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Speaking at an international forum in China, the Russian leader named terrorism and decades-old regional conflicts among the main threats to global development
All countries need to abandon belligerent rhetoric in order to overcome the stagnation in global development, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday during the One Belt, One Road forum in the Chinese capital Beijing.
Speaking at the international forum, the Russian leader named terrorism and decades-old regional conflicts among the main threats to global development.
© Alexei Druzhinin/Russian president's press service/TASS
Speaking at the international forum, the Russian leader named terrorism and decades-old regional conflicts among the main threats to global development.
© Jim Watson / Odd Andersen / Agence France-Press
There's no proof that Russian officials or Russian agents colluded with members of the Trump campaign.
There's no proof that Russia provided material support of any kind for the Trump campaign or that Russian agents hacked Hillary Clinton's emails or that Russian officials provided Wikileaks with emails that were intended to sabotage Hillary's chances to win the election.
So far, no one in any of the 17 US intelligence agencies has stepped forward and verified the claims of Russian meddling or produced a scintilla of hard evidence that Russia was in anyway involved in the 2016 elections.
No proof means no proof. It means that the people and organizations that are making these uncorroborated claims have no basis for legal action, no presumption of wrongdoing, and no grounds for prosecution. They have nothing. Zilch. Their claims, charges and accusations are like the soap bubbles we give to our children and grandchildren. The brightly-colored bubbles wobble across the sky for a minute or two and then, Poof, they vanish into the ether. The claims of Russia hacking are like these bubbles. They are empty, unsubstantiated rumors completely devoid of substance. Poof.
© Global Look PressMeeting by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President of the United States of America Donald Trump, Washington, US, May 10, 2017.
Within the Neoconservative ideology that holds sway over the American political establishment, it is axiomatic that democratic countries are peace-loving because they truly reflect in policy the peaceful and business-like mentality of the broad population. By contrast, authoritarian regimes are warlike because they are inherently unstable, lacking as they do genuine grass-roots support, and must resort to external aggression or threats of violence abroad to keep their people in line. Authoritarian regimes should be brought down one way or another if we are to enjoy global peace. So the story goes.
The actions of the Trump administration over the past several weeks show beyond any doubt that democracies can and do use external aggression or threats of violence abroad precisely to resolve domestic political wrangling. This is all the more true when policy is being advised by the master Realist, Henry Kissinger, who has great depth of experience in the trade-offs we will now examine.
© KCNA / Reuters
North Korea's alleged ballistic missile test is the country's first since South Korea elected Moon Jae-in as their new president. Saturday's launch follows two previous failed attempts last month. The reported launch comes amid rising tensions in the region and a US military buildup in response to the North Korean nuclear and ballistic threat. In an attempt to deter Pyongyang from more nuclear and missile tests, the US has sent a group of American warships, led by an aircraft carrier, to the region while conducting war games with their regional allies. Last month, Washington also positioned elements of the THAAD anti-missile system on the Peninsula.
Comment: North Korea has repeatedly asked the US to engage in bilateral talks, to cool off the ever-escalating tension. The offer was flatly rejected by both Obama and Trump. The neocons and the Deep State insist Kim Jong-un is irrational, and therefore you cannot negotiate with him.. The same could be said of those running U.S. foreign policy.
See also:
- Guess who's number one? Ten countries more threatening to world peace than North Korea
- US seriously underestimating North Korea: Why rapprochement is the only solution
© Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty ImagesA wall of reunification banners on the fence of Freedom Bridge in Paju near the DMZ separating North and South Korea.
The election of pro-engagement Moon Jae-in ushers in a new era in North-South relations and makes these questions pertinent again. Moon is expected to resume the long delayed project of inter-Korean cooperation toward reconciliation and peaceful reunification—which began in 2000 after the historic summit between former leaders Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il and was resumed by the late President Roh Moo-hyun before it was halted by the subsequent conservative administrations of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.
