Vladimir Putin rolls out the red carpet for visit of President Xi Jinping
[UK Independent]
Russian premier gives unprecedented welcome to new Chinese leader as relations thaw
Friday 22 March 2013
China’s new leader began his first overseas trip as president with a much anticipated visit to Russia today – a symbolic trip that underlines China’s desire to ensure its energy supply while showing defiance in the face of US influence in Asia.
A grand reception was held to welcome President Xi Jinping upon his arrival in Moscow, with guards riding on horseback brought out to greet a foreign leader for the first time. Kremlin guards snapped to attention as Mr Xi and his long retinue walked into the gilded, chandeliered Grand Kremlin Palace, where they met members of official delegations in the ornate St George Hall before sitting down for talks.
“China and Russia are the main and most important strategic partners,” Mr Xi told Russian media upon his arrival. He said he was eagerly anticipating his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “In many ways we speak a common language,” he said.
The grand welcome was a clear indication of the importance placed on the visit by Moscow. Russia is one of the world’s biggest energy producers, and China is the top energy consumer. These realities tend to outweigh the traditionally tense relations between the two neighbouring giants, who were bitter rivals during the Soviet era despite their ideological links.
Russia has watched China’s rise with concern, anxious that it might someday threaten its dominance on its eastern borders. But a bigger concern for the Kremlin, one that it shares with China, is blunting US influence in the region. At the start of talks, Mr Putin described the ties between the two countries as an “extremely important factor of global politics.”
Ahead of Mr Xi’s arrival, he said: “We are working together, helping to shape a new, more just world order, ensure peace and security, defend basic principles of international law.”
Mr Xi said that the relations between the two countries are the best ever.
In recent years, the need to counterbalance the growing might of the US has led to the two to set aside some differences. Strong trade links have also smoothed some of the wrinkles in the interim, with bilateral trade soaring to a record £58bn last year.
Beijing and Moscow have taken similar stances on some of the biggest geopolitical issues of recent years, from North Korea to Iran to Syria, often voting in concert to veto punitive sanctions by the UN Security Council.
Many analysts believe their relationship is likely to strengthen, especially as the United States tries to expand its influence in Asia, and both countries are firm in rejecting Western criticism of their human rights records.
The two leaders are expected to discuss Syria and North Korea, but the economy is likely to dominate.
Shortly before Mr Xi arrived in Russia with first lady Peng Liyuan, a £1.3bn deal was announced by Russian and Chinese companies to develop coal resources in eastern Siberia. Russia also sees China as a way to diversify its energy markets away from Europe and it is keen to tie up a potentially enormous gas deal which could eventually see almost 70 billion cubic metres of gas pumped to China annually for the next 30 years.
Mr Xi’s tour continues until March 30 and he will also visit Tanzania, South Africa and the Republic of Congo. In South Africa he will attend the fifth BRICS summit.
The five key emerging economies that make up BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have become an increasingly important channel for China and Russia to counter growing US influence.
BRICS countries hold reserves totalling £3 trillion, most of them held by China, and China now accounts for 20 per cent of Africa’s exports.
China surpassed the US and Europe as Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009 and has maintained its leading place in the years since.
China’s First Lady: A new role model
In China, the big news about Xi Jinping’s first trip as president has not been about energy, investment or BRICS, but rather about his wife Peng Liyuan’s first public appearance as first lady.
Ms Peng is a hugely popular figure in China, indeed, she was probably better known than him until recently, and adored by millions for her stirring renditions of folk tunes in army uniform or ethnic costume.
“Peng Liyuan has a very positive meaning for China. China needs a female role-model. Imagine what would it be like if China had a First Lady like Michelle Obama?” wrote one online fashion commentator.
Since the cult of personality that built up around Chairman Mao Zedong, the Communist Party has sought to avoid making its leaders too personal. Solid, dull technocrats have run the show, and their wives have been even less visible.
Related articles
Voter fraud monitors on high alert for Election Day
[FoxNews.com]
Published November 05, 2012
Nov. 5, 2012: Early voters mark their ballots in Indianapolis. (AP)
With Election Day polls set to open in mere hours, those monitoring the vote for fraud and funny business are already on high alert.
