Tuesday, March 23, 2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Mar. 23, 2021

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

俄召回大使 美加码制裁 美俄陷41年来最糟时刻?20210321 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际
Mar 22, 2021


Anatoly Ivanovich Antonov (Russian: Анато́лий Ива́нович Анто́новIPA: [ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ɐnˈtonəf]; born 15 May 1955) is a Russian politician, military officer and diplomat who is currently the Ambassador of Russia to the United States, formally replacing Sergey Kislyak on 21 August 2017 by presidential decree. With a reputation as a hardliner and tough negotiator, Antonov took up his post in Washington, D.C. on 1 September 2017.[1][2] He was formerly Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Minister of Defence. Since 2015, he has been under sanctions of the European Union and Canada, in response to Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.[3][4] Antonov was pulled from Washington on 17 March 2021 after US President Joe Biden called Putin a "killer."      from Wikipedia


Russia’s Envoy to US Back in Moscow After Spat over Biden Comments


Mar. 22 - Russia's ambassador to the United States returned to Moscow on Sunday after being recalled for emergency consultations amid rising tensions with Washington following President Joe Biden's comments that he believed his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was a killer. 
 
Biden's remark in a TV interview earlier in the week in turn prompted a terse quip from Vladimir Putin who wished the U.S. president "good health" and said that people tend to refer to others as they really see themselves. 
 
The Biden interview came on the heels of the release of a report by the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence that concluded Putin had "authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President [Donald] Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the United States." 

 
The Kremlin immediately denied the findings of the report, saying they were "absolutely unfounded."      continue to read

March 22, 2021
Sen. Sullivan Discusses U.S.-China Relations with Atlantic Council
Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan (R) spoke with the Atlantic Council about U.S.-China relations. Sen. Sullivan called for a long-term, bipartisan plan to address China’s growing power. He also praised the Biden administration for prioritizing relationships with “The Quad,” which includes Australia, India and Japan, and strengthening U.S. alliances with other Asian countries. The senator answered questions related to American oil and gas production, new sanctions placed on China for human rights abuses and supply chain issues.
A conversation with US Senator Dan Sullivan
Mar. 23, 2021
AN #ACFRONTPAGE​ EVENT – Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) discusses the future of US strategy toward China and "The Longer Telegram," a recent Atlantic Council Strategy Paper.


The Kremlin in Moscow
Russian ambassador returns to Moscow as diplomatic crisis continues

Mar. 23 - Russian ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov arrived in Moscow on Sunday morning, having been called back to the capital in response to American President Joseph Biden’s affirmation on Wednesday, March 17, in an interview with ABC News, that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a killer.”

The diplomatic crisis coincides with new allegations by the American intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2020 elections by attempting to undermine popular support for Biden. Despite the fact that no evidence has been published to substantiate these claims, Washington and leading press outlets in the US have seized on them to ratchet up anti-Russia hysteria and imply that Vladimir Putin is somehow responsible for the diseased state of America’s political system.

The Kremlin in Moscow (Photo: A.Savin/Wikipedia)As Antonov returned to Moscow, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) warned that the White House is risking “an irreversible deterioration of relations.” It added, however, that the Kremlin is committed to “open lines of communication” and “rectifying Russia-US relations.” Russia’s envoy will remain at home for an undetermined period, during which time officials say he will hold discussions with different branches of government.

The day following Biden’s provocative statement, President Putin responded to the charge of being a murderer with a quip from a children’s story, “The one who is name calling, is the one who is called by that name”—in other words, “It takes one to know one,” “A case of the pot calling the kettle black.” Putin went on to list a handful of bloody episodes in American history, beginning with the extermination of the native population.

The Kremlin leader also wished Biden “good health,” playing on the idea, which has been widely circulated in the Russian press, that the American president’s accusation was a sign of his deteriorating mental faculties. Putin invited his counterpart to a live, open-air discussion of relations between the two countries, an invitation which the White House publicly declined on March 22.

That same day, Russian Minister of Foreign Relations Sergei Lavrov met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, in the first high-level diplomatic exchange since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The press reports that the conversation between the government representatives focused on their respective countries’ worsening relationships with the United States and the need to strengthen ties between Moscow and Beijing.

