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Thursday 30 November 2017

After firing ICBM: Trump’s Muslim retweets

US and China hold quiet military talks draw fire from US, abroad

By MAT PENNINGTON ing the capability to strike of misunderstanding,” the By CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press the U.S. mainland with a office of Gen. Joseph Dun- JILL LAWLESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. nuclear-tipped missile — ford, chairman of the Joint Associated Press
and Chinese generals en- using military force if nec- Chiefs of Staff, told The As- WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump retweet-
gaged in an unusual set of essary. He is running out sociated Press in a state- ed inflammatory videos from a fringe British political
security talks on Wednes- of time: Some experts said ment. group Wednesday that purported to show violence be-
day, just hours after North the missile fired on a high The U.S. and China agreed ing committed by Muslims, drawing quick condemna-
Korea’s most powerful trajectory that splashed on the talks when Dunford tion from civil rights groups as well as a spokesman for
missile test yet, focused down in the Sea of Japan met with his Chinese coun- British Prime Minister Theresa May.
on how the mighty Ameri- showed North Korea’s abil- terpart in Beijing in August. Trump retweeted videos from Jayda Fransen, deputy
can and Chinese militaries ity to strike Washington and While in China, Dunford ob- leader of Britain First, a far-right British group whose pro-
file was elevated by Trump’s attention.
May spokesman James Slack said Britain First seeks to
divide communities through its use of “hateful narra-
tives which peddle lies and stoke tensions.” He said “it is
wrong for the president to have done this.”
But May’s office said an invitation for Trump to pay a
state visit to Britain was not being withdrawn, amid calls
from opposition politicians for the visit to be canceled.
The group’s tweets read: “VIDEO: Islamist mob pushes
teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!” and
“VIDEO: Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!” and
“VIDEO: Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutch-
es!”
Trump did not offer any explanation for why he retweet-
ed the videos. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huck-
abee Sanders later defended his early-morning posts,
saying he wants to “promote strong borders and strong
national security.”
Asked if the president had a responsibility to verify the
content, Sanders said: “Whether it’s a real video, the
threat is real and that is what the president is talking
about.”
Sanders said that May and other world leaders “know
that these are real threats.”
This image made from video of a news bulletin aired by North Korea’s KRT on Nov. 29, 2017, shows Britain First is a group that opposes multiculturalism and
an image of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un signing what is said to be a document on Nov. 28, what it calls the “Islamization” of Britain. It has run candi-
2017, authorizing a missile test. dates in local and national elections, with little success,
(KRT via AP Video) and has campaigned against the construction and ex-
pansion of mosques. Fransen picked up nearly 10,000
might communicate in a the entire U.S. Eastern Sea- served a Chinese military Twitter followers in the hours following Trump’s retweets.
crisis. board. drill at Shenyang, about The Council on American-Islamic Relations strongly
As President Donald The threat of a military con- 120 miles from the North Ko- condemned Trump’s tweets. Nihad Awad, the group’s
Trump greeted the North’s frontation is making China rean border — an unusual executive director, said in a statement that Trump is
launching of another inter- rethink its resistance to stop for an official visit. “clearly telling members of his base that they should
continental ballistic missile discussing contingencies Wednesday’s talks were hate Islam and Muslims.”
with familiar demands for involving North Korea, ac- being led by Lt. Gen. Rich- Awad addressed Trump in his own tweet, saying the
China to get tougher with cording to experts. Such ard Clarke, the Joint Chiefs’ council has recorded 3,296 anti-Muslim incidents this
its ally, the low-profile and discussions have long been planning director, and Maj. year and yet “we haven’t heard a peep from you.
unpublicized meeting at off-limits for Beijing, which Gen. Shao Yuanming, a Some president.”
the National Defense Uni- fought on North Korea’s senior Chinese military of- Arab American Institute Executive Director Maya Berry
versity in Washington was side against the United ficial. They’re especially said in a statement that Trump’s “words and beliefs nor-
taking place amid signs States in the 1950-53 Ko- noteworthy given the deep malize and lend credence to hate, putting Americans
China is more willing to rean War and remains its strategic mistrust between at risk of violence on a daily basis.”
discuss how the two world treaty ally. the U.S. and China, and The American Civil Liberties Union, in a tweet, said,
powers would manage an In a phone conversation Beijing’s increasing chal- “Trump’s prejudice against Muslims reveals itself at ev-
even worse emergency on with Trump on Wednesday, lenge to America’s post- ery turn_with today’s tweets meant to gin up fear and
the divided Korean Penin- Chinese President Xi Jin- World War II dominance in bias, with statements like ‘Islam hates us,’ and with ev-
sula. ping reiterated his desire the Asia-Pacific. ery version of the Muslim ban.”
The Pentagon stressed the for a diplomatic resolution China has been more ex- Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke welcomed the
talks were scheduled long to the standoff with North plicit in saying what the videos, tweeting: “Trump retweets video of crippled
before North Korea’s sur- Korea. talks are about. white kid in Europe being beaten by migrants, and
prise missile launch in the Objectives for Wednes- Yao Yunzhu, a retired gen- white people being thrown off a roof and then beat-
early hours Wednesday in day’s military consultations eral who specializes in U.S.- en to death, He’s condemned for showing us what the
Asia. Officials insisted the appeared modest. Chinese defense relations fake news media WON’T. Thank God for Trump! That’s
dialogue wasn’t centered “The engagement will at China’s Academy of Mil- why we love him!”
on North Korea or anything serve as an opportunity to itary Science, said this sum- One video from 2013 showed a radical Islamist in Egypt
else in particular. discuss how to manage mer they should include throwing a 9-year-old boy off a roof. The video was
Trump has vowed to pre- crises, prevent miscalcula- Northeast Asia, where filmed in Egypt days after the overthrow of Islamist Presi-
vent North Korea from hav- tions, and reduce the risk North Korea is located.q dent Mohammed Morsi by Egypt’s military.q