Late last month, the state of Florida raised flags after strange letters started to go out telling voters that their citizenship was being questioned and that voting could expose them to possible jail time.
Then in Ohio, Nevada and other battlegrounds, reports surfaced of voters trying to make their choice for president on touch-screen machines only to see the machine register a different candidate. Typically, they voted for Mitt Romney and the machine marked President Obama.
Among the latest allegations is that NAACP workers showed up at a polling site in Houston “electioneering” for Obama and refused to leave — though the NAACP adamantly denies it.
The incident was detailed by a poll watcher for the group True the Vote. In a written statement, monitor Eve Rockford claimed NAACP representatives arrived at the Houston site Friday afternoon “with probably 50 cases of bottled water” and began handing them out to voters.
This Is a Recap of Mass Islamist Protests Against the U.S. Over Anti-Islam Film
[TheBlaze.com]
- Posted on September 14, 2012 at 11:34am by
Billy Hallowell
Protests in Tunisia (Photo Credit: AP)
Monitoring the massive protests that continue to spread to various cities and localities in the Middle East is a tough task, as the response continues to grow exponentially. Islamists and others who find themselves immensely offended over a now-infamous anti-Muslim film have taken to the streets to target U.S. interests and defend their faith, sometimes using violent means to do so.
TUNISIA
On Friday, protests in the Middle East hit Tunis, Tunisia, where a large cloud of black smoke has risen around the U.S. embassy there. Outside the building, protesters are throwing stones, as police attempt to stop the activity unfolding.
Thousands of demonstrators massed outside the embassy and several were seen climbing the outer wall of the embassy grounds and raising a flag on which was written the Muslim profession of faith, an Associated Press reporter on the scene says. ”There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet,” the flag purportedly read.
UN authorizes 300 Syria cease-fire observers
[FoxNews.com]
Associated Press
Published April 21, 2012
UNITED NATIONS – The Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Saturday expanding the number of U.N. cease-fire observers in Syria from 30 to 300 and demanding an immediate halt to the violence that has been escalating since the government and opposition agreed to end hostilities over a week ago.
The resolution gives Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon authority to decide when to deploy the additional observers, based on developments on the ground including “the consolidation of the cease-fire.” Ban accused Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday of failing to honor the cease-fire, expressing dismay that increased violence is claiming more lives.
The resolution merged rival Russian and European texts and dropped a European threat of non-military sanctions against Syria if it fails to withdraw troops and heavy weapons from towns and cities. Instead, it uses language from the resolution adopted last Saturday authorizing deployment of the 30-strong advance team of observers which expresses the council’s intention to assess implementation of the new resolution “and to consider further steps.”
Israeli Facilities in U.S., Worldwide on High Alert Against Iran
[Newsmax.com]
Friday, 03 Feb 2012 04:10 PM
By Newsmax Wires
Israeli facilities worldwide are on high alert against an attack from Iran, according to an internal security document obtained by ABC News.
“We predict that the threat on our sites around the world will increase … on both our guarded sites and ‘soft’ sites,” read a letter by the head of security for the Consul General for the Mid-Atlantic States, ABC News reported. Guarded sites are government facilities like embassies and consulates; “soft sites” are Jewish synagogues, schools and community centers.
Police and intelligence officials in U.S. and Canadian cities — including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Toronto — have increased patrols at Israeli government locations and Jewish institutions, ABC News reported.
The United States and Israel, meanwhile, are publicly disagreeing over timing for a potential attack on Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons, Bloomberg News reported.
“There’s a growing concern — more than a concern — that the Israelis, in order to protect themselves, might launch a strike without approval, warning or even foreknowledge,” Aaron David Miller, a former Mideast peace negotiator in the Clinton administration, said Friday.
Syrian Violence Spills Over Into Jordan, Leaving At Least 2 Diplomats Hurt in Embassy Attack
[FoxNews.com]
Associated Press
Published December 11, 2011
Reuters – Dec. 9, 2011: Syrians living in Jordan shout slogans during a demonstration against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after Friday prayers in front of the Syrian Embassy in Amman.