A theme that emerged was the prospect of increasingly using Russia and China’s national currencies in bilateral trade. Currently, while dollar-denominated exchange has fallen to less than 50 percent of overall trade between the two countries, much of this has been made up by the euro, not the ruble or the yuan.

As coverage of Lavrov and Yi’s meeting was appearing in news outlets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov issued a statement warning that the United States may intensify economic sanctions directed against Russia, including cutting off the country from the international financial exchange system SWIFT, through which 33.6 million banking transactions a day happen around the globe. The intense financial isolation caused by such a move, which has thus far only been taken against Iran, could be worsened by an attack on the ruble, which would send its value falling and drastically increase the size of Russia’s ruble-denominated state debt. The Ministry of Finance commented that in the event of such a development, its only option would be to “turn on the printing presses.”

Tensions between Russia and the United States penetrate every sphere. Earlier this week, the US-allied regime in Ukraine announced plans to retake the now Russian-controlled territory of Crimea by force. In mid-March the US conducted joint training exercises with nuclear-capable B-12 Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers in territorial waters near the shores of Iceland, Greenland, and Great Britain where Russian warships are known to surface. By its own admission, the United States pressured Brazil—which is confronting an out-of-control COVID-19 surge—to not make purchases of Russia’ Sputnik V vaccine, despite the fact that it has now been determined safe and effective by both Russian and European medical researchers.
As manifested in Lavrov’s and Yi’s recent visit, the ceaseless geopolitical and economic pressure being exerted on Russia by the United States and leading powers in Europe is driving sections of the country’s elite to look toward China as a counterweight.
Speaking recently to the leading news outlet Russia in Global Affairs, political scientist Sergei Karganov emphasized the importance of Russia deepening its “turn to the east” under conditions of what is now and will continue to be an extremely “unpredictable” international environment:

“Thirty years ago when Russia ceased to be the Soviet Union we tried to form a strategic union with the West, above all with Europe. The project failed. … And now we are a strategic, in the military-political sense, support for China. And they are our support. And it was precisely because of Siberian resources that we became a great European power, and then a great world power.

“We, of course, need to act carefully, to develop ties with other Asian countries, engage more actively with India, more actively with the countries of ASEAN, and not fall into too great a dependence on the PRC [People’s Republic of China].”

The Russian ruling class’ search right and left, for alliances and new arrangements that will rescue it from the geopolitical and economic crisis it is facing, is fraught with contradictions. The idea that Russia, as part of a Russo-Chinese anti-American bloc, will come to some sort of lasting, mutually-acceptable agreement over control of the Siberian landmass with its Chinese neighbor—with 10 times the population, 8.5 times the size of the economy, and triple the annual military spending—is implausible. The oligarchs of each country wish to have the unreserved right to exploit the resources and people of Eurasia. And the United States, driven to insane attempts to dominate the globe because of the diseased state of American capitalism, will not rest in its efforts to gain control of the region.

The working class of Russia, like its counterpart in China, can only defend itself against the predatory interests of American capitalism and its own capitalist class in a common struggle with the workers of the United States and the world.     source from
American Kompromat: How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and Related Tales of Sex, Greed, Power, and Treachery

Kompromat n.—Russian for "compromising information"

This is a story about the dirty secrets of the most powerful people in the world—including Donald Trump.

It is based on exclusive interviews with dozens of high-level sources—intelligence officers in the CIA, FBI, and the KGB, thousands of pages of FBI investigations, police investigations, and news articles in English, Russian, and Ukrainian. American Kompromat shows that from Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, kompromat was used in operations far more sinister than the public could ever imagine.
 
