washington," Urbahn said. He explained that decades ago, "there used to be a certain kind of person who sort of went back and forth between business, academia, and Washington."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56dc14c15124c9b2598b4567-800-603/with-two-wins-cruz-stakes-claim-as-trumps-main-republican-rival-2016-3.jpg" alt="U.S. Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz speaks at the Kansas Republican Caucus at the Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas March 5, 2016. REUTERS/Dave Kaup " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz speaks at the Kansas Republican Caucus in Wichita, Kansas" /><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz speaks at the Kansas Republican Caucus in Wichita, Kansas</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>He suggested that Coates is reminiscent of a bygone era of Washington advisers.</p><p>"It's only in the last 50 years that you have this class of bureaucrats here permanently in Washington going back and forth between think tanks and public service," Urbahn said. "That's a new phenomenon."</p><p>He continued: "Traditionally we've always had people who had a broad understanding of literature and history and sort of brought that to bear when they were called to government service. That's kind of the staffer and public servant that she harkens back to."</p><p>Coates' role on Cruz's team has been met with criticism from some who <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a41941/ted-cruz-victoria-coates-national-security-advisor/">argue that she lacks the requisite experience</a>.</p><p>"We have a really superb team, retired military and foreign policy folks who we've built very carefully over the past few years," Coates told Business Insider of the Cruz campaign. "Folks who want to make me out to be some sort of rogue agent are really doing a disservice to a superb group who's really done wonderful work."</p><p>After working for Rumsfeld as a researcher on his book, Coates found positions as a foreign-policy adviser for two Texas Republican politicians who would go on to seek the presidency - former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Cruz. She was a foreign-policy adviser on Perry's failed bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.</p><p>Coates focused on bringing in other foreign-policy advisers for Perry's campaign.</p><p>"For the governor we didn't have an existing apparatus in the subject area … so a lot of my job was assembling outside experts to advise him on various topics," Coates said.</p><p>Coates started working for Cruz long before he launched his 2016 campaign. They met at a RedState conference in 2009, and she's been advising him on national security since he took office in the Senate in 2013.</p><p>Coates started working for Cruz's presidential campaign after he asked her to "come down to DC for a couple of weeks," implying it would be a short commitment.</p><p>"He just wanted some help getting set up, and here I am," Coates said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56fe5fb352bcd024008ba261-2000-1484/rtr1k1wq.jpg" alt="John Bolton George Bush" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Larry Downing" data-mce-caption="President George W. Bush shakes hands with the UN representative John Bolton after announcing he is accepting Bolton's resignation on December 4, 2006." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Larry Downing</span></p><p class="caption">President George W. Bush shakes hands with the UN representative John Bolton after announcing he is accepting Bolton's resignation on December 4, 2006.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Influences and philosophy</h2><p>Coates cites Elliott Abrams, a current fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who worked in the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, and John Bolton, a former UN ambassador and current fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, as influences on her foreign policy.</p><p>Bolton, whom <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/02/18/ted_cruz_john_bolton_for_secretary_of_state.html">Cruz has tapped</a> as a potential secretary of state if he were to win the White House, said Coates been able to maneuver DC politics well.</p><p>"Being in a campaign environment is no easy task, that's for sure," he told Business Insider. "The proof is in her performance and I think those in the foreign policy world who have dealt with her have nothing but good things to say about her."</p><p><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2005/02/elliott_abrams.html"></a>Abrams, who is a foreign policy adviser for the Cruz campaign, denounced the implication that Coates isn't experienced enough to advise candidates on foreign policy.</p><p>"I think it's mostly snobbery on the part of the DC foreign policy crowd," Abrams told Business Insider. "What's the complaint? That being an art historian doesn't train you in national security matters? So explain to me how going to law school trains you in foreign-policy or national-security matters."</p><p>Abrams argued that it would be better if people in government "actually knew something other than the narrowest possible definition of foreign policy."</p><p>"She follows foreign policy questions very closely, so if you want to talk to her about Argentina, or Morocco, or Ukraine, she's up to date," Abrams said. "I think it's really odd that people now think that, 'Uh oh, a person with culture? This can't be permitted.'"</p><p>Coates might also count Jeane Kirkpatrick among her influences. She's known for asking new Cruz staffers to read <a href="https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/dictatorships-double-standards/">Kirkpatrick's 1979 essay, "Dictatorships And Double Standards,"</a> which argued that former President Jimmy Carter should have supported dictators who were aligned with US interests, despite the murky human-rights records of autocracies. The essay is known for helping shape Reagan's foreign policy.</p><p>"It seems clear that the architects of contemporary American foreign policy have little idea of how to go about encouraging the liberalization of an autocracy," Kirkpatrick wrote.</p><p>"In neither Nicaragua nor Iran did they realize that the only likely result of an effort to replace an incumbent autocrat with one of his moderate critics or a 'broad-based coalition' would be to sap the foundations of the existing regime without moving the nation any closer to democracy."</p><p>Abrams is known to have a similar philosophy. Journalist Michael Crowley <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2005/02/elliott_abrams.html">wrote in Slate in 2005</a> that Democrats "revile" Abrams as "the lead apologist for brutal Central American dictatorships in El Salvador and Guatemala." Abrams also reportedly declared Carter "hopeless" about confronting Soviet expansion.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56f964d4910584cc008b9265-2000-1500/rtr4gj39.jpg" alt="Al Qaeda Nusra Front" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi" data-mce-caption="Members of Al Qaeda's Nusra Front in a convoy touring villages, which they said they have seized control of from Syrian rebel factions, in the southern countryside of Idlib, on December 2, 2014." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi</span></p><p class="caption">Members of Al Qaeda's Nusra Front in a convoy touring villages, which they said they have seized control of from Syrian rebel factions, in the southern countryside of Idlib, on December 2, 2014.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Some of the themes of Kirkpatrick's essay, which focused on Iran, Nicaragua, and the Soviets, are playing out today in the Middle East.</p><p>The US is now facing the same questions of whether the country should intervene in conflicts - like the civil war in Syria - to depose dictators, risking the rise of Islamist militant groups and further destabilization, or let the conflicts play out on their own.</p><p>In two blog posts for RedState, Coates acknowledged the dangers in backing Syria's rebel factions, some of which had been infiltrated by extremists, but worried that Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in Syria could get their hands on weapons of mass destruction if the chaos in the country continued.</p><p>"Recent reports of Al Qaeda infiltration of the Syrian resistance have strengthened our national reluctance to intervene in the slow-motion train wreck that is the Syrian civil war," Coates <a href="http://www.redstate.com/academicelephant/2012/06/05/a-risk-of-contagion-the-growing-threat-from-syrias-wmd/">wrote in 2012</a>, shortly after the Syrian civil war started.</p><p>"After all, we hardly want to be in the position of arming our enemies (that didn't go so well with the Mexican drug cartels), and should they be successful an Al Qaeda-backed regime is one of the few things that would be worse than the Assad thugocracy that has oppressed Syria for so long."</p><p>The Obama administration has called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces have massacred thousands of civilians in the country, to step down. But the administration has stopped short of intervening to topple the regime.</p><p>Coates implied the US should take military action to oust Assad, comparing the crisis in Syria to the 2011 uprising in Libya. There, rebels won out over ruthless leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi after the US and other NATO countries intervened.</p><p>"In dealing with Libya and Syria, consistency need not be the hobgoblin of little minds but can rather be the hallmark of a consistent and coordinated foreign policy," Coates <a href="http://www.redstate.com/academicelephant/2012/02/08/is-syria-really-different/">wrote in 2012</a>. "There are equivalencies to be drawn between the two crises, and once these are recognized we should take equivalent action. It is not a decision to be taken lightly, but we would not be alone and the cause is just."</p><p>Coates doesn't consider herself a neoconservative or an isolationist, refusing both labels.</p><p>"There seems to be this binary choice that one is either an all-in hawk or an all-in dove, and the minute you say maybe you're not going to embrace a single doctrine but rather approach individual situations on their own merit, it's enormously confusing to people in the establishment," Coates said.</p><p>She continued: "As I look at it, you think about do I want another Obama term, do I want the third term of George W. Bush? I'm not sure I want either of those things right now."</p><p>Urbahn referred to Coates as a "Reagan conservative," explaining that "in some cases, that looks a little more like neoconservative, in some cases that looks more isolationist.</p><p>"It's a realism about when to use military force, to realize when you need to use it, but to be sparing most of the time when you do it," he said. "That is her world view, that was Reagan's, and it's a world view that the Republican party went away from for a period of about 25 years."</p><p>He added: "She's trying to bring back, to an extent, what Rumsfeld and [former Vice President Dick] Cheney exhibited in office."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56ce48bc6e97c61a008b9890-2117-1420/gettyimages-496532056.jpg" alt="ISIS Iradi security forces coalition" data-mce-source="John Moore/Getty Images" /><p class="source"><span>John Moore/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">A US airstrike.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Cruz's foreign policy</h2><p>During this election cycle, Cruz has become known for his calls to "carpet bomb" ISIS positions in the Middle East as part of his strategy to defeat the terrorist group (which is also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh).</p><p>Military experts have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-carpet-bombing-isis-wont-work-2015-12">called this strategy into question</a>, saying it shows a fundamental lack of understanding about warfare and the nature of how ISIS operates.</p><p>Coates suggested that Cruz's statements about carpet bombing were more rhetoric than substance.</p><p>"I think he is just using a very strong turn of phrase to signal … the kind of approach that he would take, which would be dramatically different" from Obama, she said.</p><p>Coates said that Cruz is trying to convey that the US needs "a really serious, concerted bombing campaign to make a difference here."</p><p>Bolton echoed this message, saying the US needs to have a "strong presence" in the world and protect its interests.</p><p>"It's unquestionably the case that we have to have a very forward defense of America, and to me that means what the president himself says the objective is," Bolton said. "His buzzword is to 'degrade and ultimately destroy' ISIS. I would delete the word 'ultimately.' I think the sooner we do it the better because ISIS is metastasizing."</p><p>One criticism of Cruz's proposed policies has been that they could lead to more civilian casualties.</p><p>"Obviously it's something one wants to avoid whenever possible," Coates said of civilian casualties. "But the alternative to that, that that is going to be your ultimate directive, is to not making any progress against the enemy."</p><p>Coates said that Cruz would do "pretty much the opposite of everything Obama is doing" in terms of fighting ISIS. She also set Cruz apart from his main Republican rival, Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the party's presidential nomination.</p><p>"You can look at a situation like Israel," Coates said. "You had Trump coming out and saying he wanted to remain neutral. Sen. Cruz believes very strongly that the obvious national security interest of the US is on the side of the Israelis … and I don't think we do any good by trying to tone that relationship down."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/data-shows-talking-about-donald-trump-social-media-2016-3">Here's the eye-opening data behind Trump's rapid rise in the race this year</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="g0cGk1MjE6cYbt4wCDazuh4mnunKYLlu" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'g0cGk1MjE6cYbt4wCDazuh4mnunKYLlu',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

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