President Xi Jinping Has a Video Call with US President Joe Biden | 2022-03-19 |

On the evening of 18 March, President Xi Jinping had a video call with US President Joe Biden at the request of the latter. The two Presidents had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on China-US relations, the situation in Ukraine, and other issues of mutual interest.

President Biden said that 50 years ago, the US and China made the important choice of issuing the Shanghai Communiqué. Fifty years on, the US-China relationship has once again come to a critical time. How this relationship develops will shape the world in the 21st century. Biden reiterated that the US does not seek a new Cold War with China; it does not aim to change China's system; the revitalization of its alliances is not targeted at China; the US does not support "Taiwan independence"; and it has no intention to seek a conflict with China. The US is ready to have candid dialogue and closer cooperation with China, stay committed to the one-China policy, and effectively manage competition and disagreements to ensure the steady growth of the relationship. President Biden expressed readiness to stay in close touch with President Xi to set the direction for the US-China relationship.

President Xi noted the new major developments in the international landscape since their first virtual meeting last November. The prevailing trend of peace and development is facing serious challenges. The world is neither tranquil nor stable. As permanent members of the UN Security Council and the world's two leading economies, China and the US must not only guide their relations forward along the right track, but also shoulder their share of international responsibilities and work for world peace and tranquility.

President Xi stressed that he and President Biden share the view that China and the US need to respect each other, coexist in peace and avoid confrontation, and that the two sides should increase communication and dialogue at all levels and in all fields. President Biden has just reiterated that the US does not seek to have a new Cold War with China, to change China's system, or to revitalize alliances against China, and that the US does not support "Taiwan independence" or intend to seek a conflict with China. "I take these remarks very seriously," said President Xi.

President Xi pointed out that the China-US relationship, instead of getting out of the predicament created by the previous US administration, has encountered a growing number of challenges. What's worth noting in particular is that some people in the US have sent a wrong signal to "Taiwan independence" forces. This is very dangerous. Mishandling of the Taiwan question will have a disruptive impact on the bilateral ties. China hopes that the US will give due attention to this issue.

The direct cause for the current situation in the China-US relationship is that some people on the US side have not followed through on the important common understanding reached by the two Presidents and have not acted on President Biden's positive statements. The US has misperceived and miscalculated China's strategic intention.

Qin Gang: Standing up for the One-China Principle is a Correct Choice that Follows International Justice and Meets the Trend of the Times | 2023-03-26 |

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China's FM Wang Yi accuses the US of 'bullying' in a call with Secretary of State Antony Blinken [_link] pic.twitter.com/rZ6rlQNRdQ

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 23, 2022

Just met with the PRC's top diplomat, Wang Yi. I condemned the incursion of the PRC surveillance balloon and stressed it must never happen again. I warned China against providing materiel support to Russia. I also emphasized the importance of keeping open lines of communication.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 18, 2023

Just as China is making journeys for peace, the US has announced another $350 million of weaponry to Ukraine. There's little question as to who's fueling the conflict and who's promoting talks for peace. pic.twitter.com/iChtD5UqnY

— Spokesperson发言人办公室 (@MFA_China) March 23, 2023

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan vowed there would be "real costs" for China if the country went forward with providing lethal aid to Russia in its war on Ukraine. [_link]

— CNN (@CNN) February 26, 2023

Divide and rule is the eternal law of Empire | Consortium News |

Above all, don't let other big guys get together. Keep them at each other's throats.  Half a century ago, stuck in the unwinnable Vietnam war, President Richard M. Nixon heeded Henry Kissinger's advice to open relations with Beijing in order to deepen the split between the Soviet Union and China.

But which big guys, and when? Priorities have evidently shifted. Eight years ago, America's most influential, private geostrategic analyst, George Friedman, defined the current dominant U.S. divide et impera priority, at work in Ukraine.

"The primordial interest of the United States is the relationship between Germany and Russia, because united, they're the only force that could threaten us," Friedman explained. 

Russia's main interest has always been to have a neutral buffer zone in Eastern Europe. But the U.S. purpose is to build a hostile cordon sanitaire from the Baltic to the Black Sea, as a definitive barrier separating Russia from Germany.

