Jun 12

Today’s News 12th June 2018

  • Trump And Kim Sign "Comprehensive" Letter To End Historic Summit

    Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un signed what the US president described as a “very important, comprehensive” document following the conclusion of their “really fantastic” whirlwind historic summit in Singapore, the first between a US president and North Korean leader that came after decades of hostility.

    “The letter that we are signing is very comprehensive, and I think both sides will be very impressed with the results,” Trump said as he sat alongside the North Korean leade at a large wooden table in front of a bank of U.S. and North Korean flags to endorse the document, the specific contents of which remain unknown.

    Kim added that the two countries would “leave the past behind” in signing the agreement. “The world will see the major change,” he added. “I would like to express gratitude to President Trump for making this meeting happen.”

    Trump said more information would come out “in just a little while” and did not say what the agreement entailed, but some have already managed to extract the key contents from the letter Trump held up.

    The letter says that the U.S. and North Korea “will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula,” and that North Korea “commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

    The pair also agree to “establish new U.S.-DPRK relations, and the two leaders “have committed to cooperate for the development of new U.S.-DPRK relations and for the promotion of peace, prosperity and security of the Korean Peninsula and of the world.”

    Notably, the U.S. and N. Korea agree to follow-on negotiations led by Sec. of State Mike Pompeo and a DPRK counterpart.

    In other words this is just the first of many summits.

    Speaking to reporters, Trump also said the he would “absolutely” invite Kim to the White House to continue their talks, meanwhile Kim called the document “historic” and said it would lead to a new era in the U.S.-North Korea relationship.

    “We had a historic meeting and decided to leave the past behind, and we are about to sign a historic document,” he said through a translator. “The world will see a major change.”

    Kim also thanked Trump for making “this meeting happen.”

    * *  *

    The ceremony concluded a summit meeting that appeared impossible just one year ago, when both men’s threats against each other fueled an growing nuclear crisis. Just last summer, Trump mocked the North Korean leader as “Little Rocket Man” as the two exchanged barbs over their weapons programs. Kim responded by dismissing the president as a “mentally deranged dotard” who would “pay dearly” for his threats against Pyongyang.

    Trump and Kim, however, appeared to have a friendly rapport during their day together at the Singapore island resort. “The past worked as fetters on our limbs, and the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles on our way forward. But we overcame all of them, and we are here today,” Kim said through a translator as the two met for the first time.

    The pair shook hands and met in a one-on-one setting before conferring with aides. The president even showed the North Korean leader the inside of his limousine after their sessions were over.  

    “It’s going great. We had a really fantastic meeting. A lot of progress. Really, very positive, I think better than anybody could have expected, top of the line, really good,” Trump said as he stood next to Kim after their meetings.

    He then said that “we’re going to take care of a very big and very dangerous problem for the world”.

    * * *
    The summit marked the first stage in a process that the US, Japan, China and South Korea, and certainly the rest of the wor;d hope will lead to denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula. Trump is scheduled to hold a press conference at 4pm local time to discuss the negotiations.

    As the two men walked through the Capello Hotel where the summit was held, Kim said to Trump that “many people in the world will think of this as a . . . form of fantasy . . . from a science fiction movie.”

    Yet where the market and watchers may be disappointed is that despite the optimistic rhetoric, the summit did not appear to produce an ironclad denuclearization agreement or a peace treaty to end the Korean War — two possibilities Trump raised ahead of the talks.

    Asked if Kim had agreed to denuclearize, Trump said, “we’re starting that process very quickly. Very, very quickly. Absolutely.” U.S. and North Korean officials worked down to the wire to bridge the gap between what the two nations say denuclearization means. The United States wants the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea, while Pyongyang wants disarmament across the Korean peninsula and other security assurances.

    On the night before the meeting, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters it would provide a “framework” for future negotiations.

    As we noted earlier, critics said a summit that ended without a declaration on denuclearization would amount to a propaganda win for Kim, elevating him to legitimacy on the international stage. Regional experts are also skeptical Kim will give up any of his weapons regardless of a declaration, saying the Kim family playbook is for the regime to make promises, drag out its efforts to carry out those pledges as it gets concessions and then later renege altogether.

