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Putin invites Indian PM Modi to be 'main guest' at Russia's Eastern Economic Forum

putin and modi
© Sputnik / Grigoriy Sisoev
Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited recently re-elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the Eastern Economic Forum, which takes place in Vladivostok in September.

The two leaders held talks on Thursday in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, which is hosting the 2019 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. Putin and Modi discussed all aspects of bilateral relations, including cooperation in the military, space and nuclear energy spheres.

"I want to invite you as the main guest to the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September this year," Putin said.

The Indian prime minister has already accepted the invitation and suggested meeting the Russian leader even earlier, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, which will take place in Osaka, Japan, at the end of this month. Modi also wants to hold a trilateral meeting between Russia, India, and China during the G20.

V

'Completely baseless': Tulsi slams US media smears against her campaign

tulsi
© Reuters / Stephen Lam
Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard took the media to task for what she called biased and misleading coverage of her campaign, arguing the facts no longer matter to some outlets.

Speaking at an event in New York recently, Tulsi said the press had given up on any semblance of balanced or accurate reporting, replacing news coverage with panels of jabbering pundits.

Instead of factual reporting, she said: "We see opinions, we see panels of people on all the news channels - I don't care which one you watch - sharing their opinions."

Bomb

Saudi arms sales may be at center of the next showdown between Trump and Congress

Riyadh Saudi Arabia
© AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
The Trump administration's arms sales to Saudi Arabia are facing stiff opposition in Congress. However, the power to veto means that the ball remains in President Trump's court for now.

Bipartisan opposition to President Trump's cosy relationship with Saudi Arabia has been building for some time, stoked by the brazen - and, some say, state-backed - murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October, and by Riyadh's ongoing involvement in Yemen's brutal civil war.

Despite lawmakers from both parties calling Washington's relationship with Riyadh into question, the Trump administration has pressed ahead with arms sales to the kingdom. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced late last month that some $8 billion-worth of weaponry would be exported to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to counter the supposed threat posed by Iran - a move allowed without congressional sign-off in the event of an emergency.

Congress is pushing back. On Wednesday, House Democrats will unveil four measures of disapproval, aimed at blocking the 22 deals announced by Pompeo. Three of these focus specifically on the sale of precision-guided munitions, like the GBU-12 bomb that killed 40 schoolchildren in Yemen last August. The House Foreign Affairs Committee will also grill a senior State Department official on the emergency declaration that allowed the deals to go through.

Though these measures are likely to pass the Democrat-controlled House, getting them through the Republican-majority Senate will prove more difficult, as will President Trump's power to veto any law that passes the upper house without a two-thirds majority. Still, a number of Senate Republicans and key Trump allies are prepared to break ranks with the president over the Saudi issue.

Telephone

Iranian leader to Japanese PM: Trump not worthy of engaging in communication

rouhani abe khamenei
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) meets with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (R) and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Tehran, June 13, 2019.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei dismisses US President Donald Trump as a person not worthy of a response or a message, stressing that negotiations with Washington cannot help solve any problem.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a Thursday meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who told the Leader he was carrying a message from the US president.

"We have no doubts about your (Japan's) goodwill and seriousness, but regarding what you quoted from the US president, I personally do not consider Trump worthy of exchanging any messages with, and do not have and will not have any response for him," the Leader told Abe.

The Leader said Iran has "no trust" in the United States and will not at all "repeat the bitter experience" it gained from the negotiations that led to the conclusion of a 2015 nuclear deal, which Washington later ditched.

"Iran engaged in talks with the US and the Europeans for some five or six years, and achieved a result. The Americans, however, breached a done deal," said the Leader, emphasizing that no wise man would enter talks with a country that has reneged on all agreements.

Comment: Here's the thing about Khameini: none of what he said is wrong. Trump shot himself in the foot with the Iranians by pulling out of the nuclear deal. He only confirmed their view of Americans as untrustworthy back-stabbers.

Here's Trump's response:




Cell Phone

Say hello to the Russia-China operating system

huawei
© dpa / Andrej Sokolow
Google cuts Huawei off Android; so Huawei may migrate to Aurora. Call it mobile Eurasia integration; the evolving Russia-China strategic partnership may be on the verge of spawning its own operating system - and that is not a metaphor.

