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'Great guy' Putin had 'good meeting' with Trump - hopes to turn the page and move forward


RT
Sun, 30 Jun 2019 12:06 UTC
TrumpPutin
© CNN
Presidents Trump and Putin meet at G20
Though exact details of the G20 meeting between the US president Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have not been revealed, each head of state appeared quite satisfied with what came out of it.

Not sparing his words, Trump said on Saturday that he'd had a "great" and "excellent" meeting with his Russian counterpart a day earlier. He mentioned that the pair discussed trade and that he thinks the "two great countries" should work towards better economic cooperation.

Risking a further meltdown for Russiagate adherents and describing Putin in more colorful detail, Trump called him a "great guy" and a "terrific person."

For his part, Putin said the closed-door conversation was as a "good meeting, business-like, pragmatic" and said that the pair agreed that bilateral economic ties should be strengthened.

"I think we both understand that we need to somehow resolve the current situation," Putin said. Both nuclear powers, he argued, needed to "somehow find the strength to turn the page and move forward."

Comment: From FRN: Trump says there MUST be trade between Russia and US
US President Donald Trump commented on his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was held on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Japan's Osaka, with 'great, positive results.

'"I think he is a great guy. I think we had a great meeting, "said the US President to the columnist for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, Pavel Zarubin.

According to Trump, he and Vladimir Putin have achieved a lot, they began to discuss trade.

"We must have trade - between Russia and the United States, two great countries. Yesterday was a great meeting. He is an extraordinary man. Thank you very much," said the President of the United States.

The ex-President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko was apparently very upset that Trump did not consult with Kiev before negotiations with Putin, though had their been a private consultation he would not have been privy to it.
From RFE/RL: Putin: US-Russia to resume nuclear arms talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, have ordered their foreign ministers to begin consultations on nuclear arms control.

Speaking after the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 29, Putin stressed that "we cannot yet say whether this will lead to an extension of New START treaty," referring to a 2010 arms-control agreement that is due to expire in 2021 unless the two countries agree on an extension.

Trump spoke with journalists separately the same day and said of his talks with Putin: "We talked a lot about arms control."

According to the White House statement released after their meeting, Trump and Putin did discuss the question of the treaty.

"The Presidents agreed the two countries will continue discussion on a 21st century model of arms control, which President Trump stated as needing to include China," the statement said.

Trump administration officials have signaled they want to negotiate a new treaty that includes China.


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Satellite

NATO: No country has weapons in orbit now, but 'militarization of space is only a matter of time'


RT
Sun, 30 Jun 2019 14:26 UTC
USAFsatellite
© Reuters/Mike Brown
USAF satellite mission lifts off at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
NATO's first space strategy sees Earth's spheres of orbit as a theater of war - just like land or sea. A military expert has told RT that, while no one sends weapons beyond the skies, the militarization of space is inevitable.

The military bloc's new space policy, which has just been unveiled, calls for using outer space the same way as land, sea, air or cyberspace. Not many details are known about the strategy, but a major question arises here - is the world's biggest military alliance giving itself free rein to deploy weapons into orbit, just like the leeway it permits itself when it comes to dozens of non-NATO countries?

Mikhail Khodarenok, a Russian military expert and retired air defense colonel, believes that it will take some time until NATO creates a viable space force. No country will deploy weapons in space in the short term, because "anti-satellite devices are currently under development in all of the major countries," he told RT.

However, it doesn't mean that the militarization of Earth's spheres of orbit won't ultimately come true. "The US is likely to become pioneers in this area," the expert suggested, adding that China, Russia and India will follow. "Militarization of space is inevitable in the foreseeable future."

As for NATO, it "doesn't play any independent role" in outer space, mainly because designing and sending weapons into outer space is an American prerogative. Thus, the alliance is simply following the US' suit in publishing its policy.

Comment: See also: Trump wants to create military 'Space Force' to gain 'American dominance' in space

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Dollars

In the cross hairs - Italy vs the Banksters

James Corbett
Corbett Report
Sun, 30 Jun 2019 19:17 UTC
Italy vs the Banksters
© Corbett Report
Remember when Bilderberg "helped create the euro in the 1990s"?

And remember when that oxymoronic single-currency-for-many-nations-with-distinct-monetary-policies was launched in 1999?

