Transcript

4.13.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good morning everybody, and happy Monday. Welcome the reading of
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the Washington Post for this Monday, April thirteenth. And as
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you know, radiois or reading service intended for people who
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are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
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to read printed material. The reader for today is Rod Brotherton.
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And as you know, on Monday's we generally start with
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Paul Prather's weekly column from the Lexington Hair Leader. But
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Paul didn't have one this week, so let's go right
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to the news. Our first headline, Trump announces naval blockade
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of Iran after Islamabad talks yield no deal. After marathon
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overnight talks between the United States and Iran failed to
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yield a deal on US terms, President Trump on Sunday
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announced an imposition of a naval blockade on Iran, a
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move that could derail a tenuous two week ceasefire reached
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just five days ago. Effective immediately, the United States Navy,
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finest in the world, will begin the process of blocking
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any and all ships trying to enter or leave the
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Strait of Hormuz, Trump announced Sunday on truth Social, his
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social media site. The president also said he had instructed
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the Navy to interdict all ships that have paid a
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toll to Iran for traversing the street, calling to Ihran's
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expanded control of the waterway extortion. The focus of the
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US blockade will be to interdict any ships entering or
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departing Iranian or coastal water ports or areas, in effect,
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to intercept any vessels paying Iran a told to pass.
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It will go into effect as of ten am Eastern
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on Monday, the US Central Command said in a post
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to social media late Sunday. The blockade will be enforced
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impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian
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ports and coastal areas, Central Command said, but will not
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impede freedom of navigation for vessels transitting the Strait of
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Horn moves to and from non Iranian ports. A US
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official told The Washington Post that the US and Iran
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failed to reach agreements on several US demands, including that
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are on end all uranium enrichment and allow the US
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to receive its highly enriched uranium, the dismantling of all
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major nuclear enrichment facilities, accepting a broader de escalation framework
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involving regional powers, ending funding for terrorist proxies including Hamas,
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Hezbollah and the Houthis, and fully reopening the Strait of
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Hormones with no tolls for passage. The officials spoke on
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the condition of anonymity to discuss the closed door negotiations.
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In an interview Sunday morning with Fox News, Trump city
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expected numerous countries to help with the blockade, which he
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compared to the US operation to block the flow of
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oil ships out of Venezuela earlier this year, saying it
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would be very similar to that, but at a higher level.
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The blockade in the short term at least, might risk
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worsinging a war driven global energy crisis by halting all
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cargo traffic through the street, and Trump acknowledged that the
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price of oil and gas may continue to increase in
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the US for some time. While Iran would potentially of
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the most economically, the move may come as a blow
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to the rest of the world as well, especially nations
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around Asia, which rely heavily on oil and gas, petrocrimicals,
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and other essentials shipped from the Persian Gulf. The tight
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geography could also make naval operations in the golf perilous.
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US ships could be vulnerable to attacks by small craft,
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as well as drones and missiles. Trump, in his post
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said other countries would be involved in imposing the blockade,
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but offered no specifics. Despite failing to reach a deal,
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Trump expressed optimism that one would still be struck with
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Iran and reiterated Vice President J. D. Vance's earlier remarks
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that the main sticking point was disagreement over Iran's nuclear program.
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It was a good meeting yesterday, really a good meeting
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except for what problem. And it's ninety Trump told Fox.
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They want to have nuclear weapons. It's not going to happen.
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Ask whether he would further destruct Iran if the nation
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does not give up its nuclear program, Trump said, yep,
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I will, saying that strikes on electricity plants, missile production facilities, bridges,
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and even desalinization plants were possible, though on the latter
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possibility he said he would hate to target the country's water.
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I predict they'll come back and they'll give us everything
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we want, Trump said. Trump's announcement of the blockade came
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just hours after the talks concluded and a statement by Vance,
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the top US negotiator, indicating that Trump still expected Tehran
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to surrender. When Vance briefed reporters shortly before leaving the
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Pakistani capitol on Sunday. He said adjusted the US remained
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open to a diplomatic solution, but only if Iran accept
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a proposal that he described as our final and best offer.
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We just could not get to a situation where the
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Iranians were willing to accept our terms. I think that
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we were quite flexible, Van stold reporters around six thirty
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am local time. He did not respond to shouted questions
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about whether fighting would resume what had become an increasingly
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unpopular and economic damaging war for Trump in the world,
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supposedly for Trump's announcement of the blockade. Radian officials also
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indicated that remained open to diplomacy, but their top negotiator,
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parliamentary speaker Mohamed Bagaer Galiedbaf, suggested that Washington must make
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the next move. America has understood our logic and insippos,
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and now it is time put it to the side,
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whether it can earn our trust or not. Golibaba's posted
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on ends. Iranian negotiators raised forward looking initiatives, he said,
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but the opposing side ultimately failed to gain the trust
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of the Iranian delegation after more than twenty hours of
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the highest level face to faced engagement between Iranians and
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US officials in over forty years. It was unclear if
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the two sides would be able to bridge the expansive
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gaps and their positions before the seaspire expires in ten days,
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or if Trump's blockade would force Iron to offer concessions,
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or perhaps the opposite and reignite hostilities if and in
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the blockade directed by Trump, instead of having Navy ships
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escort commercial viscerals through the street moods, a dangerous operation
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that retired Navy rear Admiral Mark Montgomery said could put
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additional service members' lives at risk, the US will instead
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be waiting on board to board and potentially seize any
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vessels that pay Iron's tolls, essentially closing the straight off completely.