BEIRUT – Syrian troops battled army defectors Sunday in clashes that left several military vehicles in flames.
The fighting and other violence around the nation killed at least five people, activists said.
For the first time, an act of violent protest against President Bashar Assad’s regime spilled across the border into Jordan, where about a dozen Syrians attacked their embassy Sunday in the capital, Amman, wounding at least two diplomats and four other consulate employees.
The 9-month-old uprising against Syria’s authoritarian President Bashar Assad has grown increasingly violent in recent months as once-peaceful protesters take up arms and rebel soldiers joining the uprising fight back against the army. The U.N. says more than 4,000 people have been killed since March.
Europe’s Moral Decadence Fuels Spread of Islamic Fundamentalism
[PajamasMedia.com]
The left has done its job well: Norwegian reporters, for fear of being accused of Islamophobia, are now actually loath to remind readers that there is such a thing as Islamic terrorism.
September 19, 2011 – 11:48 am – by Bruce Bawer
On September 15, PJMedia ran a piece by me about the famous Muhammed cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who a couple of days earlier was scheduled to have taken part in a press conference in Oslo, Norway, to celebrate the publication of a new children’s book for which he had drawn the illustrations. Instead of attending the conference, however, Westergaard rushed back to his native Denmark the day before. The reason originally given for his cancellation was that he had taken ill; but it then emerged that there had been concerns about his safety, and that the report of illness was a cover story. Reports were inconsistent: while the Norwegian security police, the PST, claimed that Westergaard himself had made the decision to return to Denmark, Geirr Lystrup, author of the book for which he had done the illustrations, said that the PST had made the call. Meanwhile the nature of the threat that had led to Westergaard’s departure remained murky.
Terror Matriarch Petitions UN
[AtlasShrugs.com]
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Palestinians were offered statehood in 1948 and rejected it. They also rejected numerous other chances to have it, because they’d never recognize Israel’s right to exist. Palestinian Arabs rejected a state in 1948 because they wanted to destroy Israel utterly
The “occupied territories” of Judea and Samaria and Gaza were under Jordanian and Egyptian rule, respectively, from 1948 to 1967. Why did the Palestinians never complain about “occupation” or clamor for a state during that period?
When Israel withdrew from Gaza we were promised that Gaza would be a place where the Palestinians could live freely and peacefully. Instead, it became another jihad base. A Palestinian state will too, since they have never recognized Israel.
Just weeks after Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the annihilationist movement in Israel, against Israel, said, “We will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state,” yet again ratcheting up the threats and the hate.
Libyan Rebels Seize 3 Western Towns From Qaddafi Troops
FoxNews.com
Associated Press
Published June 03, 2011
AP – June 3: A man chants anti-Muammar al-Qaddafi slogans during a protest in the rebel strong hold of Benghazi, Libya.
BENGHAZI, Libya — Libyan rebels forced government troops from three western towns and broke the siege on another, a rebel commander said Friday, and NATO pounded ten targets across the country.
The heavy bombing and rebel victory, plus the first publicized diplomatic contact between China and the rebel leadership, reflect the continued erosion of Muammar al-Qaddafi’s power since the eruption in mid-February of uprisings to end his 42-year rule.
Chicago newspaper calls out Congress over Obama defiance of War Powers Act
HotAir.com
If the War Powers Act becomes moot, don’t blame Barack Obama, say the editors of the Chicago Tribune today. In order to curtail abuses of power from the executive, the legislature not only has to pass laws but also enforce them. And thus far, they’re not impressed with the Washington Way in Chi-town:
Obama is on the horns of a dilemma. As a candidate, he said the president does not have the power to go to war on his own except in cases of actual or likely attack. But if he were to ask Congress to authorize the Libyan intervention, he would probably be rebuffed. So he’s chosen to simply ignore the law.
But ignoring laws is not what presidents promise to do when they are sworn in. Unless Obama wants to make the case that it’s unconstitutional, as some experts think, he should act (belatedly) to follow it or explain why the Libya operations don’t qualify. The latter would be a stretch, but maybe Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to elaborate on his theory that Libya is merely a “limited kinetic action,” not a war.