Aurora is a mobile operating system currently developed by Russian Open Mobile Platform, based in Moscow. It is based on the Sailfish operating system, designed by Finnish technology company Jolla, which featured a batch of Russians in the development team. Quite a few top coders at Google and Apple also come from the former USSR - exponents of a brilliant scientific academy tradition.

In 2014, Russian entrepreneur Grigory Berezkin started co-owning Jolla, and from 2016 his Mobile Platform company started developing a Russian version of the operating system. In 2018, Rostelecom, a state company, bought a 75% share in Open Mobile Platform.

Arrow Down

Collective punishment: Israel introduces maritime fishing blockade on Gaza - because 'arson balloons'

Palestinian fishermen Gaza Strip
© AFPPalestinian fishermen fix nets on a boat as they start fishing off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Despite the signed agreements between Palestinians and Israel, which allow fishermen to go 12 nautical miles inside the Mediterranean Sea, Israeli navy targets Gaza fishermen almost daily and does not allow them to go further than three nautical miles, which the fishermen say is not enough to catch fish.
Israel has introduced a blockade in the waters of the Gaza Strip for Palestinian fishermen in the wake of the recent arson balloon launches from the Palestinian enclave into the Israeli territory, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman, Avichay Adraee, has said.

"In the light of the continued fires and arson balloons from the Gaza Strip toward Israel tonight, we have decided to introduce a maritime blockade on the Gaza Strip until further notice," Adraee wrote on Twitter late on Wednesday.

Late in May, the IDF said it expanded the Gaza fishing zone back to 15 nautical miles from the restriction of 10 nautical miles imposed in the wake of the recent escalation of tensions in the area. Israel has explained that its move was aimed at preventing the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the enclave. However, Israeli media reported on Wednesday, about at least six fires caused by incendiary balloons, launched by Palestinians, in the south of Israel. Moreover, a bomb attached to a balloon reportedly exploded over an Israeli town.

The situation on the Gaza-Israeli border escalated in May when the sides engaged in deadly clashes. Though the tensions have been settled, the long-term conflict between Israeli and Palestinians remains unresolved for decades.

Comment: Were the balloons launched from fishing vessels? No. The choice of the IDF to block access to the water is simply collective punishment. Some individuals reportedly launched some 'arson balloons', and so the entire Gaza Strip gets punished. That's how Israel metes out justice.


Rocket

Turkish FM rejects US demand to drop Russian S-400 deal - again - 'Nobody can give ultimatum'

Russian S-400 system
© Sputnik / Vitaliy Ankov
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu rejected the US defense secretary's demand that Ankara cancel the purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems, despite threats it would be pulled from the F-35 fighter jet program.

"We reject the wording [of] the letter [by acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan] to our defense minister. Nobody can give an ultimatum to Turkey," Cavusoglu stated on Thursday, echoing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's earlier comments that the sale was already a done deal.

Taking note of Washington's concerns, Turkey has proposed measures to investigate whether or not the purchase of the Russian missile systems would actually pose a danger to NATO produced F-35s, including a joint working group with the US to study the issue. The US has so far snubbed the proposal.

Cavusoglu argued that even though President Trump himself was open to the idea, it had been shut down by other "institutions" within his administration.

Comment: See also:


Chess

Putin sets the table to leave the dollar behind

putin
This is twice that Russian President Putin has said on the global stage the Federal Reserve Note no longer deserves the status and privilege of "world reserve currency" that allows unlimited printing of the currency. The first time he made mention he actually said that it was a threat to Russia's national security.

In a speech at the International Economic Forum, in St. Petersburg, Russia, "Russian Davos", President Putin reaffirmed his position regarding the Federal Reserve Note and it's international role. For the record, we see the abuse of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Reserve Note, U.S. dollar, in similar light as President Putin. The current status of "world reserve currency" should not be allowed in this day and time. The absolute abuse of power, excessive power granted and the ability to shackle entire nations through the use of a currency that is not even their own should have never been allowed but it is way past time for this system to be dissolved.
In a speech at a plenary session, Mr Putin accused Washington of seeking to "extend its jurisdiction to the whole world."

"But this model not only contradicts the logic of normal international communication. The main thing is, it does not serve the interests of the future."