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Montgomery said that would be less risky for the US
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and far costlier to Iran. But to do that, you're
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going to need a lot of destroyers, said Montgomery, a
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senior fellow at the Foundation or Defense of Democracies. You
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are going to need a lot of boarding, search and
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seizure teams. Some of the ships willing to pay the
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toll for passage. Are probably part of the shallow fleet
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of vessels that have faced previous sanctions or are not
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in compliance with the environmentals or sea worthiness standards that
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could sideline their vessels after they're boarded, and the risk
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of losing their ships to seizure by the US may
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not be worth the passage. Montgomery said, even if Trump
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was shooting from the hip here, it was a pretty
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good shot. Montgomery said, I think the Iranians will feel
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the pinch for this. It's still likely won't be enough
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to get a Ron to return to the negotiations. He said,
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He's probably going to have to do strikes on their
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nuclear program and things like that to get them to
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the table, he said. Earlier on Sunday, Trump foreshadowed his
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plan for naval blockade by sharing an article on social
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media headlined the Trump card the President holds if Ron
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won't bend a naval blockade. The article from the website
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Just the News suggested Trump would replicate his naval blockade
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of Venezuela, which preceded the US military operation to seize
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the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro. Control of the Strait of Horn.
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Moves emerged as one of the most important issues in contention.
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During the talks in Pakistan, negotiators also discussed the future
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of Iran's nuclear program and Tehran's demand that the US
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unfrees billions of dollars in Iranian assets. According to a
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Pakistani official who also spoke on the condition of anonymity
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to this detailed sensitive closed door discussions. Since the outbreak
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of the war, Ran has effectively shut the Straight, a
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narrow passageway that is vitally global energy supplies, a move
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that is wrecked havoc on global energy markets. Tehran mined
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parts of the strait, requiring tankers to request permission to pass,
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and began collecting tolls set up. Iranian officials have been
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pushing to make permanent. Trump previously said after the conclusion
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of the conflict in the area, Straight would open naturally,
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but Roan has refused to back down. A blockade, at
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least initially, would mean no one will be able to
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use the street. Trump has previously threatened the unspecified devastation
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of Iran, posting on truth social a whole civilization might
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die to night, never to be brought back again. I
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don't want that to happen, but it probably will. The
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White House leader clarified that Trump does not consider the
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use of nuclear weapons, but did not explain what he
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meant by his threat against a nation of more than
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ninety million people with the history tracing back more than
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six thousand years. Before the blockade announcement, ceasefire appeared to
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be holding in the Middle East, with no reported US
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or Israeli attacks against Iran and no Iranian strikes on
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Israel or Persian Gulf states, but with ten days to
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go in the ceasefire, time appeared to be on Iran's side.
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Despite the killing early on of Iran Supreme leader the
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Ayatola ale Kamene and other high level assassinations, the country's
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hard line government remains intact and its security apparatus stood
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nearly six weeks of bombing. After the talks ended Sunday,
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Pakistan pledged continued support for a diplomatic resolution of the war.
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It is imperative that both parties continued to uphold their
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commitments to cease fire, Pakistani Foreign Minister is Shakdhar said
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in a video statement shortly after Vance departed Sunday morning.
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Pakistan will continue to play its role to facilitate engagement
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and dialogue, he said, between Iran and the United States
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and the days to come. In addition to the strait
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of horror moves, the talks in Islamabad also addressed Iran's
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nucletar program and Tehran's demand for compensation for war damages.
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Negotiations discussed the future of some nine hundred bounds highly
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enriched uranium in Iran. The Iran's nuclear capabilities one of
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the Trump administration's central justifications for going to war, and
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after the cease fire declarations, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested
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the material would not stay inside Iran. Right now, it's
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buried and we're watching it. Heg Seth told reporters last week.
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Iran can either give it to US voluntarily. He said
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US forces would removing, though it was unclear how they
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would do so without undertaking a highly dangerous ground operation
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inside the country. Iran is also demanding that the US
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unfrees billions of dollars and Iranian assets so the money
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can be paid as reparations. Another proposal under discussion was
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to have the toll money Iron collects from the straight
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of Horn moves served as reparations for the damage caused
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by the US Israeli bombing campaign. Ridian leaders have said
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the payment of war related damages would be a key
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element of a deal, providing some disincentive for the US
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to attack again. The demand was included in Tehran's ten
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point plan to win the war that state run media
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released last week. Some Israelis, including some government officials, have
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objected to the ceasefire, saying more needs to be done
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to permanently addressed the threats to Israel and the region
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posed by Iran and Hezballah. In Lebanona and the next article,
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Trump says God supports the US cause in Iran war
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as he threatens wider bombing. As President Donald Trump renews
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his threat to bomb the entire country of Iran, He's
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offering new justifications for costly five week conflict with no
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clear end in sight. God himself wants the United States
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to do it. Trump said, money you believe God supported
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the United States action in the US Israel war in Iran,
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widening conflict that has killed thousands in the Middle East,
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wounded many more, and left thirteen US service members dead.
