Dedication ceremony for Obama Presidential Center under way in Chicago
Meanwhile, in Chicago, thousands of invited guests, led by former presidents and heads of state, converged on a lakefront park to dedicate the Obama Presidential Center, a sprawling campus of granite, nature and art designed as a hub of civic life and culture honoring the 44th president of the United States, Reuters reported.
Former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were joined at the event by the other three living former presidents — former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Joe Biden — and their wives, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Jill Biden.
Obama’s two daughters, Malia and Sasha, sat with their parents on the main stage of the ceremony.
Reuters reports that the roster of VIPs in attendance also included former vice-president Kamala Harris and her spouse, Douglas Emhoff, former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi and such foreign dignitaries as former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
The occasion, under partly cloudy skies, marked the ceremonial opening of the Obama Center, an $850 million development that local historians say marks the greatest single investment in a century in Chicago’s long-neglected South Side.
Key events
It appears that president Donald Trump didn’t make it to the event at the Obama Presidential Center. It’s unclear whether he was invited.
Either way: Trump’s absence is not exactly surprising.
The latest conflict between them came when a UFC fighter said disparaging comments about the former first lady at the White House and Trump did nothing about it.
David Smith
For the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago, Barack and Michelle Obama commissioned original works by 30 artists from diverse backgrounds, a bold move never seen at such scale at a presidential library. It also forms a quiet rebuke of Obama’s successor, who has filled the Oval Office with stiff presidential portraits while plotting the demise of cultural stalwarts such as the Kennedy Center and Smithsonian Institution.
“They love art,” said Valerie Jarrett, chief executive of the Obama Foundation, reflecting on how the Obamas took a similarly inclusive approach to curating the White House. “We want people who come here to look at a piece of art, stand next to a stranger, have a conversation about that piece of art and how it touches them each in their own individual ways.”
The privately funded $850m presidential centre, opening nearly a decade after Obama left office, sits on a 19-acre campus in Chicago’s Jackson Park, close to where he lived as a young man and entered politics. It includes a new branch of the Chicago Public Library, an NBA-regulation basketball court, a recording studio and a sledding hill built because a young Michelle Obama never had one growing up on the city’s famously flat South Side.
The new artworks are dotted throughout. Jarrett insisted: “None of the art makes political statements.” But that depends on the definition of “political”. It does engage with the roots of African American history, the struggle for civil rights and the specific cultural legacy of Chicago.
Here are some more photos from the dedication ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago:
Dedication ceremony for Obama Presidential Center under way in Chicago
Meanwhile, in Chicago, thousands of invited guests, led by former presidents and heads of state, converged on a lakefront park to dedicate the Obama Presidential Center, a sprawling campus of granite, nature and art designed as a hub of civic life and culture honoring the 44th president of the United States, Reuters reported.
Former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were joined at the event by the other three living former presidents — former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Joe Biden — and their wives, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Jill Biden.
Obama’s two daughters, Malia and Sasha, sat with their parents on the main stage of the ceremony.
Reuters reports that the roster of VIPs in attendance also included former vice-president Kamala Harris and her spouse, Douglas Emhoff, former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi and such foreign dignitaries as former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
The occasion, under partly cloudy skies, marked the ceremonial opening of the Obama Center, an $850 million development that local historians say marks the greatest single investment in a century in Chicago’s long-neglected South Side.
‘I might not attack the only powerful ally I have left,’ Vance says in excoriating rebuke of Israeli critics of US-Iran deal
And finally, asked about reports that Benjamin Netanyahu is fuming over the deal with Iran, Vance issues an extraordinary rebuke to Israeli critics, particularly members of Netanyahu’s cabinet who have lambasted the deal and Trump. He says:
Donald J Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time.
If I was in the Israeli cabinet, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.
He adds that over the last three months of war, two-thirds of the weapons used to defend Israel were produced in the US.
The problem for Israel is not Donald J Trump and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the President of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.
Vance says he is planning to lead the US negotiating team as they try to reach the final agreement with Iran.
Asked if he’s still going to Switzerland tomorrow for the formal signing ceremony, Vance says: “I may, it just depends exactly on when the Iranians can get there.”
Vance says he plans to go to Switzerland for talks with Iran this weekend, but that the plan could change.
“We think these technical negotiations are going to start sometime this weekend. That’s still the plan, but that could change,” he says. “I suspect this weekend but I’m not sure.”
Vance also dodged a question about whether Cuba is “next”, telling reporters to “ask Marco [Rubio]”.
Vance is pressed several times on Iran’s ability sell oil again under the deal.
He insists that the waiving of sanctions on Iranian oil is not a “new benefit” given that Iran was already selling oil before the war and insists that this will benefit the US because “we can see where the money moves now”.
But that’s not true. Before the war, under the weight heavy sanctions, Iran had to sell its oil at a steep discount. It can now sell its oil freely, to more countries (in more currencies), and charge more for it.
Israel has to ‘respect this peace process’, says Vance, adding that civilian deaths ‘not acceptable’
Asked about Trump’s recent criticisms of Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Vance says that while Israel has the right to defend itself, “the Israelis, just like everybody else, have to respect this peace process.”
He added:
The president has grown frustrated sometimes that we seem to be right on the cusp of a major breakthrough in the agreement, and then all of a sudden, there’s a major explosion that goes off in a civilian population center in Beirut, and a lot of people who have nothing to do with Hezbollah lose their lives. That’s not acceptable.
He adds the the administration is “quite confident” that it can lift sanctions on Iranian oil without congressional approval.
Vance says Congress should have received the formal signed copy of the memorandum of understanding this morning (or will do later today), and the White House is planning to brief lawmakers soon.
US expects Israel to not ‘be going wild in Lebanon’, says Vance
Vance says the deal is about wider peace in the region, and that while the US expects Hezbollah to not attack Israel, it also expects “that the Israelis are not going to be going wild in Lebanon”.
Asked if he’s worried about Trump making him the “fall guy” if the deal with Iran goes sideways, Vance says he thinks the president was “joking” when he said he would blame him if the deal proves a failure.
Vance also jokes that his appearance on ABC’s The View earlier this week as evidence that he can hold his own in “very hostile negotiations”, claiming he and panellist Joy Behar “are best friends now”.
Vance is asked about the shift in Trump’s stance regarding Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal.
Trump stated on 28 February that destroying Iran’s missiles and missile industry was a key objective of the war. Yesterday, however, he told reporters in Paris that it would be “unfair” for Iran to not have “some” ballistic missiles, because other countries have them.
Attempting to clarify Trump’s comments, Vance says:
Countries don’t give up the right of self-defence.
Israel doesn’t give up the right of self-defence if Hezbollah fires rockets or drones at Israel. The Iranians don’t give up the right of self-defence in their country.
But we do expect that, as part of the final deal, they are not going to be able to build the kind of missiles that can broadly threaten the entire world.
Vance says 60-day period in Iran deal begins today
Vance says the 60-day window laid out in the memorandum of understanding to reach a final agreement with Iran begins today.
“I would say the 60-day period officially started today. It was signed late, and it may have even been signed technically, you know, because of the time shift, I think it’s signed technically today, Iran time,” he says.
If that is the case, it would set a deadline for the final deal between Iran and the United States as 17 August.
Vance also repeated the administration’s claims that the US’s war has destroyed Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities, but it has been reported that US intelligence estimates suggest that Iran has retained about 70% of its pre-war ballistic and cruise missile stockpile.
Vance stresses that “the United States isn’t giving up a cent of money to Iran” and that the sanctions relief and other economic benefits in the bargain “only happens if the Iranians perform”.