Briefcase

Michael Flynn hires Sidney Powell. Mueller 'pit bull' Weissmann meets his match, again

defense attorney Sidney Powell Flynn
Defense attorney Sidney Powell will now be representing Michael Flynn
Embattled Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has hired well known defense attorney Sidney Powell to represent him before his sentencing hearing in Washington D.C.'s federal court. Flynn, who fired his attorneys last week, will still fully cooperate with the government in all cases pending, Powell told SaraACarter.com.

Flynn's former legal counsel Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony offered no explanation for their abrupt dismissal telling SaraACarter.com they "decline to comment."

"He is and will continue to cooperate with the government in all aspects," Powell told SaraACarter.com. "He and his family truly appreciate all the cards and letters of support from countless people and the contributions to the defense fund which are even more important now."

Powell noted that Flynn's case file, "is massive" and "it will take me at least 90 days to review it."

Comment: More from Talking Points Memo:
While Flynn may still be planning to cooperate with prosecutors, his choice of Powell suggests he may be taking a more combative posture as he waits to be sentenced. Powell, who has had appearances on Fox News, has been highly critical of special counsel Robert Mueller and the other Justice Department officials involved in the Russia investigation.

Powell, who claims to be an advisor for the pro-Trump group America First, has previously accused Mueller of obstructing justice and of withholding evidence that would exonerate Flynn.

"I'd bet he will realize later he needs new lawyers," she tweeted in March.
[...]
Legal experts have said it would be "suicidal" for Flynn to escalate any attacks on the FBI while he awaits his sentence. Yet he has hired a lawyer who has done just that, in punditry on Twitter and on television.

As recently as this month, she called Mueller "divisive" and said he shouldn't have been appointed.

In February, she claimed that the "entire Russia collusion narrative was made up" and that "the FBI and the intelligence community and the Department of Justice began an investigation against four American citizens simply because they worked for the opposition political candidate, that being Donald Trump.

Her anti-Mueller punditry once was touted by Trump on Twitter.


Her website calls the tweet an "endorsement."

Her commentary has focused specifically on Flynn's case and claims that he did not commit the crimes he pleaded guilty to.


"Like many others, including a disproportionate number of young minority men who have no resources whatsoever, that does not mean that he did anything wrong," she wrote in December. "All it means is that he - like so many others - saw no other way out."

She also called Flynn "the quintessential example of why the innocent plead guilty" and last year, she recommended that Flynn withdraw his guilty plea.

Powell is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, an obscure right-wing foreign policy think tank founded by the late Herbert London, a former president of the Hudson Institute and father of the stylist and television personality Stacy London.

The London Center fellows and its founder, the Daily Beast reported in 2017, "call for a foreign policy stance somewhere between the neoconservative interventionist tendencies of the Bush administration and non-interventionist backlash to that led by Rand Paul and others."

Powell describes herself on her website as "a former partner in a large regional firm" who has served as "lead counsel in more than 500 appeals" in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She received her law degree from University of North Carolina School of Law - Chapel Hill, and worked as a federal prosecutor in the late 1970s and 1980s in Virginia and Texas.

Her biography touts her work on a $3 billion national class action against Fibreboard Corporation as well as representation of "judges, lawyers, and a prominent Merril [sic] Lynch executive in the Enron litigation."

She recently was also involved briefly on the Steve Stockman case, where the former Texas congressman was convicted for his misuse of funds donated to non-profits he oversaw for personal and campaign-related purposes. Powell represented Stockman pro-bono after his conviction as he sought his release from prison while his appeal was pending.

Powell claimed that it was "highly likely" that the Justice Department "targeted former Congressman Stockman and have been extremely and unreasonably harsh toward him because he was so outspoken in trying to hold Lois Lerner, the Clintons, and Obama accountable."



Arrow Down

Putin says US-Russia relations are getting 'worse and worse'

Putin
President Vladimir Putin said relations between Moscow and Washington were getting worse and worse, noting in an interview published on Thursday that the current U.S. administration had imposed dozens of sanctions on Russia.

Putin made his gloomy assessment ahead of a G20 summit in Japan later this month at which he might meet U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S.-Russia ties remain strained by everything from Syria to Ukraine as well as allegations of Russian interference in U.S. politics, which Moscow denies.