"Russia knows it. Russia believes the United States intends to break the Russian Federation," said Friedman, jokingly adding that he thought the intention was not to kill Russia but only to make it suffer.

Ignoring German polls and risk of escalation, US has convinced Germany to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine. This is a victory for what Stratfor founder George Friedman described in 2015 as the US "primordial interest": severing "the relationship between Germany and Russia." pic.twitter.com/VaSyRnylOX

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) January 24, 2023

What the U.S. has long dreaded, said Friedman, is the combination of German capital and technology with Russian resources and labor.  The Nord Stream pipeline was leading in that direction, toward mutual trade and security arrangements that would no long require either the dollar or NATO.

"For Russia," said Friedman, "the status of Ukraine is an existential threat. And the Russians cannot afford to let it go."  For the United States, however, it is a means to an end: separating Russia from Germany.

• Europe's Frontier: A Rusted Iron Curtain | Jan. 7, 2018 |
• Kerry Preaching Policy Contra Russia @Atlantic Council | May 2014 |

A good read ...

Russia and the Security of Europe | Carnegie - June 2016 |

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• President Xi Jinping Meets with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia | Dec. 9, 2022 |
• Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Receives President of the People's Republic of China in Presence of HRH the Crown Prince.. and Co-sign Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between the Kingdom and China | Saudi Press Agency |

Prince Bandar the bull$hitter with George sitting on his lap ...

الأمير بندر بن سلطان :
70% من وقتي كان لخدمة فلسطين والقضية الفلسطينية أثناء عملي سفير للسعودية في واشنطن لمدة 23 عام .
---- pic.twitter.com/GEztsoVR17

— حسين الغاوي (@halgawi) February 2, 2023

Translation:
Prince Bandar bin Sultan: "70% of my time was spent serving Palestine and the Palestinian cause during my work as Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington for 23 years"

Prince Bandar led the cut-throats affiliates of Al Qaeda in Syria to overthrow the Assad regime in a joint campaign with the United States.

The Butcher of Christians and Shiites Speaks Out | Jan. 29, 2019 |

Of course on a platform given to Prince Bandar by the Jerusalem Post. Israel, a new and reliable ally of an autocratic Saudi Arabia. What a bs in the Israeli media. Gets me pretty mad this morning ...

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Saudi cabinet approves decision at a meeting chaired by King Salman to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a "dialogue partner".

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Saudi Arabia has joined China-led security bloc Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). @SALHACHIMI, Managing Director of the International Interest explains what it means for Beijing and Riyadh. #China #SaudiArabia #SCO #Shanghai pic.twitter.com/rN4w8Bi3vt

— CGTN Europe (@CGTNEurope) March 29, 2023

Following in Iran's footsteps, Saudi Arabia agrees to join SCO

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an all-eastern cooperation bloc created 22 years ago by Russia, China and several Central Asian states

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The amplification and spillover effect of China's mediation between the two countries has been remarkable over the past month, showing that the diplomatic philosophy advocated and practiced by China is being recognized worldwide: experts [_link]

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) April 6, 2023

China is aligning with some of the most powerful countries in the world and turning them against America while our leaders are focused on climate change and transgenderism pic.twitter.com/V2fUpAkwrN

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 30, 2023

Alarms blinking: "HOUSTON ... we have a problem!" 😡

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Air Force secretary says he's seen nothing 'more disturbing' in 50-year career than this move by China [_link] #FoxNews

— Daniel Hoffman (@danielhoffmanDC) March 29, 2023

"Now there are changes that haven't happened in 100 years. When we are together, we drive these changes."

Fu Cong is quite correct.

AIVD publication 16-06-2022

Dutch intelligence AIVD [close alliance with Mossad, GCHQ, NSA] prevented a Russian intelligence officer from gaining access as an intern to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.  

...  the intelligence officer was refused entry into the Netherlands in April and declared unacceptable. He was sent back to Brazil on the first flight out.

The ICC has also been informed of this case.

The Dutch have been leading in the NATO hybrid warfare against Russia for a decade. Nonetheless, Dutch Gasunie/Shell partnered with Germany in the investment of Gazprom's Nord Stream pipelines.

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Por que o governo esconde o caso do espião russo preso no Brasil | July 2, 2022 |

The Planalto Palace issued a gag order for the investigation and intelligence bodies involved in the arrest of Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, a Russian citizen arrested by the Federal Police and appointed by the Dutch intelligence service as a spy in the service of the Vladimir Putin regime.

