News Story: New sanction deal reached in US congress

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. President Donald Trump is facing an impending showdown as the House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday reached a deal on sanctions against Russia, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"I am glad to announce that we have reached an agreement that will allow us to send sanctions legislation to the president's desk," said Bob Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman.

The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the House two days ago, which will slap tougher sanctions on the three countries, followed by a day of tweaking and barbs within the Congress.

Congress voted 419-3 to pass the bill, achieving an overwhelming two-thirds majority, which means that the House could override a presidential veto.

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News Story: White House denies Trump's revealing of classified info to Russia

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Monday strongly denied media reports accusing President Donald Trump of revealing highly classified intelligence information to Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell all issued statements saying such reports were wrong.

Trump reportedly relayed information from a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria when meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak in White House last week.

The Washington Post first reported the disclosure earlier on Monday, followed by the New York Times and other nationwide news outlets.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: U.S. president expresses desire to improve relations with Russia

WASHINGTON, May 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday emphasized his desire to build a better relationship between the United States and Russia, the White House said.

Meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Washington DC, Trump raised the possibility of broader cooperation on resolving conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, the White House said in a statement.

The meeting came amid tensions between the U.S. and Russia as the two countries hold differences on a slew of issues, including the Syrian conflict, the Ukrainian crisis and the expansion of NATO.

Trump, who has expressed hopes of repairing relations with Moscow, said last month that the U.S. was "not getting along with Russia at all" and the relations between the two countries "may be at an all-time low."

At Wednesday's meeting, Trump emphasized the need to work together to end the conflict in Syria, underscoring the need for Russia to "rein in the Assad regime, Iran, and Iranian proxies."

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News Story: NATO Chief Tells EU Alliance Needs To Stay In Afghanistan

By Massoud Ansar

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an address to the European Parliament that the alliance needs to stay in Afghanistan and help conventional Afghan forces in their campaign against terrorism. 

“We have played a key role in Afghanistan for many many years. Our military presence in Afghanistan, is our biggest mission ever. And all NATO allies have participated, but also many non-NATO allies have participated, because they are partners they have participated in the recent support mission, and before that ISAF mission in Afghanistan. And many of the countries that are not members of NATO, but members of EU have been in Afghanistan,” said Stoltenberg. 

Addressing the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, Stoltenberg said the organization needs to make decisions on its in presence in Afghanistan in the coming years. 

“We have ended our combat operations in Afghanistan, but we continue to train and assist and advise the Afghan forces to enable them to stabilize their own country, enable them to fight terrorism themselves. And I think that if there's one lesson we've learned, both from Afghanistan, but also in a different way, but at least the same lesson, we have learned from Bosnia-Herzegovena and from Kosovo, is that in the long-run it's much better if we are able to train the local forces to stabilize their own country, to fight terrorism themselves, instead of NATO deploying a big number of combat troops, and big combat operations. 

“So building local capacity, training local forces is the key when it comes to NATO's contribution to fighting terrorism. We have to make decisions on our presence in Afghanistan in the coming years,” he said. 

This comes just days after Stoltenberg told a German daily Die Welt that NATO is considering sending additional military personnel to Afghanistan and increasing the timeframe of the deployment in view of the “challenging security situation.” 

Read the full story at TOLOnews

News Story: Trump says U.S.-Russia relations "may be at an all-time low"

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. is "not getting along with Russia at all" and the relations between the two countries "may be at an all-time low" , U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday.

Trump made the remark at a joint press conference with visiting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House. It came shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in Moscow that the U.S. and Russia have reached a "low point" in relations.

The Russian government has condemned the missile strikes by the United States on a Syrian airbase last Thursday, calling Washington's move "aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law."

At Wednesday's press conference, Trump defended his decision to launch 59 missiles at the Syrian airbase in response to the alleged chemical attack the U.S. has said the Syrian government should be to blame.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Sharp turnaround of Russia-U.S. relations unlikely

MOSCOW, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Relations between Russia and the United States have attracted great attention since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election last year, as the top leaders of both countries have implied the willingness to build rapprochement.

However, two months after Trump's inauguration, bilateral ties have not improved as many expected. In view of deep-rooted conflicts and competing interests, the confrontational pattern between the two countries is unlikely to be reconciled anytime soon, experts say.

