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Putin Interview with FT: 'Liberal Idea' Failed the West, Elites Forgot About People

Lionel Barber, Henry Foy and Alex Barker
Financial Times
Thu, 27 Jun 2019 19:41 UTC
putin
© Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS
Vladimir Putin has trumpeted the growth of national populist movements in Europe and America, crowing that liberalism is spent as an ideological force.

In an FT interview in the Kremlin on the eve of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, the Russian president said "the liberal idea" had "outlived its purpose" as the public turned against immigration, open borders and multiculturalism. Mr Putin's evisceration of liberalism - the dominant western ideology since the end of the second world war in 1945 - chimes with anti-establishment leaders from US president Donald Trump to Hungary's Viktor Orban, Matteo Salvini in Italy, and the Brexit insurgency in the UK.

"[Liberals] cannot simply dictate anything to anyone just like they have been attempting to do over the recent decades," he said. Mr Putin branded Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to admit more than 1m refugees to Germany, mainly from war-ravaged Syria, as a "cardinal mistake".

Comment: You can read the full transcript of the interview on the Kremlin's website.

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Arrow Up

Russia-India-China will be the big G20 hit

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Fri, 28 Jun 2019 11:47 UTC
Putin Modi
© AFP / Grigory Sysoev / Sputnik
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) hug during their meeting before a session of the Heads of State Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
It all started with the Vladimir Putin-Xi Jinping summit in Moscow on June 5. Far from a mere bilateral, this meeting upgraded the Eurasian integration process to another level. The Russian and Chinese presidents discussed everything from the progressive interconnection of the New Silk Roads with the Eurasia Economic Union, especially in and around Central Asia, to their concerted strategy for the Korean Peninsula.

A particular theme stood out: They discussed how the connecting role of Persia in the Ancient Silk Road is about to be replicated by Iran in the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). And that is non-negotiable. Especially after the Russia-China strategic partnership, less than a month before the Moscow summit, offered explicit support for Tehran signaling that regime change simply won't be accepted, diplomatic sources say.

Putin and Xi solidified the roadmap at the St Petersburg Economic Forum. And the Greater Eurasia interconnection continued to be woven immediately after at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek, with two essential interlocutors: India, a fellow BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and SCO member, and SCO observer Iran.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

Why Tulsi Gabbard was the only Democrat asked a negative question at the debate

Michael Tracey
The Federalist
Fri, 28 Jun 2019 10:16 UTC
tulsi gabbard democratic debate
Only one presidential candidate on the debate stage last night received an overtly negative question, and that was Tulsi Gabbard. Although she's already painstakingly addressed the anti-LGBT comments she made as a teenager, and explained how her accumulation of new life experiences caused her to shed views taught to her during childhood, Chuck Todd nevertheless saw fit to bring that up issue in front of a national audience being exposed to her for the first time.

The moderators didn't raise any other candidates' past "liabilities," although plenty of them have what one might consider "baggage," yet they chose to devise a specific question for Gabbard based on comments she made more than 15 years ago, well before she underwent the political and personal evolution that now forms the philosophical foundation for her campaign.

It's nothing new for NBC News, however, which on the day of her formal announcement speech in February published a pathetic hit piece claiming that Gabbard was supported by the nefarious Russian "botnet," using analysis derived from the discredited "cybersecurity firm" New Knowledge. The article was confabulated nonsense and said more about the editors and reporters who produced it than Gabbard, who obviously bears no responsibility for what unknown foreign trolls may do online.
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Snakes in Suits

Will Washington's elites give détente with Russia a chance when Trump meets Putin at G-20?

Stephen F. Cohen
The Nation
Wed, 26 Jun 2019 14:23 UTC
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin
© AP / Jorge Silva
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin talk at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam, November 11, 2017.
The Trump-Putin meeting in Japan is crucial for both leaders-and for the world.

Despite determined attempts in Washington to sabotage such a "summit," as I reported previously, President Trump and Russian President Putin are still scheduled to meet at the G-20 gathering in Japan this week. Iran will be at the top of their agenda. The Trump administration seems determined to wage cold, possibly even hot, war against the Islamic Republic, while for Moscow, as emphasized by the Kremlin's national security adviser, Nikolai Patrushev, on June 25, "Iran has been and will be an ally and partner of ours."

Indeed, the importance of Iran (along with China) to Russia can hardly be overstated. Among other reasons, as the West's military alliance encroaches ever more along Russia's western borders, Iran is a large, vital non-NATO neighbor. Still more, Tehran has done nothing to incite Russia's own millions of Muslim citizens against Moscow. Well before Trump, powerful forces in Washington have long sought to project Iran as America's primary enemy in the Middle East, but for Moscow it is a necessary "ally and partner."