IMO after serving some time, Cherkasov will be sent on a direct flight to Moscow.

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The Unraveling of Russian Spies | The Cipher Brief by Walter Pincus |

The Putin ceremony caught my eye because back in summer 2010, with the arrests and deportation of 10 Russian "sleeper" agents, I wrote in The Washington Post, "The Russians have used `illegals' in their espionage activities since the October 1917 revolution.

[...]
Russian press would later publish that the passport he obtained in Ukraine was in the name of Victor Dudochkin, a Russian citizen. When questioned, Dudochkin recalled that a year earlier he had turned his passport over to the US Embassy in Moscow when seeking a visa to visit the US. In a story, Russian officials speculated that CIA officers at the Embassy copied Dudochkin's passport and used it later to facilitate Alexander Poteyev's leaving the country.

As with the 2010 SVR illegals, it is apparent some cooperating intelligence agencies had knowledge of Cherkasov's activities.

Some reports indicate he had attended Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland from 2014 to 2018 where, according to the Irish website Latest News, "J2, known as the Irish Military Intelligence Service abroad, have been assisting international partners for a long time on this one."

He then moved to Washington, D.C. from 2018 to 2020 where he got a Master's Degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). A SAIS professor wrote a recommendation letter for the ICC job.

Cherkasov's story is far from over. A Brazilian website, brazil.postsen.com, on July 2 published a story headlined, Why the government hides the case of the Russian spy arrested in Brazil, in which it pointed out the close relationship between Putin and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

The story also said, "General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro, head of the Institutional Security Office of the Presidency, under which the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) is located, ordered that all information [about the Cherkasov case] be treated as secret."

It is another spy story with international implications worth following.

I had unmasked Anna Chapman the first night she posted @BooMan ... 😊

DECEPTION: The Untold Story of East-West Espionage Today

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Por que o governo esconde o caso do espião russo preso no Brasil | July 2, 2022 |

[Why the government hides the case of the Russian spy arrested in Brazil]

The Planalto Palace issued a gag order for the investigation and intelligence bodies involved in the arrest of Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, a Russian citizen arrested by the Federal Police and appointed by the Dutch intelligence service as a spy in the service of the Vladimir Putin regime who used a fake Brazilian identity to try to infiltrate the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Direct assistants of the Presidency of the Republic were convinced by the intelligence area that, behind the case, there would be a hidden movement of the American government -- the CIA, in particular -- to create a diplomatic crisis between Brazil and Russia and oppose Jair Bolsonaro and Putin.

The fertilizer factor

Contrary to most of the international community, the Brazilian government maintains a friendly relationship with Moscow even after the outbreak, by the Russians, of the war against Ukraine. The country adopts a politically neutral position regarding the conflict, condemned by most western democracies.

Russia is one of the largest global suppliers of manure and fertilizers, and the interruption of exports to Brazil could significantly affect agribusiness.

This is one of the reasons why, since the beginning of the war, Jair Bolsonaro has made a point of not alienating Vladimir Putin, going against pressure coming especially from the American government.

Russian spy who pretended to be Brazilian is sentenced to 15 years in prison by Federal Justice | G1 Globo.com - July 1, 2022 |

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US hits out at latest 'unadvisable' OPEC production cuts

Last October, US officials strongly opposed the OPEC+ cut, even floating the possibility of economic retaliation against Saudi.

In an interview with CNN, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said Biden is "willing to work with Congress as we think about what the right relationship with Saudi Arabia needs to be going forward."

US sources also told the Wall Street Journal at the time officials had warned Saudi leaders that a cut would be viewed as a clear choice by Riyadh to side with Russia in the Ukraine war.

Snubbed

Analysts said the latest oil cuts will likely leave Washington again feeling snubbed by its long-term ally.

A truce was called earlier this year as the Biden administration ended its talk of retaliation against the Kingdom, but the row now looks set to rumble on.

"OPEC led by Saudi Arabia, which has shown its displeasure with the Biden administration and their misuse of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, were reportedly angered on comments by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm that they had no plans to buy oil back to refill the reserve even as the Silicon Valley Bank failure caused oil liquidation and had oil fall below $70 a barrel," said Phil Flynn of The Price Futures Group.