MULTIPLE FACTORS HINDERING NORMALIZATION

It is said that Trump has personally been friendly to Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which may seem to bring a ray of optimism for Russia-U.S. relations. However, with anti-Russian sentiments unprecedentedly dominant in Washington, it is not entirely up to Trump and his aides to shape the actual U.S. foreign policy towards Russia or to break the impasse of bilateral relations between the two countries.

The Russia-U.S. relationship has deteriorated in recent years amid the crisis in Ukraine. The United States, along with its Western allies including the European Union, has introduced several rounds of sanctions over Russia's alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, which led to Russia's countermeasures against the West in turn.

For the time being, the sanctions tactic shows no sign of ending. Former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign last month due to accusations of his secret meeting with Russian ambassador to the United States and pledging sanctions relief against Moscow after Trump took office. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is stuck with similar allegations. So far, the Trump administration is suffering the greatest setback since his inauguration.

"I think that pressure on Trump will continue on the Russian issue. Russia is a convenient opponent for the U.S. political establishment, and there is some inertness of the conflict in the development of relations inherited from the previous president," said Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC).

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Trump's nuclear wake-up call could rekindle arms race with Russia

U.S. President Donald Trump

BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's recent nuclear wake-up call has aroused alert and vigilance on the Russian side and could risk setting off a new Cold War-style nuclear arms race between Washington and Moscow, observers say.

Trump, in an interview with the Reuters news agency in the Oval Office on Thursday, expressed his dissatisfaction with the New START Treaty and declared the aim of ensuring the U.S. nuclear arsenal "at the top of the pack".

Analysts believe that if the United States gives up the nuclear balance of power adopted by past U.S. administrations and resorts to unilateral advantages, U.S. nuclear arsenal expansion would make U.S.-Russian relations more complicated and take the bilateral relationship toward a dead end.

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News Report: Afghan Talks Reflect Russian Moves to Expand Global Influence

Paul Alexander

WASHINGTON — With the Trump administration still stitching together its foreign policy, priorities and staff, Russia seems intent on expanding its once-shrunken sphere of influence by exploiting gaps in America's overseas presence.

It's been a globe-spanning effort, with Russian leader Vladimir Putin using muscle in places like Ukraine and Syria and offering sweeteners to potential allies that he hopes will pay off later. The focus is on countries that have shaky ties with Washington, are strategically located or have abundant natural resources.

A key issue is how Putin's relationship with new President Donald Trump will pan out. Can two cocky personalities truly be allies against common foes like Islamic State, which could usher in a new era of cooperation? Are the distrust and animosity that festered during the Cold War too much to overcome? And will there be long-term fallout over Russia's efforts to bolster Trump's election campaign?

Russia's influence, which rivaled that of the United States during the Cold War, faded dramatically after the fall of communism and the breakup of the vast Soviet Union. But under Putin, it has sought to re-establish itself in an effort that has stretched from the North Sea to Antarctica.

In its latest initiative, Russia seeks to transform itself from an erstwhile warmonger in Afghanistan, during its failed decade-long invasion, into a peacemaker.

On Wednesday, Moscow hosted a second-round of peace talks on the resource-rich country. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, India and China were invited. The United States was conspicuously left out, despite its ongoing military intervention to repel Islamic terrorists and put Afghanistan solidly on the road to stability.

News Report: Stronger Relations Between Russia, US Bring Hope for Peace in Afghanistan

A recent report issued by a US agency estimates that the Afghan government controls less than 60 percent of the country. Afghan officials put the blame on the US and NATO which have failed to stabilize the country, while political and economic analysts recall the aid provided by the USSR and hope that now Russia can also help out.

As of November, the Afghan government could only claim to control or influence 57 percent of Afghanistan's 407 districts, according to US military estimates released by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a US watchdog which monitors the funds allocated for reconstruction of Afghanistan, in its quarterly report to the US Congress.

That represents a 15 percent decrease in territory held compared with the same time in 2015, the agency said.

Commenting on the released data, the former governor of the country's Herat province Mohammad Yunus Fakur blamed the US and NATO who have failed to stabilize the country throughout the long-term presence on the ground.

