SOFREP Daily Brief

• More on Hillary Clinton’s private intelligence network. Was it operationalized?

  After the media inexplicably dubbed Hillary Rodham Clinton the “winner” of the Benghazi hearings, her apologists dismissed a line of questioning into her unofficial adviser, Sidney Blumenthal. So he was sending her e-mail offering advice on Libya and other matters of state. In the immortal words of Clinton at an earlier Benghazi hearing, “What difference does it make?” It matters because Clinton flouted President Obama’s authority, secretly employing a man the administration had banned — then Clinton and Blumenthal… – New York Post

• Protecting all Russian speakers abroad is a high priority of the Russian Federation

  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that providing “comprehensive support” to Russian-speaking people living outside of Russia is “an unconditional foreign-policy priority for Russia.” Lavrov made the statement in an article published on November 2 in the Russian government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta. “As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly confirmed, we will keep enthusiastically defending the rights of compatriots, using for the… – Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty

• Major expose on China’s covert role in propagandizing the United States

  BEIJING/WASHINGTON – In August, foreign ministers from 10 nations blasted China for building artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea. As media around the world covered the diplomatic clash, a radio station that serves the most powerful city in America had a distinctive take on the news. Located outside Washington, D.C., WCRW radio made no mention of China’s provocative island project. Instead, an analyst explained that tensions in the region were due to unnamed “external forces” trying “to insert themselves into this part of the world using false claims.” – Reuters

• American tax payers foot the bill for 43 million dollar gas station in Afghanistan

  

  American taxpayers are on the hook for a $43 million gas station constructed in Afghanistan — a price tag that’s about $42.5 million higher than it should’ve been, and the Department of Defense can’t explain why, according to a new government report. “The DOD charged the American taxpayer $43 million for what is likely the world’s most expensive gas station,” Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko said, ahead of the release of the SIGAR report today. “DOD spent $43 million on the gas station, without determining it would be a good idea, and now claims it knows nothing about the project.” – ABC News

• Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi dies from heart failure

  Ahmed Chalabi, a former Iraqi exile who played a major role in persuading the U.S. to wage war against Saddam Hussein, has died of a heart attack in Baghdad. He was 71. His death was reported by Iraqi state media and confirmed to NPR by Hashim al Moussawi, who works in his office, and by former parliamentarian Hassan al Alawi. Chalabi headed the Iraqi National Congress, an opposition group based in Washington that long lobbied against Hussein. – The Two-Way
  

[Featured image: Hillary Clinton and Sidney Blumenthal Photo: (Left) ZumaPress, (right) EPA]