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The U.S. government is preparing contingency plans to evacuate over one million American civilians in the Middle East, as all signs point to Israel’s impending ground invasion of Gaza causing the violence to escalate into a broad regional conflict.

White HouseNational Security Council spokesperson John Kirby reported that there are currently no “active efforts” to evacuate American civilians from the region beyond the new charter flights the government started operating earlier this month out of Israel. (Related: Defense officials warn: Iran could use Israel-Palestine chaos as an “opportunity” to attack American forces all over the Middle East.)

“It would be imprudent and irresponsible if we didn’t have folks thinking through a broad range of contingencies and possibilities,” Kirby added. “And certainly evacuations are one of those things.”

The White House is particularly concerned about Americans living in Israel and neighboring Lebanon. Current State Department estimates suggest that, before the conflict began in early October, there were about 600,000 U.S. citizens in Israel and another 86,000 in Lebanon and several hundred thousand more Americans spread out over the rest of the Middle East.

U.S. officials have been particularly cagey about discussing contingency plans in public, claiming that doing so could set off a panic among Americans in the region. But heightened concerns about a possible escalation in the conflict such as the threat of Hezbollah attacking Israel from the north and creating a two-front conflict has changed the White House’s stance, conveying the government’s anxiety about a broadened conflict.

The State Department recently issued an advisory to all U.S. citizens worldwide “to exercise increased caution” due to “increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks [and] demonstrations or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests.” Evacuating up to a million Americans could be most difficult undertaking of the U.S. in decades

Experts have warned that, depending on the scale of the potential American evacuation, it could be the most difficult operation conducted by the Pentagon in recent memory,potentially even involving the use of Air Force and Navy aircraft and warships.

Rick Wiles ofTruNews commented that he does not trust the current government of President Joe Biden to be able to carry out the successful evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Americans, noting how the evacuation of several thousand Americans from Afghanistan two years ago was already mismanaged.

“There are 600,000 Americans living just in Israel,” said Wiles. “When you add up all of the Americans in the Middle East, that’s over a million people and you’re gonna trust the Biden administration to get you out?”

“They didn’t save Americans when they evacuated when they fled Afghanistan. They left Americans behind,” added Wiles, who noted how the mishandled evacuation of Kabul was comparable to the chaotic American retreat from Saigon during the Vietnam War.

“With 600,000 Americans in Israel and threats to other Americans across the region, it’s hard to think of an evacuation that might compare to this in scale, scope and complexity,” warned Suzanne Maloney, director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. “The sort of advisories the State Department has put out lately have been fairly blunt.”

Visit WhiteHouse.news for more similar stories.

Watch this clip from “TruNews” as host Rick Wiles discusses how theDepartment of Defense is preparing contingency plans to evacuate over a million Americans in the Middle East.

This video is from the TruNews channel onBrighteon.com. More related stories:

Israel’s National Security Council urges its citizens in Turkey to LEAVE “as soon as possible” following Al-Ahli hospital bombing.

U.S. Navy warship shoots down missiles and drones fired by Iran-backed militants in Yemen possibly toward Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warns of a possible “preemptive action” once Israel attacks Gaza.

Syria now firing missiles on Golan Heights as U.S. provides “surging” support for Israeli operation in “cleansing” Gaza of all Palestinians.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says it is “prepared and ready” to join the war against Israel.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

APNews.com

MSN.com
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Kraken co-CEO warns UK rules meant to protect users now punish them: FT

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Kraken co-CEO warns UK rules meant to protect users now punish them: FT

Arjun Sethi, the co-CEO of major crypto exchange Kraken, criticized the United Kingdom’s crypto regulations, which he believes hinder services for their customers.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Sethi said that “in the UK today, if you go to any crypto website, including Kraken’s, you see the equivalent to a cigarette box.” He suggested that the disclaimers have a significant impact on customer experience.

Sethi suggested that disclosures slow users down and that, because of the importance of speed in crypto trading, “it’s worse for customers.” He concluded that “disclosures are important […] but if there are 14 steps, it’s worse.”

The UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) updated financial promotion regime came into force in October 2023. It introduced a “cooling-off” period for first-time crypto investors and requires firms to assess whether users have sufficient knowledge and experience before trading.

Sethi said that the rules may prompt customers to avoid investing in crypto altogether, potentially leading to missed potential gains. The FCA defended the rules, noting that “some consumers may make an informed decision that investing in crypto is not right for them — that is our rules working as intended.”

Kraken, UK Government, Cryptocurrency Exchange, United Kingdom
Example of disclaimer from the Kraken website. Source: Kraken

Related: ClearToken gets FCA nod for crypto settlement platform amid UK rules push

The UK is slowly opening to crypto

Despite frustrations with the FCA, the UK appears to be moving toward a broader alignment with the United States on digital-asset oversight.

Lisa Cameron, a former United Kingdom Member of Parliament and founder of the UK-US Crypto Alliance, said she believes a joint “sandbox” between the UK and the US is in development to align their crypto markets.

She came to this conclusion after discussion with US Senators and regulators and expects the sandbox’s purpose to be to “iron out some of this in terms of passporting” for crypto licenses between the UK and the US.

On Monday, the Bank of England published a consultation paper proposing a regulatory framework for stablecoins. The new legislation is focused on sterling-denominated “systemic stablecoins” widely used in payments, similar to the US’s GENIUS Act.

Related: British crypto firm KR1 eyes London Stock Exchange as UK warms to industry: FT

UK looks to the US for an example on crypto

A crypto collaboration between the UK and the US is not a new phenomenon. September reports noted that treasury authorities in the US and UK created a transatlantic task force to explore “short-to-medium term collaboration on digital assets.” Also in September, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed how the two nations could strengthen their coordination on crypto.

September also saw UK trade groups urge the UK government to include blockchain technology in a technology collaboration with the US program known as “Tech Bridge.” A joint letter by the organization warned that “excluding digital assets from the UK-US Tech Bridge would be a missed opportunity,” and that it “risks leaving Britain on the sidelines.”

Magazine: UK’s Orwellian AI murder prediction system, will AI take your job? AI Eye