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I do because God is good, Trump said, in response
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to a White House Washington Post reporters question during the
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news briefing, wants to see the people taken care of
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Trump's comments mark a shift and how he is describing
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the war. After offering conflicting explanations for US involvement, including
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whether his global and goals are regime change, has begun
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in recent days to cast the conflict in religious terms
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and raises the possibility of broader strikes. The president earlier
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Monday threatened to bomb the country's power and transportation infrastructure
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until it resembles stone ages. He claimed that such actions
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are welcome by Iranian people who want their government overthrown
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and who he said, are begging the US to please
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keep bombing. Trump did not answer a question about whether
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he has sought God's direction as the conflict has escalated,
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but he suggested that the Almighty supports the US actions
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even if God is grieved by the violence. Doesn't like
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what's happening, and I don't like what's happening, he continued.
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Everyone says I enjoy it. I don't enjoy this. I
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don't enjoy it. He went out to tubt that he
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ended eight wars earlier in his term, a reference he
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has frequently made to broker in peace deals between India
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and Pakistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and others. That makes me
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much happier than what we're doing right now, the president said. Trump,
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who identifies as a Christian but does not claim to
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regularly pray or read the Bible, has invoked faith at
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times in his second term, including suggesting that his political
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return and survival after an assassination tempt carry a larger purpose.
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The language has echoed that some of the supporters who
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have cast him as a figure protected or chosen by
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the Almighty. In recent days, Trump hasented that the war
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is an existential battle between Christianity and Islam. Open thefing straight,
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you crazy bastards. You'll be living in hell. Just watch
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praise be to Allah, Trump wrote on a social media
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post Easter Sunday morning. US presidents have often invoked faith
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in times of conflict, but others, such as George W.
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Bush Barack Obama, who also provided over war in the
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Middle East, have gone out of their way to emphasize
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that the United States was not battling Muslims or Islam,
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but a specific group of people who had attacked America.
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Some Muslim leaders quickly condemned Trump's use of praise b
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phrase as a mockery of their religion, including the Imam's
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Council of Michigan, a state where Trump made gains with
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Muslim voters. In twenty twenty four, imm Steve Elturk called
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Trump's post a dangerous escalation the undermind's post international stability
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and the more fabric public discourse. The post on Sunday
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drew parallels to one. The president has made a day
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earlier times, running out forty eight hours before all hail
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will rain down on them. Glory be to God, Trump
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wrote on truth Social on Saturday. Some Catholic leaders have
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harshly criticized US strikes in Iran, including American Pope Leo,
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who on Palm Sunday preached that God does not listen
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to the prayers of those who age war. Two days later,
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Leo urged Trump by name to win the war. He
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didn't mention Iran. Leo, the first American born pope, had
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previously criticized the president's administration's policies more broadly without mentioning
19:54
the president himself again nothing about Iran, and Trump ally
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turned critic. Marjorie Taylor Green, a Republican former congresswoman and
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Protestant Christian on Sunday, bash the future the president's vows
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to escalate the war, declaring that Trump is not a Christian.
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Jesus commanded us to love one another and forgive one another,
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even our enemies, Green wrote. On Monday, in describing the
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rescue of a US airman in a mountainous region of Iran,
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Trump credited God for looking out for the US mission,
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which he previously described as miraculous. Well, it was the Easter.
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We are in Easter territory, I guess, Trump said, But
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God was watching us amazing. Defense Secretary Pete Hegsith flanked
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Trump throughout the briefing, used the metaphor of the crucifixion, death,
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burial in a tomb, and the resurrection of Jesus to
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discuss the military's rescue of the colonel on Sunday. You
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see shot down on a Friday, Good Friday, hidden in
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a cave of us all Saturday. Rescued on Sunday, Hexas said,
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flown out of Iran as the sun was arriving on
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Easter Sunday, a pilot reborn and next. Domestically, Virginians are
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deeply divided on span Berger months after her win. Virginia
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Governor Abigail Spanburger's approval ratings stand at forty seven percent
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two months into the Democrat's term, with forty six percent
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of voters disapproving seven percent expressing none as an opinion.
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In a Washington Post shar School poll. Spanburger won and
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a fifteen point win last year after touting her reputation
21:45
for bipartisanship built on three terms representing a conservative leaning
21:51
district in Congress, but her current ratings select sharp polarization
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among Virginia voters and their views of the state's first
22:01
female governor. The approval mark for span Burger is thirteen
22:06
percentage points lower than the average for Virginia governors and
22:10
post polling since the nineteen nineties. Her near even split
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between approval and disapproval is a worse net approval rating
22:20
than in the early term scores of her predecessors in
22:23
previous post polls. It is also slightly weaker than the
22:27
ratings of her immediate predecessor, Glenn Youngkin, the Republican, and
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a post show Our School poll last fall showing he
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ended his term with fifty percent approval and forty six
22:38
percent disapproval. Unlike Spanburger, Youngkin had come into office with
22:44
a very narrow victory. In a positive sign for span
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Burger's elements of her affordability to agenda scored well of voters,
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suggesting room to improve her image after a rocky start.
