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Lavrov disapproves 'NATO-centric' approach to crises, but extends hand to US on nuclear treaty

Tyler Durden
Aero Hedge
Sat, 16 Feb 2019 15:35 UTC
Lavrov MSC
© ReutersRussian FM Sergey Lavrov at the Munich Security Conference
The annual Munich Security Conference, a Cold War era trans-Atlantic focused meeting to address severe military challenges, but which has over the years grown to include nations from around the world addressing pressing security issues, kicked off late this week on a pessimistic note. "The whole liberal world order appears to be falling apart," Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, wrote in an essay introducing the conference. "We are experiencing an epochal shift; an era is ending, and the rough outlines of a new political age are only beginning to emerge." And on Saturday German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of a "disintegration of international political structures" while stressing the importance of NATO as "an anchor of stability on a stormy sea".

But concerning this "disintegration" the conference has already included a significant overture made by the Russian representative hoping to open the door to negotiations with the United States over the future of now shaky arms treaties between the two countries following the historic US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) within the last month. In the tit-for-tat accusations and lashing out that followed at the beginning of February, Putin alarmingly accused Washington of also imperiling in the long term the landmark New START treaty, signed in 2010 and set to expire in 2021. It aims to reduce the total number of strategic nuclear missile launchers by half.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, according to TASS:
President Putin has repeatedly said that we are ready to launch the talks on extension of the New START. It only expires in 2021, though time flies fast, and we have suggested to the US that such discussions be launched, considering the necessity to clear up certain issues that we are worried about.

Comment: More from RT:
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov says European project [is] failing to provide security and prosperity for continent, while EU wastes its energies on confronting Russia to please Washington.

"A unified Europe still hasn't been built," Sergey Lavrov said in his keynote address at the Munich Security Conference. "Everyday issues - from eradicating terrorism, to providing steady economic growth - have not been addressed with adequate solutions." Instead, the Russian diplomat said that Europe has been happy to play "follower" to Washington's "leader" all while pursuing a "NATO-centric" foreign policy.

"While Europeans have let themselves be dragged into a pointless standoff with Russia, losing billions on sanctions imposed on them from across the Atlantic, the world has continued changing," said Lavrov, in reference to the measures applied to Russia over Crimea and Ukraine since 2014.

In order to stop from falling behind, the European house needs a major renovation. In a practical sense the EU has lost its monopoly on the regional integration agenda. The balance of power across the region is changing, primarily due to the rising powers in the Asia Pacific."

Lavrov said that as part of this new configuration, which includes China's One Belt-One Road project, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a notable role is being played by the Eurasian Economic Union, which has strengthened ties between five former Soviet republics, including Russia.

But Lavrov insisted that "despite widespread speculation" among Western politicians and media outlets, Moscow is not interested in undermining the European Union.

"We are interested in a strong, independent, and open European Union," adding that EU's striving for independence in the sphere of defense in the form of an EU army, is a "natural and positive development for the strengthening of a multipolar world. To what extent Europe will be allowed to achieve its aims, is another question," Lavrov added.


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Snakes in Suits

Flashback Bolton's sordid history of tirades and dirty tricks

Daniel R. Depetris
The American Conservative
Wed, 28 Mar 2018 15:04 UTC
Bolton
© Gage Skidmore/Fikr/Creative Commons
If he doesn't check these worst impulses at the door, we're in more trouble than we think.

It has been about four days since President Donald Trump appointed former U.S. ambassador John Bolton to be his next national security adviser, and the reactions have ranged all over the map. Fellow uber-hawks like Senators Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton are charged up about Bolton joining Trump's national security team, while the rest of us are heading to church and praying that the rapture won't come early. For those in the a realist persuasion who prize diplomacy as a preeminent foreign policy tool rather than a form of appeasement, it's hard to find anyone who would be as terrifying in the Situation Room as Bolton. What's next? Another stint for Dick Cheney as secretary of defense?

As dangerous as Bolton's foreign policy views are - which, if one were to sum them up, consist of bombing any adversary callous enough not to succumb to America's wishes - his cutthroat, take-no-prisoners approach to policymaking should be just as nerve-wracking. With experience across three administrations, Bolton's bureaucratic chops are as ruthless as his mustache is bushy. He takes the national security bureaucracy by the horns and is not afraid to play dirty.