And remember when Goldman Sachs helped Greece cook its books so it could join the eurozone in 2001?

And remember how that blew up in the EU's face a decade later with the onset of the Greek Crisis?

And remember how the Greek Crisis triggered the EUpocalypse and brought panic to Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain?

And remember how the EU (read: Germany and France) just started calling them all PIIGS and treating them like unruly children?

Yes, like some demented game of hot potato, the ill-conceived, ill-fated scheme to mash all the economies of Europe together under one currency has left whoever is holding the bag at any given moment facing a full-blown existential crisis. Now it seems that it's Italy's turn once again in the hot seat.

Don't worry. If you're just catching this story mid-stream, here's the skinny.
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Bad Guys

Haftar is trying to trick Turkey into overextending itself in Libya

Andrew Korybko
Eurasia Future
Sun, 30 Jun 2019 17:45 UTC
general haftar turska
Libyan National Army leader General Haftar ordered his forces to attack Turkish ships and companies that he accused of helping the internationally recognized Government of National Accord, as well as to arrest Turkish citizens in the country, which is nothing short of an effort to trick Turkey into overextending itself by provoking it into "mission creep" so that it ends up trapped in the Libyan quagmire.

The Libyan Civil War might be entering a new phase if the forces led by Libyan National Army (LNA) leader General Haftar do good on their leader's threats to attack Turkish ships and companies that he accused of helping the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), a well as to arrest Turkish citizens in the country. The popular warlord has already succeeded in capturing most of the country with the notable exception being the capital of Tripoli, which has only held out as long as it has supposedly because of Turkish support.

The Libyan Civil War was directly caused by NATO's 2011 War on Libya and the subsequent scramble for influence in the energy-rich and geostrategically positioned North African state, with Turkey playing a leading role in the latter because the de-facto Muslim Brotherhood-led country envisions restoring its Ottoman-era empire through the establishment of ideologically allied governments in this vast trans-continental space. The GNA is comprised of Muslim Brotherhood fighters and their offshoots who came to power after 2011, which is why Erdogan supports them so strongly and has a stake in their continued leadership of the country, something that Haftar is adamantly opposed to because he sees his countrymen's collaboration with Turkey as treasonous.
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Question

Out of the box: What if Palestinians "take the money and run?"

Dr. James J. Zogby
Arab American Institute
Sat, 29 Jun 2019 17:09 UTC
palestine summit bahrain kushne protest
© Mohammed Abed / AFP/Getty Images
Palestinians in Gaza City hold banners on June 25, 2019, denouncing the U.S.-led Peace to Prosperity conference in Bahrain.
I wasn't at the "Peace to Prosperity" Summit, but I listened to some of the speeches and read the documents the White House produced for the event. Nothing that I saw or read changed my belief that the entire affair was long on fantasy, short on reality. Even with that, however, a heretical thought came to mind - but more on that later.

Let me make it clear at the outset that I am a fan of imagining the future. During the Clinton Administration my mantra with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian process was that what was needed was "a vision of the future that was so compelling people would be drawn to it." Back then, there was still the hope that a political solution could be found leading to an independent Palestinian state in the territories that Israel had occupied in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

It was such a vision that led Yasser Arafat to imagine, that with independence, Gaza could become like Singapore. With peace and freedom, Palestinians could connect the West Bank to Gaza. They could build a seaport and airport, attract investment, start businesses and become a commercial hub and a tourist destination.

Comment: Unfortunately, Dr. Zogby's hope is based on the laughable idea that Israel would abide by any agreement it is party to. Who will police them and make sure that Palestinian's potential economic development is not strangled any more than it already is? Certainly not the US.

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Jet4

Iraq says Turkey killed 4 people in airstrikes on northern province


Sputnik
Sun, 30 Jun 2019 17:31 UTC
Turkish F-16 fighter jet
© AFP 2017/ Jorge Guerrero
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Saturday said in a statement that it condemns bombings of the northern Iraq's province of Sulaymaniyah by the Turkish Armed Forces that resulted in four people have been killed and four others have been wounded.

"Iraq expresses its condemnation for the two Turkish warplanes that have heavily bombarded the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, resulting in the deaths of four citizens and wounding of four others and the intimidation of innocent civilians," the statement said.