In normal political circumstances, Trump and Putin could probably diminish any potential US-Russian conflict over Iran-and the one still brewing in Syria as well. But both leaders come to the summit with related political problems at home. For Trump, they are the unproven but persistent allegations of "Russiagate." For Putin, they are economic.
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TV

NBC bias on display in Dem debate, while Google searches on Tulsi Gabbard soar


RT
Thu, 27 Jun 2019 20:09 UTC
Tulsi gabbard
© Agence France-Presse / Jim Watson
Tulsi Gabbard at NBC's first Democratic presidential candidate debate
Google searches for Tulsi Gabbard's name surged during the first debate of the 2020 Democratic primary - but the clear interest in the anti-war candidate was not reflected by moderators, who gave her noticeably little airtime.

A Washington Post tally of how much time each of the ten candidates were given to speak in Wednesday night's debate showed Gabbard way down in 7th place. In contrast, the NBC News moderators repeatedly called on Elizabeth Warren, who has already received plentiful coverage across the media since launching her campaign.

Comment: If the leftist media was scared of Trump, portraying him as an out-of-control buffoon, they must be absolutely terrified of an intelligent, no-nonsense candidate like Tulsi Gabbard. All the stops will be pulled out in an effort to derail her campaign

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Chart Pie

Jeremy Hunt pledges to cancel student debt for graduates who start a business, if he becomes PM

Steve Hawkes
The Sun
Thu, 27 Jun 2019 19:12 UTC
Jeremy hunt
Young graduates will have their student debt wiped out if they start a business under a new vow by wannabe PM Jeremy Hunt.

The Foreign Secretary - and former entrepreneur - vowed to "turbocharge" the economy by encouraging tens of thousands more Brits to start out on their own.

Under the plans, graduates would have their debts "waived" if they start a company and hire more than ten people for a period of at least five years.
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Yoda

Nils Melzer: Unmasking the Torture of Julian Assange

Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
Medium
Wed, 26 Jun 2019 18:01 UTC
Julian Assange
On the occasion of the International Day in Support of Torture Victims, 26 June 2019

I know, you may think I am deluded. How could life in an Embassy with a cat and a skateboard ever amount to torture? That's exactly what I thought, too, when Assange first appealed to my office for protection. Like most of the public, I had been subconsciously poisoned by the relentless smear campaign, which had been disseminated over the years. So it took a second knock on my door to get my reluctant attention. But once I looked into the facts of this case, what I found filled me with repulsion and disbelief.

Surely, I thought, Assange must be a rapist! But what I found is that he has never been charged with a sexual offence. True, soon after the US had encouraged allies to find reasons to prosecute Assange, two women made the headlines in Sweden. One of them claimed he had ripped a condom, and the other that he had failed to wear one, in both cases during consensual intercourse - not exactly scenarios that have the ring of 'rape' in any language other than Swedish. Mind you, each woman even submitted a condom as evidence. The first one, supposedly worn and torn by Assange, revealed no DNA whatsoever - neither his, nor hers, nor anybody else's. Go figure. The second one, used but intact, supposedly proved 'unprotected' intercourse. Go figure, again. The women even texted that they never intended to report a crime but were 'railroaded' into doing so by zealous Swedish police. Go figure, once more. Ever since, both Sweden and Britain have done everything to prevent Assange from confronting these allegations without simultaneously having to expose himself to US extradition and, thus, to a show-trial followed by life in jail. His last refuge had been the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Comment: And from RT:
The UN rapporteur on torture has written a scalding op-ed in support of Julian Assange, in which he says the publisher was the victim of a smear campaign. Now he claims many leading MSM outlets are snubbing the piece.

[...]

The piece ends with a list of the media's 'big guns', which Melzer says were offered the op-ed to publish but wouldn't. The list includes the Guardian, the Times, the Financial Times, the Telegraph, the Washington Post, and Reuters. The text was subsequently published on Medium, a blogging website.

Holding governments accountable by exposing their misdeeds is the job of the free press, to which those listed by Melzer supposedly belong. Some observers also note that maintaining silence on Assange's case amounts to complicity in the wrongdoings against him.

The case against Assange was aimed not only at keeping him at bay, but also at "shutting down dissent," renowned journalist John Pilger recently said.
It's mainly about shutting down investigative journalism.


