Tag Archives: Mark Esper

Washington, US | Xinhua | U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, sending shockwaves through Washington. “Mark Esper has been terminated,” Trump tweeted. “I would like to thank him for his service.” The announcement came only days after a Pentagon spokesman said Esper “has no plans …

Berlin, Germany | XINHUA | Forty-seven percent of German citizens generally supported a reduction of U.S. troops in Germany, according to a survey published by the market research institute YouGov on Tuesday. Only 32 percent of Germans wanted U.S. troops to stay in the country at current strength or even increase …

Washington, United States | AFP |  President Donald Trump plans to address the new graduating class of the West Point military academy Saturday, as relations with the Pentagon fray over accusations that he has politicized the US military. Tensions have soared in two weeks since Trump threatened to call out active …

Washington, United States | AFP | US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that he opposed invoking a rarely used law to deploy military to quell nationwide protests over police brutality against African Americans. “I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act,” Esper said, two days after President Donald Trump said …

Washington, United States | AFP |  US Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday defended the firing of a naval commander whose plea for help for a coronavirus-affected crew angered his superiors but drew widespread public support. Esper told ABC that Navy Secretary Thomas Modly “made a tough decision, tough call” in …

Paris, France | AFP |  France’s defence minister departs for Washington on Sunday hoping to convince officials to keep US soldiers in West Africa, where French authorities are under pressure after years of trying to bolster local forces against Islamic extremists. Florence Parly’s visit comes just days after her tour of …

Aboard a US military aircraft, Undefined | AFP | The United States will make a decision on the level of its presence in Africa, particularly in the Sahel region, in about two months, Washington’s top military officer said Thursday. Washington has some 7,000 special forces on rotation in Africa carrying out …

Washington, United States | AFP |  US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that the US strike that killed a top Iranian general had restored credibility to the US threat to Tehran to restrain itself militarily. “I believe that we’ve restored a level of deterrence with them,” he said. But Washington …

Washington, United States | AFP | US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that the United States has reestablished some deterrence toward Iran in the wake of the January 3 drone strike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad. “I think at this point with the strikes we took against …

Washington, United States | AFP |  New US Defense Secretary Mark Esper picked his way through a political minefield in his first public meeting with the media Wednesday, skirting anything that could irritate his irascible boss President Donald Trump. Just hours after predecessor James Mattis wrote that Trump’s policies toward US …