According to the statement, Turkish attacks violated Iraqi sovereignty and the principle of good neighbourliness. Baghdad urged the Turkish side to stop bombings on the country's territory.

At the same time, the press service of the Turkish military said later in the day, that the country's air forces did not carry out any military operations in Sulaymaniyah province.

"We did not conduct operations in Sulaymaniyah, we publish data on all operations that we conduct," the press service said.
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UFO

Docs show Navy pushed through 'UFO' patent warning China was working on similar tech

Brett Tingley and Tyler Rogoway
The Drive
Fri, 28 Jun 2019 12:00 UTC
ufo craft patent
© すじにくシチ Tyler Rogoway
USPTO-patent drawings
The United States Secretary of Navy is listed as the assignee on several radical aviation technologies patented by an aerospace engineer working at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) headquarters in Patuxent River, Maryland. One of these patents describes a "hybrid aerospace-underwater craft" claimed to be capable of truly extraordinary feats of speed and maneuverability in air, water, and outer space alike thanks to a revolutionary electromagnetic propulsion system.

Sound far fetched? You're not alone.

A primary patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) thought so too. But then the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of the Naval Aviation Enterprise personally wrote a letter addressed to the examiner claiming that the U.S. needs the patent as the Chinese are already "investing significantly" in these aerospace technologies that sound eerily similar to the UFOs reported by Navy pilots in now well-known encounters. This raises the question, are the Chinese developing or even already flying craft leveraging similar advanced technology and is the Navy now scrambling to catch up?

The Wondrous Inventions Of Dr. Salvatore Cezar Pais

Comment: See also:

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Newspaper

Trump 'allows' Huawei to buy some tech... if China buys more US farm produce


RT
Sat, 29 Jun 2019 21:40 UTC
huawei farm
© Reuters / Charles Mostoller; Reuters / Michaela Rehle
President Trump has allowed China's Huawei to continue business with US tech giants - limited and with strings attached - following his "better than expected" talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

China has agreed to purchase "large amounts of agricultural product from our great Farmers" in return for his concessions on Huawei, the US president said, admitting that American big tech was lobbying for the lifting of the ban.

"At the request of our High Tech companies, and President Xi, I agreed to allow Chinese company Huawei to buy product from them which will not impact our National Security."

Comment: Trump has had to make some concessions because the US has been suffering the worst of the trade war:

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Question

Germany and the Netherlands agree to joint military internet in world first

Kate O'Flaherty
Forbes
Fri, 28 Jun 2019 09:13 UTC
Military game
© Getty
Military helicopters and forces in destroyed at sunset
An agreement to build what is being billed as the first joint military internet has been signed by German and Dutch officials. The internet, which aims to see internal networks and equipment shared by the pair, has been named "Tactical Edge Networking" (TEN).

According to a story on ZDNet, the deal was signed on Wednesday June 26 in Brussels, Belgium, where NATO defense ministers met this week.

It is thought to be the first time that two countries have integrated parts of their military networks. But it must be noted that the nations have worked very closely together since 1995, so this latest deal builds upon that.

Integration is a grand aim of NATO, but it has not yet happened despite the availability of the technology to do so. This latest move will therefore be a test that will be watched closely by other NATO members. In the future, NATO hopes that members can share military networks and shared standards can be implemented across states.

Comment: See also:

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Chess

Andre Vltchek to RT: Russia, China, N. Korea eager to find common ground, but US pushing for its imperial interests ruins everything'


RT
Sat, 29 Jun 2019 20:14 UTC
trump
© Kevin / Lamarque
Donald Trump said a lot of good things on Russia, China and North Korea during the G20 summit, but there's no guarantee he won't announce that he's changed his mind in a tweet next week, analysts have told RT.

"The outcomes are always good whenever President Trump meets world leaders, be it Putin, Xi Jinping or North Korean [Kim Jong-un]," political analyst Andre Vltchek commented, speaking on the outcome of the high-profile gathering in Osaka but noting that, in a week or a month, Trump could wake up and tweet something on Venezuela, North Korea that completely contradicts his earlier words.

"There was a lot of theatrics going on" at the G20, Paul Ingram, executive director of the British American Security Information Council, pointed out.
Donald Trump was saying a lot of things that were clearly designed to make the headlines. But what's really going on underneath here is anybody's guess.
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