Permanent peace on the Korean peninsula requires a settlement of the ongoing state of war between the United States and North Korea by replacing the armistice (a temporary ceasefire) signed after the Korean War with a permanent peace treaty.
But it's never too soon to start imagining what a reunified Korea might look like. Dr. Moon J Pak, a long-time proponent of peaceful reunification, shares his vision:
Comment: One man's vision...sometimes it only takes one.
© Chappatte/sc6.blogspot.com
Choe Son Hui, North Korea's foreign ministry director general for U.S. affairs, made the comment to reporters in Beijing as she was traveling home from Norway, Yonhap said. "We'll have dialogue if the conditions are there," she told reporters when asked if the North was preparing to hold talks with the Trump administration, according to Yonhap.
When asked if North Korea was also getting ready to talk with the new government in South Korea, of liberal President Moon Jae-in, Choe said: "We'll see." The comments by Choe, who is a veteran member of the North's team of nuclear negotiators, came amid stepped up international efforts to press North Korea and ease tension over its pursuit of nuclear arms.
U.S. President Donald Trump warned in an interview with Reuters in late April that a "major, major conflict" with the North was possible, but he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the dispute over its nuclear and missile programs. Trump later said he would be "honored" to meet the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, under the right conditions.
Comment: Catch-44: NK needs nuclear weapons to defend against US aggression for NK developing nuclear weapons. US needs aggression against NK developing nuclear weapons to thwart US aggression. Perhaps diplomacy and a couple of therapists?
© Pars Today/Gulf TimesPrime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj • General Khalifa Hifter (Haftar)
On April 20, US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni held a joint press conference in Washington. The American leader stated that the only US role in the region is "getting rid of ISIS [the Islamic State]."
Trump's statement, to some extent, threw light on America's strategy and confirmed that the administration is reluctant to adopt a hands-on role in Libya. In fact, he seemed to be delegating the responsibility for conflict settlement to regional and, above all, European players.
Libya has been politically and militarily ruptured since President Moammar Gadhafi was ousted and killed in 2011. IS has taken advantage of the chaos, capturing some coastal cities. Meanwhile, two rival governments are struggling for power: that of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj in Tobruk, and that of Tripoli in the east under the military control of Gen. Khalifa Hifter [Haftar]. Sarraj is backed by the United Nations and, at least nominally, the Misrata Brigades. Hifter has the support of Russia, Egypt, France, the United Arab Emirates and the Libyan National Army.
Efforts to bring the two sides together have produced very mixed results.
Comment: Some confusion: Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj leads the Government of National Accord in Tripoli. General Khalifa Hifter (Haftar) is head of the Libyan National Army (LNA) affiliated with the House of Representatives in Tobruk, Eastern Libya. Russia advocates he must have a role in the leadership of Libya.
Comment: At the center of a wheel of strategy and fortune, Russia has, at this point in time, the ability to bring everyone to the table, utilize the strengths of each player and finesse a path forward for Libya. A juncture.
© freethoughtproject.com
Others proposed more ambitious plans for the newly headless Federal Bureau of Investigation — perhaps, Dr. Ron Paul posited, the entire bureau should be disbanded.
Lamenting the degree to which Comey's termination has been politicized by media pundits and Washington pols, Paul implored the need for critical thinking on the matter, asking the nation to consider several imperatives.
"What is the purpose of the FBI? And are they fulfilling a purpose?" Dr. Paul rhetorically asks Daniel McAdams for the Liberty Report. Further, is it possible Comey had already politicized the position of FBI director, well before Trump harkened back to his days as a reality TV host to tell the head spook, 'You're fired'?
Further still, is the existence of an organization "investigating and spying on everybody" in the country even necessary — let alone, justifiable?
Comment: The public has to know the facts, be abhorred by them and react in its own favor. This action-reaction has been almost bred out of the citizenry. Those who still remember that their 'rights' are important are now branded as the enemy to America and all mankind. Upside down and inside out. How tyranny works and thrives.
Comment: The only thing Russia's 'interfered with' has been the US destroying foreign countries