G20: First Lady Melania Attracts a Smile from Vladimir

2 Comments

1. 

   Oui on July 8, 2017 at 3:49 am

   Re-posted from @EuropeTribune

   Trump’s white-nationalist dog whistles in Warsaw | Jonathan Capehart | Washington Post

   “We write symphonies.” What on Earth does that have to do with anything? It’s bad enough Trump is doing the one thing his predecessors studiously avoided: engaging in the battle-of-civilizations talk that inflames anger and tensions with Muslims, particularly in the Middle East. In that one line, taken in context with everything else Trump said, what I heard was the loudest of dog whistles. A familiar boast that swells the chests of white nationalists everywhere.

   H/T by Gag Halfrunt on Fri Jul 7th, 2017 at 04:35:08 PM PDT

   From my earlier diary – Steve Bannon as Representative of a US Islamophobic Network .

   ○ HRC’s speech on the alt-right as Ukip’s Farage campaigned with Trump in Mississippi, blaming Putin – Aug. 2016

   HRC never got a grip on her campaign to either focus on the issues or go along with the craziness of the media and tweets of the day. She was jubilant when the IC establishment of Langley and Washington (neo-cons) backed her candidacy. Like a kiss of death.

   Angela Merkel offered her G20 guests a classical music concert in the new concert hall of Hamburg’s symphony orchestra. Merkel made sure Ludwig Van Beethoven’s 9th “Ode to Joy” was played, a sort of torture moment for U.S. president Trump!

2. 

   Oui on July 8, 2017 at 12:17 pm

   G20-1 repeated their strong commitment to the Paris Climate Accord!

   International media reactions to Hamburg G20

   A common theme was a lack of trust in Donald Trump and a decline in US influence.

   France’s Figaro newspaper commented on US President Donald Trump in Hamburg.

   “The danger for Trump is that he might turn into precisely the kind of person he has been criticizing so vehemently: Someone who talks but doesn’t act. He laughed about Obama’s ‘red line’ in Syria…just to go on and draw such a line in North Korea – which was promptly crossed. Now his credibility is on the line.”

   “Trump has not managed to make any major improvements with regard to the big international problem areas. But he has managed to shake and wake up the Europeans. He made them realize that they have to cooperate more closely and take their security concerns into their own hands.”

   #Macron to host a summit on climate change in Paris on Dec. 12 to discuss actions and financing of projects.

   — Douglas Herbert (@dougf24) 8 juli 2017

   Russia’s Lenta.ru independent outlet said that Trump’s meeting with Putin was “not in vain” and detailed the relatively friendly tone between the two leaders.

   “The G20 summit in Hamburg is not even over, but it’s already made its way into history. While the world leaders were sitting in the comfortable and safe summit venue and discussing global issues, there was real trouble outside the window – protests raged on the street. Despite starting peacefully, demonstrators got into the groove and starting smashing the city with gusto.”

   The Washington Post wrote that the G20 meeting revealed deep divisions between the United States and other major powers on trade, climate and other issues.

   “The tensions were a measure of Trump’s break with previous US policies. They were also a warning signal of Washington’s diminished clout, as leaders of other nations who gathered in Hamburg mulled whether to fix their signatures to statements what would exclude Trump or find some sort of compromise.”

   Die Presse of Austria wrote that Trump is giving autocratic regimes an opportunity to play a greater international role.

   “For countries like China and Russia, whose autocratic regimes have had a hard time asserting themselves on the international stage, Donald Trump really is a godsend. They are now eagerly jostling to fill the vacuum he has created by pulling out of international commitments. China and Russia welcome every opportunity to split the Western powers. Because that boosts their significance. That is their only motive. They cannot, however, replace the US as partners for Europe.”

   The Italian daily La Repubblica writes:

   “The ‘match of the year’ was preceded by fear, suspicion and mistrust. When Trump spoke in Warsaw, he accused Putin of destabilizing Ukraine and Syria. The very next day in Hamburg, it was all jovial backslapping and optimism. Trump the chameleon, the improviser, the opportunist, the showman who follows his instincts and adapts to his audience (…) Putin, however, will always be better prepared and more devious; he will always manage to have the upper hand over Trump.”

   China’s state run Xinhua focused on President Xi Jinping’s call for G20 countries to foster an open world economy and trade to boost economic growth. “We must remain committed to openness and mutual benefit for all so as to increase the size of the global economic ‘pie,'” the paper quoted Xi as saying.

   Push for ‘political and peaceful settlement’of disputes: Xi | Decca Herald |

   President Xi Jinping today urged the BRICS countries to seek “political and peaceful settlement” of “regional conflicts and disputes”, amidst a standoff between India and China in the Sikkim sector and Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the disputed South and East China seas.

   Xi made the appeal at an informal leaders’ meeting of the BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, ahead of a Group of 20 summit in the German port city of Hamburg, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

   He pressed the BRICS members to unswervingly build an open world economy, champion multilateralism and promote common development. Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi, the meeting was attended by Brazilian President Michel Temer, Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Jacob Zuma.

   The five leaders exchanged views on the current international political and economic circumstances and the G20’s priorities, and reached important agreements on strengthening BRICS unity and coordination, jointly improving global economic governance and promoting sustainable development, the report said.

   Xi, also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party and head of the People’s Liberation Army, who presided over the meeting, said, “We should unswervingly follow multilateralism.” He also urged the five-member bloc to push for “political and peaceful settlement of regional conflicts and disputes,” the report said.

   ○ US Secretary of State Tillerson says ‘Syria’s fate is in Russian hands now’