Category: Aggregated

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a Sept. 4 telephone conversation, that reported Russian military activity to support the Assad government in Syria against ISIS could lead to a “confrontation.” According to the State Department read-out,

The London Telegraph takes note of the fact that President Obama met with King Salman of Saudi Arabia in Washington on Sept. 3, and a central topic of discussion was the Syria situation. The two British toadies met, the Telegraph reported, “to repeat their demand that any lasting settlement in Syria would require an end to the Assad regime. It leaves the U.S. and Russia implacably opposed in their visions for Syria.”

Reuters’ coverage similarly noted that there is a “seemingly unbridgeable international divide over President Bashar al- Assad’s future,” and quotes an unnamed senior Russia diplomatic source saying: “Proposals by our partners for the change of regime in Damascus are illegitimate. They only say Assad must go —and then what? I don’t think they have any idea. There used to be no terrorists in Iraq, the same in Libya. And now the Libyan state has fallen apart and the terrorists are roaming there.”

The week just ended has witnessed a dramatic strategic shift as a result of the coordinated actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Those actions prominently include: (a) The impressive Chinese military display during the Victory Day celebration (with Putin standing next to Xi throughout); (b) Putin’s flanking operation in Syria, whose exact nature is still a work-in-progress, but has the Obama White House visibly destabilized; and (c) the Sept. 3-5 Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, which centered on a whole raft of new Russian-Chinese deals, and which Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Morgulov characterized as “a large-scale, giant, long-term strategic task that, I am sure, will reshape the entire Eurasian space when implemented.”

In addition to his Sept. 4 keynote address, Putin met on Sept. 5 with the head of the large Chinese delegation, Vice Premier Wang Yang, in which Putin emphasized the “combat fraternity” of the two countries. Putin began their discussion by again praising China for their Victory Day celebration, “that reminds us of the tragedy of World War II, of the heroism of the Chinese people and our combat fraternity. Today we are facing quite a few tasks and challenges that we can and must tackle jointly.” The Russian President stressed that “cooperation between China and Russia in the Far East looks highly promising and significant.”

“Before military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the Chinese people’s victory in the War of Resistance against Japan and the end of World War II. Putin with President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev (left) and President of China Xi Jinping.” -kremlin.ru

Wang’s response was similarly forceful, noting that Putin’s address to the EEF plenary “greatly enhanced our confidence in our successful cooperation.” He reported that, at the Ufa BRICS summit, Putin had personally invited Xi to send a delegation to the EEF meeting, and that Xi “attaches great importance to this event” and therefore sent his Vice Premier, and “accompanying me are ten government ministers and four governors.” He added that 60 leading Chinese companies were also present, representing revenues exceeding $2 trillion, “which is almost 25% of China’s GDP. I believe that after your address, our Chinese companies will feel more confident in the further successful cooperation” of the two countries.

Along with China, there were a total of 2,500 participants at the EEF. According to Russian media accounts in Tass and Sputnik, the organizers had only expected 1,000 to attend, but 4,000 people tried to register and they could only handle 2,500. There were 32 official foreign delegations, with the largest being China, South Korea, and Japan. From the Russian side, Putin was joined by several ministers and the governors of nine Far Eastern regions. Over 80 contracts were signed worth $19 billion, according to Russian officials.