Comment: Bolton Cringe Factor: the demise of diplomacy

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Attention

Two Trump cabinet officials were set to support 25th Amendment Coup, Rosenstein tallied votes

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 04:00 UTC
RosesteinMcCabe
© ReutersDep. Atty Rod Rosenstein • Fmr Dir. FBI Andrew McCabe
Two Trump Cabinet officials were "ready to support" a DOJ scheme to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump, according to Bloomberg and Fox News, citing closed-door testimony from the FBI's former top lawyer, James Baker - who said that the claim came from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The testimony was delivered last fall to the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. Fox News has confirmed portions of the transcript. It provides additional insight into discussions that have returned to the spotlight in Washington as fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe revisits the matter during interviews promoting his forthcoming book. -Fox News
While Baker did not identify the two Cabinet officials, he says that McCabe and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page approached him to relay their conversations with Rosenstein, including their discussions of the 25th Amendment scheme. Baker told the Congressional committees:
"I was being told by some combination of Andy McCabe and Lisa Page, that, in a conversation with the Deputy Attorney General, he had stated that he -- this was what was related to me -- that he had at least two members of the president's Cabinet who were ready to support, I guess you would call it, an action under the 25th Amendment."
The 25th Amendment allows for the removal of a sitting president from office through various mechanisms - including the majority of a president's Cabinet agreeing that the commander-in-chief is incapable of performing his duties.

Rosenstein - who is slated to leave the Justice Department in the near future, has denied the claims.

Comment: See also: New revelations? Eight days in May and the intrigue to remove Trump

More from Zero Hedge 2/18/2019:
Clearly displeased with McCabe's revelations, Trump lashed out at again on Twitter, accusing him of telling a "deranged" story and plotting "a very illegal act".

Trump added that McCabe has "a lot of explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president who they really like". He added that this was "the illegal and treasonous" insurance policy "in action..."


...Before doubling down on accusations that McCabe and Rosenstein participated in an "illegal coup attempt."

Readers can watch the full interview here.


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Stop

Poland nixes 'Visegrad' summit in Jerusalem after Israeli Foreign Minister goes full racist: "Every Pole suckled anti-Semitism with his mother's milk"


NBC News
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 08:09 UTC
Morawiecki,Netanyahu
© Kacper Pempel/ReutersPolish PM Morawiecki • Israeli PM Netanyahu
The developments mark a new low in a dispute between the countries over how to remember and characterize Polish actions toward Jews during World War II.

Poland's prime minister canceled plans for his country to send a delegation to meeting in Jerusalem on Monday after the acting Israeli foreign minister said that Poles "collaborated with the Nazis" and "sucked anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk."

The Polish pullout triggered the collapse of a planned summit of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu with leaders of four Central European nations known as the Visegrad group.

With the Hungarian and Slovak prime ministers already in Israel, bilateral meetings will take place instead, according to announcements by Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babis and Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon.

Netanyahu had touted the meeting as an important step in his outreach to the countries of Central Europe, which have pro-Israeli governments that he is counting on to counter the criticism Israel typically faces in international forums.

Comment: Wow, that escalated fast.

A word of advice to Jews: you might want to ditch Netanyahu before something awful happens.

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Stock Down

Former Ukraine PM: 'Poroshenko should resign', claims FBI investigating IMF cash embezzlement


FRN
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 18:12 UTC
Azarov/Poroshenko
© meme-arsenal.com/president.cov.uaFormer PM Azarov • PM Poroshenko
Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov said that the FBI is investigating the embezzlement of credit funds in Ukraine.

Azarov said in an interview with the TV channel "112 Ukraine":
"For the past year, for example, they pulled out three billion dollars from the country. Where did I get this information from? I figured it out? No, I didn't think it out, I took information from the NBU (the National Bank of Ukraine - ed.), I looked at the current account and calmly calculated: it turns out Ukraine borrowed two billion of some credit resources from the IMF (International Monetary Fund - ed.) and a billion at the World Bank - three, and brought 3.5 billion. Where did it go? Offshore."
According to Azarov, according to his data, foreign creditors are concerned about this and are checking.
"Foreign partners have repeatedly made a remark to the Kiev regime and warned: guys, be careful with the money that we give you. And I know that the investigation is underway, now the Federal Bureau of Investigation is doing this ..."
Azarov has called on Poroshenko to resign. Additionally, he has commented that Yanukovich dealt with Maidan protesters 'too lightly' resulting in the inability to use the Berkut security forces to safeguard the Ukrainian state from the U.S backed coup in 2014.