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Arrow Down

US to NATO: Washington wants to avoid war with Iran, but will not tolerate further incidents

Robin Emmott, Sabine Siebold
Reuters
Thu, 27 Jun 2019 13:02 UTC
Mark Esper
© JOE GROMELSKI/STARS AND STRIPES
Acting Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper
Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told NATO allies on Thursday that Washington did not want to go to war with Iran but also could not tolerate any further incidents, according to allied diplomats present.

Speaking to NATO defence ministers in a closed-door session, Esper said the United States held Iran responsible for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman but did not want the situation to escalate.

"His first words were: we don't want to go to war with Iran," one diplomat said. "Esper also made clear that this is about the limit (of what the United States will tolerate from Iran), that nothing more should happen now," a second diplomat said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference after the meeting: "One important message is that the United States has so clearly stated that they don't want a war. They actually said very clearly that they are ready to talk with Iran without a precondition."

A week after U.S. President Donald Trump called off air strikes on Iran minutes before impact, European defence ministers led by France sought to use their first formal NATO meeting with Esper to cool the confrontation between Washington and Tehran, diplomats said.

Comment: More from RT:
Blatantly threatening to launch a nuclear war against another country is not only illegal under international law, Iranian FM explained, but proves that President Trump does not think through the ramifications of his rhetoric.

"There is a United Nations charter, and threat of wars is illegal," Javad Zarif told CNN paraphrasing Article 2.4 of the UN Charter, a day after President Trump spoke menacingly about "obliterating" Iran if the Islamic Republic endangers "anything American." "That statement indicates that US intentions are certainly illegal. The United States is not in a position to obliterate Iran, they do not have the capability other than using prohibited weapons to do this."

Reminding the American commander-in-chief "that we don't live in the 18th century," Zarif suggested Trump to hire new advisers, people who can fully understand the Iranian position and who can offer viable solutions to the crisis. Trump receives "wrong information, wrong analysis, and now President Trump finds himself in a situation where he believes that he needs to get out," Zarif said.
And this from Twitter:


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Shopping Bag

Pompeo arrives in India with bag full of 'freedom offers' not to be refused


RT
Wed, 26 Jun 2019 00:32 UTC
Pompeo India
© AFP/ONEY SHARMA
Pompeo's arrival in India
The top US diplomat has landed in New Delhi, aiming to pressure the Indian government into rejecting Russian S-400 air defense systems and China's Huawei mobile tech in favor of "better" military and trade deals with Washington.

Expanding cooperation in energy, aviation, space, and defense fields will top Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's agenda during his three-day visit to India, the State Department said just as their boss landed in New Delhi on Tuesday evening.

Pompeo is expected to pressure India into compliance on a number of issues, including the S-400 missile defense deal with Russia, the purchase of Iranian and Venezuelan crude oil, and limiting Huawei's access to the massive South Asian market that Washington is now keen to capture.

But while Pompeo is bringing a bag full of American goodies to the discussion table, India has made it explicitly clear over the last few months that it will not bow to US pressure at the expense of its own strategic goals, regardless of how tempting the offers might be.

Comment: More from RT: We will do what's in our national interest, says India
New Delhi will have nothing but its own interests in mind, when following on the deal to purchase S-400 air defense missile systems from Moscow, the deal the US is strongly opposed to. [India's FM] Subrahmanyam Jaishankar made his comments while responding to a question about the S-400 at a presser with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to New Delhi. "We have relationships with several countries, many of which are of some standing. They have a history. We will do what is in our national interest."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin signed the $5 billion defense contract in October. US officials tried to dissuade India from acquiring the state-of-the-art Russian missile defense systems, warning that buying weapons from Moscow can impact future arms deals with Washington. The Pentagon also promised to offer India "potential alternatives" to the S-400s.

Pompeo, for his part, hailed US-India relations, adding that "great friends are bound to have differences."


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Blue Planet

Former Italian FM: US needs European support to attack Iran


RT
Wed, 26 Jun 2019 20:53 UTC
Franco Frattini
© OSCE/Estella Marcheggiano
Franco Frattini, former Italian FM, President of Italian Society for International Organizations
President Trump will be unable to launch a war against Iran if European allies continue to oppose the move, Franco Frattini told RT. Нowever, Europe's influence is waning due to internal divisions, the Italian diplomat added.

A united European Union could serve as a bulwark against US attempts to seek regime change in Iran, believes Frattini, a former Italian foreign minister, now the president of the Italian Society for International Organizations. "I think America cannot do it [while] having [a stance] against the whole of European Union and, I would add, NATO would be strongly against [it, as well]," he told RT's Eunan O'Neill on Wednesday.

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