Among them, the book addresses what may be the single most important unanswered question of the

Monday, March 22, 2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Mar. 22, 2021

 https://smashwords2.weebly.com/1.html


Doha (Arabicالدوحة‎, ad-Dawḥa or ad-Dōḥapronounced [adˈdawħa]) is the capital and most populous city of the State of Qatar. It has a population of 956,460 (2015).[1] The city is located on the coast of the Persian Gulf in the east of the country, North of Al Wakrah and South of Al Khor. It is Qatar's fastest growing city, with over 80% of the nation's population living in Doha or its surrounding suburbs,[2] and it is the political and economic center of the country.     from Wikipedia


The Doha Experiment: Arab Kingdom, Catholic College, Jewish Teacher

Gary Wasserman’s decision to head to Qatar to teach at Georgetown sounds questionable, at best. “In the beginning,” he writes, “this sounds like a politically incorrect joke. A Jewish guy walks into a fundamentalist Arab country to teach American politics at a Catholic college.” But he quickly discovers that he has entered a world that gives him a unique perspective on the Middle East and on Muslim youth; that teaches him about the treatment of Arab women and what an education will do for them, both good and bad; shows him the occasionally amusing and often deadly serious consequences his students face simply by living in the Middle East; and finds surprising similarities between his culture and the culture of his students.


Most importantly, after eight years of teaching in Qatar he realizes he has become part of a significant, little understood movement to introduce liberal, Western values into traditional societies. Written with a sharp sense of humor, The Doha Experiment offers a unique perspective on where the region is going and clearly illustrates why Americans need to understand this clash of civilizations.
Click here to learn more about upccoming events, promotions, and more.     source from


Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem said that the first item of business will be setting the
agenda

Afghan peace talks resume in Doha as US reviews Taliban deal


Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan gov’t resume in Doha after weeks of delays and change in US diplomatic leadership.

Date published on Feb. 23, 2021Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government have resumed in the Qatari capital Doha after weeks of delays, escalating violence and a change in US diplomatic leadership as the Biden administration began.

Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem tweeted on Monday night the resumption of the talks, which were the outcome of an agreement between the Afghan armed group and the US in February 2020.


But the administration of President Joe Biden is reviewing the agreement, which was aimed at ending the longest war the US has fought. The Taliban has been fighting the combined forces of the Western-backed Kabul government and foreign troops since it was toppled in a US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Last week, the Taliban in an open letter called on the US to fully implement the Doha accord, including the withdrawal of all international troops, saying it had committed to its side of the deal – to secure US security interests in the war-torn country.     more details

Previously Articles:
Afghanistan launches year’s first polio vaccination drive
Hazaras fear for future as Afghanistan risks slipping into chaos
What options does Biden have in Afghanistan?


Qatar says it is committed to sustainable peace in Afghanistan
Qatar to join Afghan peace talks in Moscow: Official

Special envoy of Qatar, Ambassador Mutlaq Alqahtani, to participate in the March 18 meeting in Moscow, official tells Al Jazeera.

Date Published on Mar. 16
Qatar will attend a Russia-sponsored summit this week to discuss the future of war-ravaged Afghanistan, a senior official said in a statement to Al Jazeera.

Qatar’s special envoy, Ambassador Mutlaq Alqahtani, will participate in the March 18 meeting in Moscow, the official said on Tuesday.

“The state of Qatar is committed to sustainable peace in Afghanistan. Qatar will continue to facilitate the ongoing intra-Afghan negotiations,” he said, according to the statement.

“Qatar is working closely with its strategic partners to establish international and regional consensus over this process.”
The official said the meeting in Moscow on Thursday “will build upon the historic United States-Taliban peace agreement signed in Doha” in February last year and the “comprehensive intra-Afghan negotiations currently taking place in Doha”.

The Taliban and the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani have agreed to attend the conference in Russia, which is seeking to raise its profile in the Afghan peace efforts.


The US Department of State on Monday said Washington’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, will also attend the meeting.

China and Pakistan have also been invited to the talks, which come ahead of a May deadline for US President Joe Biden to decide whether to end the US’s two-decade military involvement in Afghanistan.     continued 

US Defense Secretary Meets Ghani in Kabul

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is in Kabul for an unannounced visit, sources said, adding that he is expected to meet with high-ranking Afghan officials.

Mar. 21 -  President Ghani met with US defense secretary on Sunday afternoon, the Presidential Palace said, adding that both expressed their concerns over the increase of violence in the country.

Ghani and US defense secretary stressed that enduring and just peace is the main solution for the current situation in Afghanistan, the Palace said, adding that Mr. Austin said that the United States is supporting Afghanistan in this respect.

His trip comes after he visited India where he and his Indian counterpart pledged to expand their military engagement, underscoring the strengthening defense ties between two countries concerned over China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, according to the Associated Press. 

His trip comes as the US is reviewing the Doha agreement with the Taliban while also keeping all options on the table when it comes to the May 1st deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

Quoting two sources, NBC News reported last week that President Joe Biden is considering keeping US troops in Afghanistan until November, rather than withdrawing them by a May 1 deadline outlined in the Doha agreement. 

In recent discussions with members of his national security team, Biden has pushed back against the Defense Department’s efforts to keep US troops in Afghanistan beyond May 1, one of the people said, as quoted by NBC News. But he has been persuaded to consider a six-month extension.      source from

Friday, March 19, 2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Mar. 20, 2021

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

This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 lessons on how to wake up, take action, and do the work (Empower the Future 1)

Who are you? What is racism? Where does it come from? Why does it exist? What can you do to disrupt it? Learn about social identities, the history of racism and resistance against it, and how you can use your anti-racist lens and voice to move the world toward equity and liberation. 

"In a racist society, it's not enough to be non-racist--we must be ANTI-RACIST." --Angela Davis     
 quoted from

MARCH 19, 2021
House Hearing on U.S. Policy in China and North Korea
Foreign policy experts testified before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on U.S. policy toward China, Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific countries. Among the witnesses testifying were Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass and Randall Schriver, the former assistant Defense secretary for Indo-Pacific security affairs in the Trump administration. Lawmakers questioned the witnesses about U.S. competition with China, the political situation in Myanmar, counterterrorism challenges and U.S. multilateral diplomacy in the region. 


U.S. Navy Destroyer Sails Through Taiwan Strait Again As Beijing Protests
Joe Biden Admin Enters War of Words with China, Russia, and North Korea


Mar. 20 - ​In a busy week of foreign policy developments, President Joe Biden and his top officials have engaged in tense exchanges with China, Russia and North Korea, all as the White House looks to bolster America's historic alliances and push back against pressure from authoritarian regimes.

Biden is juggling his commitment to diplomacy and multilateralism with his vow to push back on the world's dictators, figures he and his allies argue former President Donald Trump did too little to rein in.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin traveled to Japan and South Korea this week, expressing shared concerns over Chinese and North Korean regional aggression...     continue to read
The North Korean flag seen in the country’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur on 19 March, 2021
North Korea to cut ties with Malaysia over extradition of citizen to US


Malaysia denounced North Korea’s decision, calling it ‘unfriendly and unconstructive’

Mar. 20 - North Korea has said it will cut diplomatic ties with Malaysia over the latter’s decision to extradite a North Korean man, accused of money laundering, to the United States. 
North Korea’s foreign ministry said that the American money laundering charges against the North Korean national were an “absurd fabrication and sheer plot” orchestrated by “the principal enemy of our state.”

Malaysia’s top court this month rejected claims by North Korean Mun Chol Myong that the US charge was politically motivated and ruled that he could be extradited.
 
Mr Mun was arrested in May 2019 after the US requested his extradition, accusing him of laundering money through front companies and violating international sanctions by helping to ship prohibited luxury goods from Singapore to North Korea. He moved to Malaysia from Singapore in 2008.

North Korea’s foreign ministry said it was severing diplomatic relations with Malaysia, which “committed super-large hostile act[s] against (North Korea) in subservience to the US pressure,” according to the Associated Press. It also warned that the US will “pay a price.” 

Malaysia denounced North Korea’s decision, calling it “unfriendly and unconstructive.” Its foreign ministry said in a statement that the extradition was only carried out after the due legal process had been exhausted. ​     source from

Thursday, March 18, 2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Mar. 19, 2021

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


Yang Jiechi (Chinese杨洁篪; born 1 May 1950) is a high-ranking Chinese politician and diplomat. Since 2013, he has served as director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the highest diplomat under CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping and has served as a CPC Politburo member since 2017. He is generally regarded as one of the foremost contemporary architects of China's foreign policy. Yang served as the tenth Foreign Minister of China between 2007 and 2013. He joined the inner circle of the State Council in 2013, as a State Councilor under Premier Li Keqiang. Yang spent much of his professional life in the United States, where he served as Chinese Ambassador from 2001 to 2005.     from Wikipedia


China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi tells US not to follow ‘misguided’ Trump policies
Foreign policy chief says relationship should not be adversarial, in highest-ranking remarks since Joe Biden’s inauguration
But signals from Washington suggest relations will continue along similar path with tactical changes

Date published on Feb. 2, 2021
China’s most senior foreign policy official Yang Jiechi said the US under Donald Trump had followed “misguided policies”, and called on the new administration to change course – even as comments from President Joe Biden’s advisers echo his predecessor’s tough tone on China.

“For the past few years, the Trump administration adopted misguided policies against China, plunging the relationship into its most difficult period since the establishment of diplomatic ties,” said Yang, a Politburo member regarded as President Xi Jinping’s most trusted foreign policy aide.     source from


Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The First U.S. Meeting With China Under Biden Didn’t Go So Smoothly

Mar. 19 - In a speech earlier this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined the foreign policy template for the Biden administration. Notably absent, considering the stance of the United States over the previous two decades, was the mention of terrorism. But frequently raised was America’s relationship with China, which Blinken called “the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century.”


On Thursday, the Biden and Xi administrations began their relationship with a testy first encounter between high-level officials. When Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with top Chinese diplomats Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday, Sullivan began the meeting saying that the U.S. does “not seek conflict, but we welcome stiff competition,” adding that “we will always stand up for our principles, for our people, and for our friends.”     continue to read


Vice President Joe Biden arrives to attend a China-US Business Dialogue in the Beijing Hotel, August 2011 
Who believes the WHO?
The Biden administration apparently — and nobody else

Date published on Feb. 9 , 2021
...President Biden promised on the campaign trail he would be tough on China, but one of his first priorities after taking office was to rejoin the China-abetting WHO. The Biden administration defended this move by assuring that the US could exert more influence on the WHO if it were a member. However, press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed on Tuesday that the administration was not involved in the ‘planning and implementation’ of the investigation and would be reviewing the results.

Psaki added that it’s ‘imperative that we have our own team of experts on the ground’ in Beijing. State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed that they are skeptical of the investigation and China’s cooperation with it, saying, ‘I think the jury’s still out. I think clearly the Chinese, at least heretofore, have not offered the requisite transparency that we need’...     source from
中美高层战略对话在即 美拉盟友“唱歌壮胆”实属徒劳 20210318 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际
Mar 19, 2021
The Shadow War: Inside Russia's and China's Secret Operations to Defeat America
Are we losing a war few of us realize we’re fighting?
Jim Sciutto, CNN’s Chief National Security Correspondent, reveals the invisible fronts that make up 21st century warfare, from disinformation campaigns to advanced satellite weapons.


Poisoned dissidents. Election interference. Armed invasions. International treaties thrown into chaos. Secret military buildups. Hackers and viruses. Weapons deployed in space. China and Russia (and Iran and North Korea) spark news stories here by carrying out bold acts of aggression and violating international laws and norms. Isn’t this just bad actors acting badly?

That kind of thinking is outdated and dangerous. Emboldened by their successes, these countries are, in fact, waging a brazen, global war on the US and the West. This is a new Cold War, which will not be won by those who fail to realize they are fighting it. The enemies of the West understand that while they are unlikely to win a shooting war, they have another path to victory. And what we see as our greatest strengths—open societies, military innovation, dominance of technology on Earth and in space, longstanding leadership in global institutions—these countries are undermining or turning into weaknesses.

In The Shadow War, CNN anchor and chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto provides us with a revealing and at times disturbing guide to this new international conflict. This Shadow War is already the greatest threat to America’s national security, even though most Americans know little or nothing about it. With on-the-ground reporting from Ukraine to the South China Sea, from a sub under the Arctic to unprecedented access to America’s Space Command, Sciutto draws on his deep knowledge, high-level contacts, and personal experience as a journalist and diplomat to paint the most comprehensive and vivid picture of a nation targeted by a new and disturbing brand of warfare.     source

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Mischief Reef |Mar. 25

  WH keeping public in dark on what Biden demanded of China’s Xi over arming Putin​ Mar. 18 - The White House was tight-lipped Friday about ...