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The governor also continues to be more popular than President
23:01
Trump among Virginia voters, with forty percent of whom approved
23:05
his performance and fifty seven percent disapproving. A larger share
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of voters expressed strong disapproval of span Berger's performance and
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her predecessors. Two thirds say they either strongly approved twenty
23:21
nine percent or strongly disapproved thirty eight percent. Fewer than
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six and ten felt strongly about Youngkin's performance at any
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point in his tenure, with twenty eight percent strongly approving
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and twenty five percent strongly disapproving, and a post sharp
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polling last September, Some amount of polarization is baked in,
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but this is unusual at this early stage of her administration,
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given that she had long cultivated a centrist image, said
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Mark Roselle, dean of George Mason University's shar School of
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Policy and Government, which co sponsored the poll. While she
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has maintained her supported Democratics base more than eight and
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ten Democrats approved. Spanburger has not made inroads with the
24:07
Republicans is nearly nine of ten who disapprove. In addition,
24:13
Spanburger gets more strong disapproval from Republicans at seventy eight
24:17
percent than strong approval for Democrats, which is only sixty
24:22
two percent. Independent voters are split forty five percent approving
24:27
forty six percent disapproving. Last fall, she won fifty nine
24:32
percent of independent voters, according to a Network exit poll.
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Spanburger has largely kept promises to pursue pocketbook nined legislation,
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such as improving access to healthcare and investing in affordable housing,
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and has worked with Democratic leaders in the General Assembly
24:53
to quash talks attack its increases. But Rosel noted that
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her moderate image has been complicated by several factors that
25:03
provided fodder for intensely negative campaigns from the right. She
25:08
condemned Trump's immigration operations and ended controversial partnership agreements between
25:15
state law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. She has grudgingly
25:20
supported efforts to redraw the state's congressional districts too heavily
25:25
favored Democrats. Again resisting Trump, who has pushed Republican states
25:31
to redraw districts to preserve the GOP majority in the
25:35
US House. Trump administration has routinely excoriated span Burger in
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public statements and whose releases, and the post shar School
25:45
poll found strong partisan sentiment about redistricting. In addition, multiple
25:52
tax proposals in the General Assembly, even though not enacted
25:56
and not championed by span Berger, drove a narrative of
25:59
Democrat Mats and Richmond lurching waylift, which likely affected perceptions
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of the governor Roselle, said. Gregory Roddy, a self described
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independent voter from Fairfax County who leans conservative, said he
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was always skeptical of Spanberger's pitch as a bipartisan candidate.
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When she was elected, Spanburger switched over, he said, signing
26:25
her swift moved to curtailed Virginia's cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
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Now she's just a bot for the Democratic Party. Roddy,
26:37
who is sixty nine sid but Spannenberger's quick actions on
26:42
issues such as immigration enforcement won her praise from voters
26:46
like Marca Shaw, who describes himself as left of center
26:51
but wary of Democrats. Shaw distrusted Spanberger when he voted
26:57
for but said her boldness prove useful for Virginians in
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the long run. I really appreciate somebody that takes up
27:06
the mattele and goes in and says, okay, we're going
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to do X, Y and Z, said Shaw. Only thirty
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of Hampton. The poll finds forty five percent of Virginia
27:15
voters thanks span Burger's view or too liberal, forty two
27:18
percent think they're about right, and seven percent she is
27:22
too conservative. The scope of her image problem is apparent,
27:27
and the disconnect between voters impressions of her actions and
27:30
her specific affordability policies. Span Burger has cautioned that there
27:36
is no longer automatic strategy to improve the cost of living.
27:40
More voters thanks span Burger's policies will make friend Virginia
27:44
less affordable at forty one percent and more affordable only
27:48
thirty one while twenty three percent don't think it'll make
27:51
a difference. Even among Democrats, sixty three percent thanks span
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Burger's policies will improve affordability, but more than three in
28:02
ten think they either won't make a difference or will
28:05
make the state less affordable. About eight and ten Republicans
28:09
predict her policies will make the state less affordable. Independents
28:14
are skewed negative on span Berger's actions, with forty one
28:18
percent saying they will make the state less affordable and
28:21
only twenty seven to say it will make it more.
28:25
Mason Necki, a Selbscribe independent voter in rural Culpepper County,
28:31
said he did not vote for span Berger, but hope
28:34
she would have prove the cost of living in steady fields.
28:38
She's been trying to make herself into a Democratic icon.
28:42
I don't see anything that makes me think she'll be
28:46
able to own a home again one day in the state,
28:48
said Necki, a forty four year old car parks salesman.
28:53
Span Berger is requested signed a host of legislation aimed
28:57
at housing affordability, energy rebills, and boosting for low income
29:03
in households. Ask about specific Spanburger policies, Virginians are more optimistic,
29:09
believing that six of the eight priorities mentioned in the
29:12
poll will make living in a state more affordable. Those
29:15
include reducing regulations on small solar panel systems, encouraging mixed
29:21
income housing development, and require electric companies to help lower
29:26
income residents prove their home energy efficiencies. Affordability is a
29:32
great campaign for them, but almost an impossible one governing
29:36
the limited tools the governor has to affect prices. The
29:40
public may like the particulars of some of her proposals,
29:43
but as long as the overall environment of affordability remains unchanged,
29:47
there is inevitable disappointment. The next article. Trump's administration secrecy
29:53
on health deals alarms experts and governments. The Trump administration
29:58
has spent the better part of a year quietly negotiating
30:01
agreements with coor nations as it seeks to scale back
30:05
and reimagine US foreign assistance for efforts like HIV and
30:09
tu merculosis prevention through a new America First global health strategy.