News Story: Mattis confirmed by Senate as new U.S. defense secretary

James Mattis (Image: Wiki Commons)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- James Mattis, U.S. President Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary, was easily confirmed by the Senate on Friday.

In an overwhelming vote, Mattis became the first confirmed member of Trump's cabinet, hours after Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. President.

Earlier, Trump signed a waiver legislation after his inauguration to clear a legal barrier for Mattis to take office.

Under the U.S. law, a former service member is barred from running the Pentagon less than seven years after retirement from military. Mattis only retired in 2013 as the Commander of the U.S. Central Command. Trump signed the measure to grant Mattis an one-time exception.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Apprehension as New Zealand wakes up to Trump presidency

WELLINGTON, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Uncertainty marked reactions in New Zealand to U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration.

Protest marches, under the "Love Trumps Hate" banner, against the divisions sparked by Trump were set for the capital Wellington and the largest city of Auckland on Saturday.

One of the protest leaders is U.S.-born Green Party Member of Parliament Julie Anne Genter.

In a Facebook posting earlier in the week, Genter said Donald Trump epitomized "some of the worst extremes of human nature: greed, cruelty, sexual violence, anger, misuse of power."

"His election to president of the United States by a small fraction of the overall population demonstrates how broken democracy is in America," wrote Genter.

"We need to find new ways of doing politics if we are going to solve the problems facing humanity in the 21st century."

The government has been circumspect in greeting Trump's presidency, with Prime Minister Bill English reportedly saying earlier in the week that he was positive the two countries would maintain good relations.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: White House - Trump Will Have to Choose US Intelligence or Russia

A White House spokesman says President-elect Donald Trump's administration will have to choose whether to side with the U.S. intelligence community, or Russia and WikiLeaks.

Josh Earnest was responding to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin's accusing President Barack Obama's administration of attempting to undercut Trump by spreading false information.

Putin said last week's release of an unverified dossier containing salacious allegations about Trump was part of an effort to "undermine the legitimacy of the president-elect" in spite of Trump's "convincing" presidential win.

Putin described as "fake" an allegation in the document that Trump engaged in sexual activities at a Moscow hotel in 2013. Putin added that those responsible for the allegations are "worse than prostitutes," and he questioned why Trump would "need prostitutes" when he has "been with the most beautiful women in the world."

News Report: Prospect of Warming US-Russia Ties Worries China

William Ide

BEIJING — President-elect Donald Trump's hints ties with Moscow could improve after he assumes office has been a source of controversy and heated debate in the United States. And that is unlikely to go away after his inauguration later this week.

Across the Pacific, in China, it is an increasing source of hand-wringing and worry for Chinese officials because some believe if ties between Russia and the U.S. improve that could only be bad for Beijing.

“In the West, people have been extremely concerned about Russian involvement in the U.S. elections, and Trump’s commitments, but very few people take seriously the idea that he could lure Russia away from the partnership with China,” says David Kelly, research director at China Policy, a research group in Beijing.

“In China, it’s taken much more seriously and is a subject of daily speculation.”

News Story: Trump's pick for U.S. secretary of state calls Russia a "danger"

Rex Tillerson (Image: Wiki Commons)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state Rex Tillerson on Wednesday called Russia a "danger" to the United States and said he favored keeping current U.S. sanctions against Moscow for now.

"Russia today poses a danger, but it is not unpredictable in advancing its own interests," said Tillerson here at his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"Our NATO allies are right to be alarmed at a resurgent Russia," he added.

Tillerson, the Exxon Mobile chief executive who had known Russian President Vladimir Putin since 1990s and was awarded by Putin Russia's Order of Friendship in 2013, was widely known for opposing sanctions against Russia in his corporate life.

However, during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Tillerson said he would like to see remain intact U.S. sanctioned imposed on Moscow for now."

"I would leave things in the status quo so we are able to convey this can go either way," said Tillerson. "I would recommend maintaining the status quo until we are able to engage with Russia and understand better what their intentions are."

Tillerson's confirmation hearing came at a time when the United States and Russia brawled over whether Moscow was involved in cyberattacks which sought to affect the 2016 U.S. election.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Trump's hope to get along with Russia will be dashed quickly - Senate Republican leader

Vladimir Putin & Donald Trump

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Republican leader in the U.S. Senate said on Sunday U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's hope to improve relations with Russia would be "dashed" quickly.