Still, the fault here is not all Obama’s. He has reason to think a president can get away with taking unilateral military action, since Congress is usually reluctant to object. It’s easier for lawmakers to carp than to take action that involves shouldering responsibility for the ensuing outcome.
With War Powers Act Deadline Looming, Libya Stalemate Continues
FoxNews.com
By Mike Emanuel
Published May 13, 2011
AP2011 – Mahmoud Jibril, representative for foreign affairs with the Libyan Transitional National Council, a political group opposed to the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, listens during a news conference in Washington, Wednesday, May 11. 2011.
As a congressional deadline on military action in Libya looms next Friday, and both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill question the mission, the situation on the ground is at a stalemate two months after the conflict started.
President Obama, through his constitutional authority with the War Powers Act, gave the go-ahead for the Libyan mission, which included military support on a United Nations resolution enforcing a no-fly zone. The administration however does not classify the conflict as a “war.”
Obama Administration Drafts Syria Sanctions, Condemns ‘Appalling’ Crackdown
FoxNews.com
Published April 25, 2011
The Obama administration is stepping up its response to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s deadly crackdown on protesters, preparing what officials describe as “targeted sanctions” against the regime.
Drunkblogging Obama’s Libya Speech
PajamasMedia.com
4:14PM Reporters reportedly chuckled when they were told that the White House wouldn’t make war decisions based on “consistency or precedent.”
Me, I started drinking.
Actually, that’s not true — I waited nearly minutes after taking of Number One Son’s carpool.
4:18PM Shep Smith on Fox just finished savaging the Administration. That’s like having your Border Collie turn on you. This isn’t going to be pretty.
4:21PM “I’m not afraid of planes!” Gaddafi is shouting from the rooftops. Good thing, too — since he’ll probably need to board one for Monaco if he wants to live.
4:24PM Still on Fox. Reagan — what a cowboy. Talking to Congress before launching a war against a tiny country where we have no vital interests. Such nerve.
4:25PM Just switched to CNN. John King is a welcome relief from all that bombast on Fox. And also from charisma.
4:29PM David Gergen is telling us we’re going to be involved for a long time no matter what happens.
Thanks goodness we’re having this debate now, more than a week after initiating hostilities.
4:32PM I’m confused, and it isn’t just the very large vodka-rocks I’m enjoying seconds of.
It’s a major address, but it’s not in prime-time for most of the nation. It’s a war, but the President isn’t addressing Congress. It looks like a press conference, where Obama might announce a worthwhile American initiative. What’s the context here?
Krauthammer: Obama’s “Working On Language That Will Disguise A Failure”
FloppingAces.net
By: Curt March 25, 2011
President Barack Obama is resisting pressure to deliver an Oval Office speech explaining his policy on Libya — in part, because he doesn’t want to equate what he regards as a smaller, time-limited mission with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Administration officials haven’t ruled out a big speech, but Obama is reluctant to make a major address on Libya until the United States hands over most command and combat duties to its allies.
The man who couldn’t walk his dog without giving a speech now doesn’t want to give a speech because this war just isn’t worthy enough. What a leader.
And Krauthammer appears to have the nail on the head with this news just out:
NATO agreed to enforce a Libya no-fly zone on Thursday but fell short of a deal to take full command of military operations, and Western jets failed to stop government tanks re-entering Misrata to besiege its main hospital.
Libya’s government said it was in full control of the western city, with only a few al Qaeda die-hards holding out, though rebels said they continued to resist and accused the authorities of shelling Misrata’s main food mall.
(Video Follows) Agree with Hengler here, Obama is the first President in our history who has refused the title leader of the free world:
Yemeni parliament gives president emergency powers
FoxNews.com
Associated Press
Published March 23, 2011
AP2011 – March 23: Members of the Yemeni parliament raise their hands as they vote in favor of the state of emergency during a session in Sanaa, Yemen.
SANAA, Yemen – Yemen’s parliament enacted sweeping emergency laws Wednesday after the country’s embattled president asked for new powers of arrest, detention and censorship to quash a popular uprising demanding his ouster.
The move escalates the showdown between Ali Abdullah Saleh and the movement that has unified military commanders, religious leaders and protesting youth in demands for his immediate departure.
The state of emergency suspends the constitution, allows media censorship, bars street protests and gives security forces 30 days of far-reaching powers to arrest and detain suspects without judicial process.
Protesters Across U.S. Offer Support to Egyptians
FoxNews.com
Published January 29, 2011
CHICAGO – Thousands of people in Egypt who flooded streets in riots calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down were joined Saturday by relatives and supporters at protests in major American cities.
“Mubarak will go. If not today, then tomorrow,” Magdy Al-Abady, 39, of Chicago, said during a demonstration downtown in front of the Egyptian consulate’s office. The genomics researcher, with an Egyptian flag draped over his shoulders, said his brother and parents were protesting in Egypt and he was speaking often with his brother.
Protesters also gathered outside the United Nations complex in New York City, filled the street in front of the Egyptian embassy in Washington and marched through downtown San Francisco to show solidarity with the uprising. Other cities including Seattle and Los Angeles also saw demonstrations.
Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas Closely Collaborating in Egypt UPDATE: CAIR, CODE PINK Also in Egypt
AtlasShrugs.com
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza. And they are working with the MB in Egypt. This is not surprising, but it is catastrophic. Worse is media outlets running commentary from the Muslim Brotherhood organizations in America, like CAIR earlier today on FOX news. The MB’s stated goal in the West, according to an internal captured document entered into evidence in the largest Hamas funding trial in US history, “is eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.”
RED ALERT: HAMAS AND MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD China Confidential (hat tip van)
The following is a report from a STRATFOR source in Hamas. Hamas, which formed in Gaza as an outgrowth of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), has an interest in exaggerating its role and coordination with the MB in this crisis. The following information has not been confirmed. Nonetheless, there is a great deal of concern building in Israel and the United States in particular over the role of the MB in the demonstrations and whether a political opening will be made for the Islamist organization in Egypt.
(more…)
Obama’s Fantasy World – START Will Make Us Safer
FloppingAces.net
Posted by: Curt @ 4:57 pm, December 23, 2010
This START treaty is bad bad bad….for one very important reason. It reduces our ability to defend ourselves.
Ariel Cohen, a Senior Research Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies at The Heritage Foundation, notes that the Russians have repeatedly stated they have to right to back out of the treaty if the U.S. missile defense systems is deemed a threat to them.
When has it not been a threat?
This constraint on our missile defense system was the main reason this treaty should never have happened:
Washington has agreed to limitations on its ballistic-missile-defense options (something the administration’s representatives vehemently deny); ambiguous language on rail-mobile ballistic missiles; vague limitations on conventional global-strike systems and a significant degradation of the START verification regime from 1991. All these measures limit U.S. defense options not vis-à-vis Russia, but North Korea, China, and in the future, Iran; and provide the Russian Federation’s Strategic Rocket Forces with unfair advantages.
U.N. Security Council Tries to Diffuse Korea Tensions
FoxNews.com | Associated Press
Published December 19, 2010
AP
Dec. 19: A South Korean fishing boat sails by a South Korean navy facility and navy ship near Yeonpyeong island, South Korea.
UNITED NATIONS – World powers trying to defuse tensions between North and South Korea met in an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday, but diplomats said China objects to the North being singled out for criticism over two deadly attacks this year that have helped send relations to their lowest point in decades.
China and Russia, the countries with the closest ties to North Korea, have expressed concern about the South Korean military’s plans to conduct one-day, live-fire drills by Tuesday on the same front-line island the North shelled last month as the South conducted a similar exercise.
The United States supports South Korea, a staunch ally, and says any country has a right to train for self-defense.
The North warned of a “catastrophe” if South Korea goes ahead with the drills. The reclusive communist government in Pyongyang said it would strike back harder than it did last month, when two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed on Yeonpyeong Island.
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