30:15
To date, twenty eight deals have been negotiated with foreign governments,
30:18
mostly throughout Africa, but in a break with precedent, the
30:23
administration has refused to disclose their terms fully publicly. The
30:28
veil of secrecy is frustrated partner countries and angered transparency advocates,
30:34
who worry that billions of dollars in US funding money
30:37
that's intended to help combat disease is being leveraged by
30:41
the Trump Administration as it seeks controversial concessions on unrelated
30:47
policies in return. Public Citizen, a government watchdog group, has
30:52
brought a lawsuit demanding access to some of the administration's
30:56
global health agreements, arguing that the State Department's failure to
31:00
produce the records in response to a Freedom of Information
31:03
Act request is unlawful. The agreements public discourse and essential
31:09
to understanding the new foreign aid structure being built by
31:13
the State Department what the United States expects or extracts
31:17
in return, said Peter Maybag Burdock, director of the Public
31:21
Citizens' Access to Medicines Group. State Department, which has led
31:25
the overhaul of health related foreign aids since last year's
31:29
dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, said it
31:33
does not comment on ongoing litigation, but that it takes
31:37
its transparency obligations very seriously. In a statement, the agency
31:43
vowed it has closed the terms of its agreements once
31:45
negotiations with all partner governments are complete, saying its approach
31:50
is consistent with applicable law and intended to protect sensitive conversations.
31:57
The State Department did not address questions about how many
32:00
negotiations may be ongoing and when those talks might conclude,
32:05
but said it was on track with the plan developed
32:10
last year some foreign capitals. Frustration has been building for months,
32:15
according to diplomats and US officials who spoke on the
32:19
condition of anonymity to discuss the process. In Zimbabwe, for instance,
32:26
President Emerson Ngongawa halted his country's negotiation with the Trump
32:31
administration late last year after the government determined that the
32:36
lopsided talks risk undermining Zimbabwe's sovereignty. According to correspondence reviewed
32:43
by The Washington Post, US Embassy and Harare confirmed in
32:49
February that Zimbabwe had withdrawn from negotiations and that the
32:54
United States would begin winding down our health assistance in Zimbabwe.
33:00
Neighboring Zambia, where a deal was expected to be signed
33:04
in December, dogs had become a political pressure point the government,
33:08
amid reports that the Trump administration is seeking to leverage
33:12
the aid money as it seeks concessions by separate agreement
33:16
related to the mining of critical minerals. The Trump administration
33:20
is pushing for greater access to critical minerals in Africa,
33:23
such as copper and Zambia to challenge Chinese dominance of
33:28
resource that is vital for building modern technology like electric
33:32
vehicles and data centers. The State Department, as it rejected
33:37
those accusations, the officials have acknowledged the administration is taking
33:41
a new approach to global health. I can say that
33:45
equivocally we are not seeking anything in Zambia's expanse or
33:51
against Zambia's laws or interests. Nick Checker, a senior State
33:56
Department official for Africa, sent it a summit in Washington
34:00
last month. But how we negotiate this and what we
34:05
expect from them will be fundamentally different from approaches in
34:09
the past that have failed to deliver for either Zambious
34:12
sustainable future or for the American people. Checker said. The
34:18
global health agreements part of a new strategy that is designed,
34:23
official say to reduce overall US spending on such initiatives
34:28
and push partner countries to spend more themselves to break
34:33
a cycle of dependency. Under the Trump administration, agreements worth
34:39
twelve point seven billion dollars in US assistants have been
34:43
science so far, requiring recipient countries to invest seven point
34:48
eight billion dollars. According to the State Department, our foreign
34:53
assistance programs are deeply broken Secretary of State Marco Rubio
34:59
wrote in an introduction to the administration's America First Global
35:03
Health policies last year, our health foreign assistance programs, in particular,
35:11
have become inefficient and wasteful. Even among critics of the administration,
35:18
there is widespread agreement about the problems of waste and
35:23
dependency and global health assistance, but numerous experts in the negotiations,
35:30
which have been led by Trump political appointees with little
35:33
background and complex global health deals have been conducted largely
35:38
behind doors, no outside input, and little congressional oversight. Public
35:44
citizens may Barduk said that the strategy seemed to be
35:48
divide and conquered the partners of the United States. Trump administration,
35:53
he said, is treating its negotiating partners as hostiles and
35:58
treating healthcare like a conflict, even though every bit of
36:03
US negotiating advantage must be preserved through secrecy. There ran
36:09
five signed agreements publicly released by the US governments thus far,
36:13
though it appears that it was done accidentally. The documents
36:18
outlining deals with Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Ethiopia were
36:25
published on an obscure government website in March but a
36:29
few days later, the ZIP file that contained copies of
36:33
the agreements text was deleted. It was later republished without
36:39
those documents. The State Department, in its response to questions,
36:44
said that the five agreements released on its website were
36:47
posted in error. We took them down to treat all
36:51
partner countries consistently and will repost them along with the
36:56
rest once the full set of agreements is final. Eye
37:01
That is a process fixed, not a cover up, the agency, said.