"My suspicion is these hopes will be dashed pretty quickly," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in an interview with CBS.

"The Russians are clearly a big adversary, and they demonstrated it by trying to mess around in our election," he added.

On Saturday, Trump tweeted that "Only 'stupid' people, or fools" do not want a good relationship with Russia.

"When I am President, Russia will respect us far more than they do now and both countries will, perhaps, work together to solve some of the many great and pressing problems and issues of the WORLD!" he tweeted.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Trump agrees Russia responsible for election hacking - transition team

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has accepted U.S. intelligence community's findings that Russia was behind the cyber attacks targeting the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Trump's team said on Sunday.

"He's not denying that entities in Russia were behind this particular campaign," said incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus in an interview with FOX News. "He accepts the fact that this particular case was entities in Russia. So, that's not the issue."

Priebus did not clarify whether Trump agreed that the Russian hacking was intended to help him win.

It is the first time for any senior official from Trump's transition team to acknowledge that after months of denial and sometimes even disparagement of the U.S. intelligence community, Trump had agreed that Russians were responsible for the hacking that led to the leaking of damaging material which dogged Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton till the Election Day.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: ‘More Than a Simple Strategic Partnership’ - Putin Hails Relations With China

During his end-of-the-year press conference on Friday, President Putin described Russia’s relations with China as more than just a strategic partnership. In an interview with Sputnik China, Moscow-based political analyst Alexander Lomanov took a closer look at the relations between the two countries.

“China maintains strategic partnerships with many countries, but President Putin wanted to underscore China’s very special relationship with Russia, which is more close and constructive than what it has with other countries,” Alexander Lomanov told Sputnik China.

He described this strategic partnership as one of mutual trust, all-embracing and looking to the future. 

“Relations between our countries have gone far beyond the one [Presidents] Boris Yeltsin and Jiang Zemin agreed on 20 years ago.” 

During Friday’s press conference Vladimir Putin congratulated Russia’s “Chinese friends” with the yuan now being used by the IMF as a reserve currency. 

News Story: US declares to take action vs Russia over election hacking

President Barack Obama on Thursday declared to take ‘retaliatory action against Russia for its meddling in the US presidential election’, Kevin Liptak reports on CNN.

“I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action and we will at a time and place of our own choosing,” Obama said.

Obama said may potential countermeasures of the US may “be explicit and publicized; some of it may not be.”

He also said he directly confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin about a potential US response, and said his counterpart acknowledged his stance.

Read the full story at Tankler

News Report: Analysts See Trump Comments on One China as Part of Bigger Game

William Ide - Joyce Huang

BEIJING — President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that the United States doesn’t necessarily need to be bound by a “One China” policy, which was key to the establishment of diplomatic ties between Washington and Beijing, has the Chinese leadership on edge and some wondering whether a rethink is on the horizon regarding relations with Taiwan.

Analysts say a Trump presidency could see ties with democratically ruled Taiwan enhanced, but doubt there will be a serious departure from the policy, noting the wide range of areas where the world’s two biggest economies cooperate and how much they need each other. What it does suggest, they say, is that a bigger game is afoot.

Trump told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday: “I don’t know why we have to be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.”

News Story: Trump puts Chinese ties at risk while wooing Russia

By Dave Clark

With a few apparently off-the-cuff comments, US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened Washington's cautious understanding with China while touting an unlikely new detente with Russia.

The United States and China, the world's two greatest economies and rivals for the leadership role in the Pacific, are often at loggerheads over trade, human rights and regional disputes.

But President Barack Obama has extended a hand to China's Xi Jinping and worked with Beijing on the global climate change accord and on measures against North Korea's rogue regime.

On Monday, businesswoman turned defeated presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina left Trump's New York office and said they had discussed Trump's opportunity to "reset" US foreign relations.

As part of this, Fiorina told reporters, she and Trump "spent a fair amount of time talking about China as probably our most important adversary and a rising adversary."

Never has current US leader Obama called into question the "One China" doctrine, which accepts that currently self-administered Taiwan is part of one state one day to be united under Beijing.

Trump may have recently taken advice from Henry Kissinger, architect of late president Richard Nixon's US-China breakthrough, but he has broken with this four-decade consensus.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily