International
Wine Tales from the White House: A historic blend of american influence
In the annals of recent U.S. history, amid episodes like the 2021 Capitol siege, America’s experience with unforeseen circumstances dates back to 1829. It was a time when the raucous celebration of the seventh president’s inauguration, Andrew Jackson, spun out of control for a clear reason: wine.
“At that time, anyone could enter the White House, and with alcohol, the crowd went wild at the inaugural party, damaging objects in the building,” detailed Frederick J. Ryan in an interview with EFE. Ryan, who served as chief of staff for former President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) after his tenure at the White House, reveals such secrets and anecdotes in the new edition of ‘Wine and the White House: A History,’ shedding light on the historical significance of wine in the life within the president’s official residence.
“The staff had to take alcohol to the front yard of the White House to get people out of the house,” continued the author, who was one of the creators of the Politico portal in 2007 and later served as editor and executive director of The Washington Post for a decade.
Exploring Wine’s Influence
The hefty tome aims to support the educational mission of the White House Historical Association. The author recently released a second updated edition of the work that originally hit shelves in 2020, garnering 12 national and international awards since then.
“Wine has been used in diplomacy since the founding of the country. There are records of President George Washington drinking wine while planning the War of Independence,” affirmed Ryan from his office at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, where he currently chairs the board of trustees.
Tradition and Change
Ryan added that wine serves as “a tool of protocol and persuasion,” a hallmark of significant encounters with its own language: “Toasting, raising a glass at the table, is a way of showing respect.”
The White House has hosted presidents with great interest in the field, such as Richard Nixon and Thomas Jefferson, who meticulously noted the wines served at banquets. Ronald Reagan, as recounted by his former chief of staff to EFE, was familiar with the wine industry from his years as governor of California (1967-1975).
These profiles contrast with more recent ones, as three of the last four U.S. presidents are teetotalers: George Bush, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden do not drink, but wine continued to play a central role during their presidencies, with alternatives like fruit juice, water, or other beverages being served for toasts.
Wine Policy at the White House
Nevertheless, Ryan clarified that the wine quantities served at these gatherings are “moderate” because hosts and guests “are about to make important decisions.”
Currently, the White House cellar shelves exclusively hold American wines in small quantities. Instead of storing thousands of bottles for years, “the president and his staff purchase wine before each special event.”
Celebrating Cultural Diversity
The final selection always features American labels to showcase that “all 50 states now have good wine.” Thus, the geographical connection with guests is established based on other aspects, such as the vintner’s origin.
“When King Juan Carlos I of Spain visited in 2000, three different American wines produced by vintners of Spanish descent were served,” explained Ryan, offering an example while displaying the dedicated page in the book.
Paradoxically, wine remained in the White House even during the Prohibition era, leading Ryan to believe that “its presence at the presidential table will not wane,” becoming an integral part of American and global power customs.
International
China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”
The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, showed the “condemnation” of his country against the “violation of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iran” after the air attack launched by Israel against multiple targets in that country, the official newspaper Diario del Pueblo reports this Saturday.
That media echoes Fu’s speech to the UN Security Council on Friday, in which he demanded that Israel “immediately stop all its military actions.”
“China (…) opposes the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the serious consequences that may arise from Israel’s actions. The intensification of regional tensions does not interest any of the parties involved,” said the Chinese emissary.
Beijing called on Tel Aviv and Tehran to “resolve their disputes through political and diplomatic means, and maintain peace and stability at the regional level jointly.”
In Fu’s view, the Israeli attack will have a “negative impact” on the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program: “China has always been committed to the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and consultations, and opposes the use of force, illegal unilateral sanctions and armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.”
This Friday, China had already expressed its willingness to “play a constructive role” to curb the escalation of tensions and facilitate conciliation, in line with its traditional position of active neutrality in the region’s conflicts.
The Israeli attack, which according to Tehran caused dozens of deaths, including senior military commanders and at least six nuclear scientists, targeted key facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Numerous civilian casualties were also reported.
Israel justified the offensive by claiming that the Iranian regime is secretly developing a program to manufacture nuclear weapons.
For his part, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a “severe response” and assured that the attack would reveal the “evil nature” of Israel.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern about the bombing, at a time when Iran and the US The United States is holding talks about the Iranian nuclear program.
International
Donald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants
The government of US President Donald Trump has decided to pause its campaign of discretionary roundings against migrants in certain areas due to its apparent concern about the growing unpopularity of these methods, according to The New York Times newspaper on Friday.
According to an email to which the newspaper has had access and the confirmation of US officials, the Executive has ordered the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to pause the beatings that affect the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry.
The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed in a statement that “the president’s instructions” will be obeyed and the portfolio will also continue to “work to get the worst illegal foreign criminals out of the streets of the United States.”
The decision points out that this campaign of discretionary arrests to try to deport large-scale immigrants is harming industries and electoral constituencies whose support Trump wants to retain for next year’s legislative elections.
The new instructions were transmitted to ICE in an email sent last Thursday asking that “all investigations/law enforcement operations be suspended in work centers in the agricultural sector (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and hotels.”
These new guidelines come in turn after more than a week of intense protests in Los Angeles against this immigration policy and that Trump himself admitted that the raids seem to be affecting the agricultural sector, which in states like California, where beatings have intensified, depend almost exclusively on immigrant labor.
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has implemented an aggressive policy of hard hand against immigration and as a sample of his Cabinet officials recently held a meeting with the ICE leadership to order them to carry out 3,000 arrests a day, a mandate that seems to be behind the intensification of the raids.
International
Trump says he knew “everything” about the attack on Iran and assures that the dialogue remains open
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington “known everything” about the Israeli attack on Iran and that the dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program “is not dead.”
“We knew everything and I tried to avoid Iran all this humiliation and death. I tried hard to avoid it because I would have loved to see an agreement,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.
The US president insisted on what he wrote today about the attack on social networks, where he said he gave an ultimatum of 60 days to Tehran to reach an agreement.
“We knew practically everything. We knew enough to give Iran 60 days to reach an agreement and today it is already 61 days,” he explained in the interview, in which he said he did not know what the current situation of the Iranian nuclear program is after the attack launched by Israel, which also ended the lives of key military leaders of the Persian country.
Regarding the dialogue between the US and Iran about the nuclear program of the ayatollahs, Trump assured that “he is not dead”, that “an agreement is still possible” and also recalled that on Sunday a sixth round of dialogue is scheduled in Muscat (Oman) that they consider is now in the air.
“We have a meeting with them on Sunday. Now, I’m not sure if that meeting will take place, but we have a meeting with them on Sunday,” he said.
The United States and Iran have held five rounds of talks on the Iranian nuclear program since April, with Washington demanding that Tehran discard its capabilities both to manufacture an atomic bomb and to enrich uranium, something that the ayatollahs considered unacceptable.
Both Israel and Trump himself had warned of possible preventive attacks on the Persian country due to this refusal by Iran.
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