37:06
Curtis Bate Bradley, a professor at the University of Chicago
37:10
Law School who has studied laws on public disclosure of
37:13
such agreements, said there appeared to be no legal requirement
37:17
to publish all the agreements at once. There is nothing
37:21
in the statute about this, he said. A handful of
37:25
other agreements have circulated after being leaked. The Kenyan government
37:31
publicly released the terms of its agreement with Washington after
37:35
a legal challenge said there were the provisions and the
37:38
deal granted the US wide access the Kenyan citizens health
37:42
data and biological specimens were unconstitutional. The five separate agreements
37:50
temporarily posted on the State Department's website offer a glimpse
37:55
and how the deals may differ from one country to
37:59
the next. The documents show that overall, the US funding
38:04
will decline significantly in each country over a five year period,
38:08
but the rate at which it declines and the amount
38:11
by which each country is expected to boost its own
38:14
health spending very significantly. Some countries, such as Nigeria are
38:20
being asked to rapidly increase their share of the health spending,
38:23
the document shows. Others such as less wealthy Mozambique, have
38:29
less ambitious spending pledges, but the document show they could
38:33
face an abrupt US funding cutoff if these lower targets
38:37
are not met. State Department said the circumstances are different
38:42
for each country and that the deal reflect how both
38:46
sides are putting skin in the game to ensure lasting impact.
38:51
Some countries that signed health agreements with the United States
38:55
or in unrelated contentious negotiations worth watching around the same time.
39:02
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, had
39:08
recently signed US broker peace deals when they agreed to
39:12
the health packs, leading to concerns that traditionally a political
39:16
health funding was being used as a political pressure tool.
39:21
At least nine countries, including several with major HIV epidemics
39:27
like s Twante have concurrently held negotiations with Trump administration
39:32
to receive third currentry nationals deported from the United States.
39:38
Critics of the administration's approach saying the blurring of lines
39:42
between US global health policy and other aims risks undermining
39:47
efforts to fight diseases like HIV, and that the lack
39:51
of information, at least publicly added to the perception that
39:56
the deals were being used as a pressure tool. Unlike
40:00
the Trump administration said made Barduck Health was not something
40:05
high and the next story. More states adopt college entrance
40:11
exam touted by conservatives, despite concerns from Annapolis, Maryland, home
40:18
of the US Naval Academy. An upstart college entrance exam
40:23
designed to be an alternative to the ACT and SAT
40:27
and featuring words from ancient Western civilization, is gaining support
40:32
from the Trump administration and conservatives in red and purple states.
40:38
In recent months, the Pentagon decided to accept the Classic
40:41
Learning Test for US Military service academies and scholarships at
40:47
other colleges around the country. Indiana enacted legislation in March
40:53
requiring its state universities to consider COLT scores along with
40:59
those from the SAD Act and the North Carolina University
41:04
Systems agreed to take the COLT, including its flagship campus
41:09
in Chapel Hill. We've had some big wins, said Jeremy
41:14
Tate of the test and the Maryland company behind it
41:17
Classic Learning Initiatives. While all three tests have verbal in
41:22
maths sections, the COLT stands out because it mainly features
41:28
passages for noted philosophers, religious scholars, scientists and authors in
41:35
the canon of Western literature, including Plato, Saint Augustine, Dante,
41:41
and Shakespeare. Students can take a test at a traditional
41:45
testing site or online at home. Since its creation in
41:51
twenty fifteen, the COLT has been embraced by many Christian schools,
41:56
home learnings families, and educators the classic education movement who
42:02
want children to study foundational texts that they say help
42:06
shape American history and culture. But the exam's growing popularity
42:12
is forard questions about whether the COLT is a reliable
42:16
measure of student skills, how to compare COLT scores to
42:20
the ACT and SAT, and whether it's secure since students
42:27
can take the COLT at home unlike the other two tests,
42:31
we're lacking evidence on the COLT, said Audrey Mrin Beardsley,
42:36
a professor at Arizona State University, who resuming public data
42:41
on the tests and plans to publish findings this summer.
42:45
As the test becomes more widely used, the colt's creators
42:50
hope it will push schools and teachers to introduce students
42:55
to classic texts to better prepare them for the exam.
43:00
We view this as a lever that helped shapes education
43:04
Tate sid but some critics worry that the colt's list
43:09
of authors could push out alternative points of view and
43:14
give students a sanitize and triumphalist version of history. My
43:21
biggest concern is that students don't learn the truth about history,
43:25
said Curtis Doser, a Vassar College professor of Greek and
43:30
Roman studies who wrote a book about how far right
43:33
politicians used the classics advanced their worldview. More than three
43:40
hundred and fifty universities, mostly private Christian colleges, except COLT
43:45
scores for admission. In addition to the ACT and SAT,
43:50
many of the colleges have been hesitant. A review by
43:55
the Iowa Board of Regents in twenty twenty four couldn't
43:58
find a single a peer reviewed study on how well
44:02
the COLT can predict success in college. There has just
44:07
been a limited use thus far of the Classic Learning text,
44:11
so there isn't sufficient data yet, Rachel Boone, chief academic
44:15
officer for the board, set in the public meeting at
44:18
the time. The state is now researching and searching for
44:22
additional data, she said in an interview. Because of the
44:26
lack of research, the Iowa University system decided in twenty
44:32
four to use only the ACT or SAT for automatic
44:36
emissions throughout most students used to attend Classic Learning said
44:43
the tests value was detailed and the study completed last
44:46
year at Grove City College, a conservative Christian college in Pennsylvania.
44:51
The study of two hundred and thirty five students, which
44:53
has yet to be published as an academic journal, found
44:56
COLT test scores are strongly correlated with first year college grades,
45:03
but the studies author said he doesn't yet have enough
45:06
data to say whether it's better or worse than SAT
45:10
and ACT. My conclusion at this point is that they
45:15
are all three reasonable predictors for college grades, said Gray Welton,
45:20
Assistant Dean for Institutional Assessment at the school. There's also
45:26
the question what can be considered a good COLT score,
45:31
since that test is newer than the ACT and SAT.
45:36
Classic Learning developed table in twenty twenty three to help
45:40
interpret the numbers. For example, it says of score of
45:44
one hundred on the COLT out of a perfect one
45:47
hundred and twenty is the equivalent of a thirteen to
45:51
ninety out of sixteen hundred on the SAT and a
45:54
thirty one out of thirty six on the ACT. But
45:58
the company wasn't able to reach an agreement, though to
46:00
work with the ACT and College boards pooled their data
46:03
for comparison. We are not sure these tests are similar
46:08
enough to compare the scores, said Priscilla Rodriguez, senior vice
46:13
president of the College Board, which administers the SAT. Meanwhile,
46:18
the COLT has gained strong support from conservatives, who complain
46:23
that the ACT and SAT have dumbed down their tests
46:28
over the years. For instance, the SAT and ACT started
46:34
following calculators in the mid nineteen nineties. The SAT also
46:39
eliminated its antonym section, designed test students on vocabulary and
46:46
replace longer reading passages with shorter texts, some just a
46:51
few sentences long. It is generally bland material that doesn't
46:57
have any inherent value in it, said Jonathan Butcher of
47:01
the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The Classic Learning
47:07
Test is asking students to be prepared to handle more
47:11
rigorous content. The COLT does not allow students to use calculators,
47:17
and the COLT boasts that two thirds of its reading
47:21
passages come from an author bank of more than one
47:25
hundred and sixty writers in works dating back to Mesopotamia.
47:30
More than two dozen of the authors are Christian saints, theologians,
47:34
or religious thinkers, including Puritan leader Jonathan Edwards, best known
47:39
for his summers his sermon Sinners in the Hands of
47:44
an Angry God. Though the test is popular with many
47:48
Christian private schools, it is not exclusively Christian or religious,
47:54
and Tate, the test's founder, notes that there is good
47:58
reason to introduce all mines of students to important Christian texts.
48:03
I don't think anyone in the West can be considered
48:06
seriously educated without some knowledge of the Christian intellectual tradition,
48:11
including the Bible. Said. While the SAT and ACT use
48:16
some older texts as well. The SAT once featured a
48:21
passage from Aristophanes in four twenty three BC. They generally
48:27
put more emphasis on contemporary writing than the COLT. The
48:32
ACT notes that it is still featuring longer passages, while
48:38
the College Board said it has switched to shorter experts
48:41
excerpts on the SATWO to encourage students to read the
48:46
passages closely instead of scanning them for answers. Partly because
48:52
the COLT allows students to take its test at home,
48:56
is grown especially popular in the homeschooling community. Parker Fulkey,
49:02
a sixteen year old homeschooler in Michigan, said he had
49:05
to travel as far as an hour and a half
49:08
to take the ACT, but was able to take the
49:11
COLT in a bedroom. It was a nice place to
49:16
be able to test my own environment, Falker said. The
49:20
ACT and College Board said they don't offer remote testing
49:23
because of the increased risk of cheating. Are the questions
49:27
getting leaked? Trust is of the utmost, utmost experience, the
49:33
ACT spokesman won as Zido sid Classic Learning executives say
49:39
they have taken strong measures to determin mis conduct, including
49:43
requiring students to keep web cameras on them and install
49:47
softwares that prevents them from opening other windows on their
49:51
computer screens. We have a really really high standard for
49:57
tech security take set. The COLT faces an uphill challenge
50:03
to become popular as the SAT and the ACT, but
50:07
is making gains. Nearly one hundred and eighty three thousand
50:11
students took the test last year, compared to only two
50:15
hundred and ninety one a decade ago. By comparison, more
50:20
than two million graduating seniors in the class of twenty
50:23
twenty five took the SAT at least once in high school,
50:28
and one point four million took THEACT. While most colleges
50:33
do not require test scores, some elite schools do, and
50:38
it's widely thought that a high score can aid students
50:41
applications at others, including the required taking of the SAT
50:48
or ACT at the Service Academies of our Nation. More
50:53
public colleges are also starting to accept the COLT, in
50:56
part because of support from Republicans and state lefts legislatures.
51:01
Indiana State Senator Gary Byrne, the Republican who wrote the
51:05
bill requiring public universities there that take the ACT and
51:10
SAT to accept the COLT, said he wanted to give
51:15
students of parents other choices. He said he also hopes
51:19
the measure would encourage more public schools to introduce students
51:23
to classical works. It's just going back to what we
51:27
used to do, Burn said. Lawmakers in Arkansas passed similar
51:33
bills late last year, and another bill is moving forward
51:37
in Ohio. And in twenty twenty three, Florida decided to
51:42
accept the COLT as an additional option for university admissions,
51:47
scholarships and meet certain high school graduation requirements. Some other states,
51:53
including Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Wyoming, also now accept the COLT
51:59
for state scholarships. Despite the push from conservatives, Tate denied
52:06
that the test is partisan more limited to one world view.
52:10
The author pool for the reading sections of the COLT
52:13
includes both Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, the Karl Marx,
52:18
the father of communism. It contains Christian preachers, but also
52:23
the Chinese philosopher Confucius, Muslim scholar Avisina, and Fredrich Nietzsch,
52:30
the German writer who fablessly declared that God is dead.
52:35
And while most of the authors are white, the pool
52:38
also includes black civil rights leaders like so Joner Truth,
52:42
Frederick Douglass, and Martin Luther King Junior. One third of
52:47
the passages come from the sources outside the colt's public
52:51
author list, including many modern thinkers. A recent exam included
52:57
an essay from liberal jurist Ruth Vader Ginsburg. Regardless, the
53:02
COLT faces other hurdles to catch up to the SAT
53:05
and ACT. Some states offer either the SAT or ACT
53:11
to nearly all public high school students to measure their performance.
53:16
Students often stick with those when applying for college and scholarships,
53:21
and most of the elite schools that require exams only
53:24
except the SAT and the ACT. Date believes that starting
53:30
to change, with the military academies in the University of
53:33
North Carolina at Chapel Hill starting to accept the COLT
53:37
this year, and Tate said he recently had a private
53:41
meeting with an Ivy League school in the foyer of
53:45
the Classic Learning Initiatives headquarters. Tate showed a Washington Post
53:50
reporter a historic marker that exemplifies the company's ambition. The
53:57
fated bronze sign notes that Sick Learning Test was founded
54:01
in twenty fifteen, then takes a futuristic turn. In twenty forty,
54:08
the COLT surpassed the SAT and ACT as the number
54:13
of one college entrance exam globally. TED expects that tradition
54:19
to a prediction to eventually become reality. We're tracking a
54:24
little bit ahead of what we need to get the
54:26
twenty forty goal done, both in terms of test takers
54:31
and good national awareness. Date said by then, Date might
54:36
also know if he's accomplished his broader goal changing what
54:41
children learn in the classroom, and now, finally, how to
54:47
make the Strait of Horn Moves irrelevant. For decades, the
54:52
world has accepted the dangerous reality one of its most
54:56
important energy arteries runs through the Strait of Horrm Moves,
55:00
narrow choke point repeatedly threatened my iron During peacetime, the
55:05
straightforms carries roughly twenty percent of the oil of the
55:10
world needs per day, about one fifth of the global
55:13
petroleum consumption, along with the fifth of global liquefied natural gas.
55:19
No other choke point, save the Strait of Malacca in
55:23
Southeast Asia, carries a larger share of global supply. Nearly
55:27
every barrel exported from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Cutter and
55:33
the UAE passes through this narrow waterway before reaching global markets.
55:39
This arrangement has always been a strategic vulnerability that iron
55:43
has repeatedly threatened to close the straight, attacked commercial shipping,
55:48
deployed naval mines, and used proxy forces to target enemy infrastructure.
55:54
For decades, the US and its allies have responded to
55:58
the same way, deploying naval forces to keep the shipping
56:02
lanes open. Iron Rock Tanker War of the eighties, more
56:06
than four hundred ships were attacked. The US responded with
56:09
Operation Earnest Will, escording tankers through the Persian Gulf insurance
56:14
premium surge, raising costs and driving volatility in all global markets. Today,
56:20
the US is back where it was before being asked
56:23
to the fin shipping routes in the Gulf. Operation Epic
56:26
Fury made the grade irons capabilities and behavior, but Operation
56:31
Earnest Will, like it, cannot eliminate the enduring threat to
56:34
maritime commerce. As long as the world depends on our
56:38
narrow waterway, energy markets will remain vulnerable to coercion and
56:42
price shocks. The answer is to build infrastructure that makes
56:47
the Strait of Hornbos strategically irrelevant. Some bypass routes already exist.
56:53
Saudi Arabia operates an east West pipeline which carries oil
56:57
from the kingdom's Gulf Field to the Red seaport of Yanbu.
57:01
The system can move roughly seven million barrels a day,
57:06
allowing Saudi Arabia to reach global markets with its oil
57:10
without passing through the Horn Moves, and the AE built
57:14
similar bypass route, the habshan Ajuria Pipeline, who's roughly one
57:20
and a half million barrels a day from Abu Dhabi
57:23
direct to the Gulf of Oman, allowing tankers to load
57:25
outside the strait. These projects show that bypassing Horr Moves
57:31
is possible, but existing infrastructure is not yet sufficient. After
57:36
the nineteen fifty six Suez Crisis and subsequent closures of
57:39
the canal, energy producers built alternatives bypass choke points. Egypt
57:45
Sumid Pipeline, which moves more than two million barrels a
57:48
day from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, is once
57:51
such example. Similar concerns about congestion and geopolitical risk grove
57:56
construction of the Baku Tabilisi Sehan Pipeline, a eleven hundred
58:01
mile system that carries roughly one million barrels a day
58:04
from Azerbaijan to Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The Strait of Horn
58:08
Moves is not ann avoidable fact of geography. It is
58:12
a problem at infrastructure and strategy. The world is spent
58:16
decades defending it. Now the world needs to start investing
58:21
in ways of bypassing it, and sustained risk should provide
58:25
enough market pressure to accelerate those alternatives. And this concludes
58:30
the reading of the Washington Post for today, Monday, April thirteenth.
58:34
Your reader has been Rod Brotherton. Thank you for listening,
58:37
and now please stay tuned for continued programming right here
58:41
on Radio I