Charlie Brown in the White House: US-EU

2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

Russian, US leaders may agree on secondary issues during Geneva summit, says expert
However, the expert doubts that the parties will be able to achieve a breakthrough on key issues such as, for example, sanctions

SHANGHAI, June 16. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden may come to a consensus on secondary issues during the upcoming meeting in Geneva, which may be the beginning of the renewed dialogue between both states, Sun Chenghao, a researcher with the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations stated, quoted by China News Service.

According to the expert, certain analysts predict that both leaders may come to an understanding on a number of secondary issues, including climate change, and the fight against the pandemic. "The US and Russia may come to a consensus in these spheres. Through these secondary issues, they may begin to build or recover dialogue. I think that this is the main goal of the meeting," the Chinese expert said.

Sun Chenghao admitted that the meeting would take place against the backdrop of ongoing "Russophobia and anti-Russian sentiments" in the US, as well as Biden’s inability to conduct a softer policy on Russia than his predecessor Donald Trump over accusations against Russia of it being involved in the US election and hacker attacks. However, the expert notes, Russia is also unable to adopt a softer position due to the diplomatic and sanctions pressure of the US.

According to the news agency, Sun Chenghao also pointed out the symbolism of Biden meeting Putin after the G7 and NATO summits in Europe, which is meant to show Russia that the Western world is united when it comes to security issues, ideological values and economic cooperation. Thus, the US wants to demonstrate with this meeting that it is not only Washington that is talking to Moscow, it is the entire European world. Besides, a meeting with Putin right after the G7 and NATO summits will help the US avoid the distrust of its European partners over any potential secret agreements with Russia, the expert pointed out.

The Chinese expert noted that sanctions remain a key issue in Russian-US relations... more

Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (German: [ˈʊʁzula fɔn deːɐ̯ ˈlaɪən] (listen); née Albrecht; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician and physician who has been President of the European Commission since 1 December 2019.

Prior to her current position, she served in the Cabinet of Germany from 2005 to 2019, holding successive positions in Angela Merkel's cabinet, serving most recently as Minister of Defence. Von der Leyen is a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its EU counterpart, the European People's Party (EPP).

She was born and raised in Brussels to German parents. Her father, Ernst Albrecht, was one of the first European civil servants. She was brought up bilingually in German and French. She moved to Hanover in 1971, when her father entered politics to become Minister President of the state of Lower Saxony in 1976. As an economics student at the London School of Economics in the late 1970s, she lived under the name Rose Ladson, the family name of her American great-grandmother from Charleston, South Carolina. After graduating as a physician from the Hannover Medical School in 1987, she specialized in women's health. In 1986 she married fellow physician Heiko von der Leyen of the noble von der Leyen family of silk merchants. As a mother of seven children, she was a housewife during parts of the 1990s and lived for four years in Stanford, California, while her husband was on faculty at Stanford University, returning to Germany in 1996.

In the late 1990s, she became involved in local politics in the Hanover region, and she served as a cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, she joined the federal cabinet, first as Minister of Family Affairs and Youth from 2005 to 2009, then as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2009 to 2013, and finally as Minister of Defence from 2013 to 2019, the first woman to serve as German defence minister.[1] When she left office she was the only minister to have served continuously in Angela Merkel's cabinet since Merkel became chancellor. She served as a deputy leader of the CDU from 2010 to 2019, and has previously been regarded as a leading contender to succeed Merkel as chancellor and as the favourite to become secretary-general of NATO.

On 2 July 2019, von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as the candidate for President of the European Commission.[2][3] She was then elected by the European Parliament on 16 July;[4][nb 1] she took office on 1 December, becoming the first woman in such role.

Von der Leyen is included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020. from Wikipedia

Here's what happened at today's US-EU summit
From CNN's Kevin Liptak

Jun. 15 - US President Joe Biden arrived at a summit with European Union leaders that officials said would focus largely on issues of trade.

Biden has yet to roll back Trump-era tariffs on steel and aluminum, but he did help settle a dispute that had dragged on for nearly two decades over subsidies for Boeing and Airbus.

The two sides were expected to announce a resolution of the aircraft dispute, and signal progress on the metal tariffs without formally announcing their suspension quite yet.

Biden is eager to restore transatlantic ties on his European tour this week, hoping to enter the high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow appearing united with western allies. That has mostly come in statements of support, but the trade dispute resolution is a concrete signal of his intent to normalize traditional US alliances after four years of strain.

"America is back. We are committed — we have never fully left — but we are reasserting the fact it is overwhelmingly in the interest of the United States to have a great relationship with NATO and with the EU," Biden said as the talks began. "I have a very different view than my predecessor."

His message was welcomed by his hosts, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

"The last four years have not been easy," said von der Leyen.

Officials want to ease trade tensions ahead of Biden's meeting with Putin to put on a united front against Moscow. source from

Remarks by President Charles Michel following the G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall

Jun. 13 - The G7 ends today. We spent three days trying to align the positions of the world’s biggest democracies.
The priority was to ensure we can meet the demand for vaccines and here the EU has taken the leadership. Partners have now joined us to accelerate production and delivery of vaccines worldwide.

We also see that liberal democracies and open societies face pressure from authoritarian regimes. This challenge has prompted us to join forces during the G7, not only to be able to respond under pressure or attack but also to spread our values of freedom, rule of law and respect for human rights.

Another point, of special significance to me, is our engagement with Africa. For some years already, with some leaders in Europe we are convinced that this engagement with Africa needs to be at the heart of our future international relations. Increasingly, we’ve been able to unify the positions of European countries on this issue and now we have convinced our partners to further mobilise funds to secure a win-win strategy for Africa and Europe. source from
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