Comment: More on Ukraine's ongoing corruption and financial problems, see also:

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Arrow Up

UN phase 1, Yemeni talks: Parties reach agreement on forces redeployment


Sputnik
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 05:21 UTC
Griffith
© Arab NewsMartin Griffith, UN special envoy for Yemen
Representatives of the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels from the Ansar Allah movement made significant progress in the talks, agreeing on the first phase of redeploying military forces during the fourth joint meeting on February 16-17, the press office of the UN Secretary-General said in a statement on Sunday.

"After lengthy but constructive discussions facilitated by the RCC [Redeployment Coordination Committee] Chair, the parties reached an agreement on Phase 1 of the mutual redeployment of forces", the statement says.

The parties have also reached some agreements on the second phase of forces' redeployment, it added. "The next RCC is expected to convene within a week with the aim to finalize an agreement on Phase 2", the statement says.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Israel evicts Palestinian family in Jerusalem's Old City and replaces them with settlers

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 20:43 UTC
Abu Asab family
© Quds News Network, FacebookA member of the Abu Asab family weeps as he is forcibly evicted from his home and arrested by Israeli policed
Israeli police forcibly evicted a Palestinian family from their home in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, immediately replacing them with a group of Israeli settlers.

The Abu Asab family, who live in the Muslim Quarter of the city, had been handed an eviction notice by the Israeli Supreme Court, ordering them to vacate the property by February 28th.

The court ruled that Jewish settlers were the "rightful owners" of the property under the pretext that Jewish residents lived in the home pre-1948.

Video footage of the eviction shows Israeli forces shoving and assaulting members of the Abu Asab family as they removed them from the home.
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Chess

Netanyahu steps down as Israel's foreign minister

Dan Williams
Reuters
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 19:44 UTC
Netanyahu
© Reuters/Ronen ZvulunIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday handed over his role as foreign minister to intelligence minister Israel Katz, giving up the portfolio he has held since 2015.

Netanyahu's decision to appoint Katz as acting foreign minister came after an advocacy group, the Movement for Quality Government, went to court to press the prime minister to stop serving as foreign minister as well.

Government officials said Katz, who will remain intelligence minister and also serves as transport minister, will hold the foreign affairs portfolio through the upcoming parliamentary election on April 9. Katz is a member of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party.

Comment: Here's a few more details that may be playing a part in Netanyahu stepping down:

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Megaphone

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard defends WikiLeaks: It 'spurred some necessary change'

Gabriella Muñoz
The Washington Times
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 19:15 UTC
tulsi
© Steven Senne
Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a 2020 presidential hopeful, defended WikiLeaks Saturday night, saying the information released by the organization brought "necessary change."

The Hawaii congresswoman was fielding questions at a meet-and-greet in Concord, New Hampshire, over the weekend when she was asked about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

"Obviously, the information that has been put out has exposed a lot of things that have been happening that the American people were not aware of and have spurred some necessary change there," she told the crowd.
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Gold Bar

Gold thieves: It's not just Venezuela - Australia's gold is under lock-and-key in London


RT
Mon, 18 Feb 2019 19:11 UTC
queen elizabeth
© Reuters / Eddie Mulholland
Geopolitical and trade tensions along with US sanctions have shaken trust in the US dollar over recent years. As a result, a number of global central banks have been boosting their national reserves of gold bullion.

In 2018, world central banks added 651.5 tons to official gold reserves, as a greater pool of regulators turned to the precious metal as a diversifier, according to data released by the World Gold Council. Some countries, like Russia and Turkey increased their gold reserves while dumping US dollar holdings at the same time. India, China, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Poland and Hungary were among the other big purchasers of the yellow metal.

Net sales of gold from central banks reportedly remained insignificant, totaling less than 15 tons with Australia, Germany, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Ukraine accounting for almost the entire figure.

While some countries opt to hold their bullion reserves domestically, others still trust their precious reserves to the central banks of other nations. Vaults in Paris, New York and London have become popular gold storages for many developing countries.


Comment: That's a polite way of saying they were strong-armed (or simply pilfered) into handing over their gold to Western banking cartels in exchange for 'aid', 'advice' and 'protection'.

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