The Energy Report: The Revenge of the Pariah State

Kiev, Western puppeteers do everything to prolong conflict, Lavrov says

Commenting on peace plan for Ukraine, proposed by China, Lavrov noted that it is consonant for key Russian approaches.

"Especially regarding the need to ensure equal and indivisible security for all countries in Europe and in the world in general," the Minister noted. "So far, the peace process has been hindered by Kiev and its Western puppeteers who exert all efforts in order to prolong the hostilities."

Lavrov noted that Russian and Chinese leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping stated "the importance for further close coordination on foreign policy."

"We see the causes of main challenges in the international security area in a similar way. We note the West's unwillingness to engage in an inter-state dialogue based on principles of equality. We oppose the use of sanctions pressure methods and other instruments of unscrupulous competition," the Foreign Minister continued.

Macron visits China to solidify China-EU relationship pic.twitter.com/FaGm5IXuGh

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) April 5, 2023

After decades of development in manufacturing, #China now supplies entire industrial chains of many sectors, attracting many European companies. We visited one facility of a German company in Guangdong Province to learn more about its views on China's business environment. pic.twitter.com/xGh61trAOh

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) April 5, 2023

President @vonderleyen welcomed at Beijing Int'l Airport by Minister Huang Runqiu and myself. pic.twitter.com/f0Gnbev4WW

— Fu Cong 傅聪 (@FuCong17) April 5, 2023

Our Spokesperson speaks on a question concerning #NATO Secretary General's #China-related remarks
👉[_link] pic.twitter.com/QhxNVhATy0

— Mission of China to the EU (@ChinaEUMission) April 5, 2023

If China gives Russia lethal weapons, it would be a "historic mistake" - NATO Secretary General

Stoltenberg stressed that China is refusing to condemn Russian aggression, is echoing Russian propaganda and propping up Russia's economy, and cooperates in the military sphere in the Indo-Pacific region.

"Allies have been clear that any provision of lethal aid by China to Russia would be a historic mistake with profound implications," he stressed, adding that against this background, the unity of NATO is more important than ever.

#French business executives have shown great confidence in #China's robust #economy after their visits to the country this year, calling China a market that can't be missed. pic.twitter.com/jq5Rp9LlsL

— Mission of China to the EU (@ChinaEUMission) April 6, 2023

EU-China relations are extensive and complex.

Today, President @vonderleyen met China's President Xi and Premier Li. She highlighted the need to address imbalances in our economic relations and look at cooperation on pressing global issues like Russia's war and climate change.

— European Commission (@EU_Commission) April 6, 2023

Press conference by Ursula von der LEYEN, President of the European Commission

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Says that the EU needs to diversify, but also the risk of "leakage of sensitive tech that could be used for military purposes. This needs to be addressed through export controls"

— Finbarr Bermingham (@fbermingham) April 6, 2023

VDL: "We also count on China not to provide any military equipment directly or indirectly to Russia, because we all know arming the aggressor would be against intl law and significantly harm our relationship"

— Finbarr Bermingham (@fbermingham) April 6, 2023

Oké ... not only Zelenskyy but also Stoltenberg in her backpack on travel to China.

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When asked to comment on calls for decoupling between China and Europe, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told the GT "we need a global industrial chain, and we also rely on global businesses. High globalization is the characteristic of the aviation industry."[_link]

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) April 6, 2023

I do. And I have an origin theory traced to the one and only Joint Call with France/Joint Declaration/Joint Statement distributed to PR wires.

To stay rational, exercise restraint, and avoid taking actions that might cause the crisis to further deteriorate or even spiral out of control;

"bring Russia to its senses" is the new "limitless" trope which replaced the "changes that haven't happened in 100 years" non sequitur.

Taiwan's defense ministry said that it has detected a Chinese anti-submarine helicopter and three warships around the island country.[_link]

— DW News (@dwnews) April 6, 2023

#Tsai is scheduled to return to the island of #Taiwan from the #US on Fri. On her return flight, it will be interesting to see if she will be tracked, monitored or even escorted by PLA warplanes and warships operating around the island: expert
[_link]

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) April 6, 2023