    Analysts had expected both Trump and Kim to sell the summit as a success regardless of outcome since both have much at stake. At the signing ceremony, Trump said he was “very proud” of what happened Tuesday and thanked Kim, reiterating that it was an “honor” to meet.

    “I think our whole relationship with North Korea and the Korean peninsula is going to be a very much different situation than it has in the past,” Trump said. “We’ve development a very special bond.” Trump did not answer a reporter’s question on whether the two spoke bout Otto Warmbier, the American student who died, shortly after his release from North Korean imprisonment in a coma, exactly one year ago. As a reminder, in the lead up to the summit, North Korea released three other Americans who had been held hostage. Pompeo brought them home last month on the second of his two visits with Kim to lay the groundwork for Tuesday.

    After the ceremony, Trump and Kim walked back to the platform where they started the morning with a handshake, shaking hands once again. Responding to reporters, Trump, who prides himself on his dealmaking skills, called Kim a “worthy negotiator.”

    “We had a terrific day, and we learned a lot about each other and about our countries,” Trump said. “I learned he’s a very talented man. I also learned that he loves his country very much.”

    * * *

    The market reaction to the signing of the “broad” letter has been muted, with the won easing slightly and the USD/KRW climbing 0.2% to 1,077.45 after fluctuating between 1,072.85-1,078.10 in the lead up to the signing ceremony. South Korea’s currency rallied for five consecutive days to June 7 before slipping on Friday as traders bought the won ahead of the event. The gains were the longest winning streak since early January.

    “The market seems long on KRW ahead of the event,” says Masakatsu Fukaya, an EM currency trader at Mizuho Bank in Tokyo before the summit.“I am long KRW too. It’s hard to imagine a negative outcome”

    Commenting on the modest increase in Euro Stoxx 50 futures, Bloomberg notes that President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have signed a “very important” document, although we’re not sure yet what’s in it.

    Some analysts were outright disappointed, such as Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and macro strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd in Singapore who said that markets are struggling to find a reason to sustainably price in more risk-on as they want to see tangible outcomes: “Markets are saying OK, yes this a good thing. We’ve already priced in quite a bit.”

    He notes that this isn’t first time where we have a high-level agreement and some dispute thereafter; China trade talks is one famous example as Trump administration has got the penchant of getting quite frustrated quite quickly; he added that he is not quite sure yet how this will play out for the Korean won in the longer run because opening up North Korea could also mean South Korea would have to subsume some of the costs of integrating North Korea with the world.

    The bottom line came from Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia Pacific at Oanda, who said that there’s not much of a reaction as traders realize this is little more than the prologue to a long drawn out and lengthy process that could still go sideways,” said . “But this is good nonetheless for regional risk”.

     

  • Bill Clinton Notes Cultural Shift In "What You Can Do To Somebody Against Their Will"

    Bill Clinton just can’t seem to promote his new book without questions over sexual misconduct coming up!

    In a Thursday interview with PBS Newshour, Clinton, 71, suggested that “norms have changed” regarding “what you can do to somebody against their will” after host Judy Woodruff asked the former president for his thoughts on the changing standards that drove Democrat Al Franken to step down. 

    “I think the norms have really changed in terms of, what you can do to somebody against their will, how much you can crowd their space, make them miserable at work.” -Bill Clinton

    “You don’t have to physically assault somebody to make them, you know, uncomfortable at work or at home or in their other — just walking around. That, I think, is good,” Clinton continued. 

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    “I think that — I will be honest — the Franken case, for me, was a difficult case, a hard case. There may be things I don’t know. But I — maybe I’m just an old-fashioned person” said Clinton.

    Of note, Al Franken wasn’t accused of “crowding” anyone’s space. Several women said he “forcibly kissed” and groped them. 

    Meanwhile, according to a new Rasmussen poll, 53% of U.S. voters say Clinton is a sexual predator. 

    The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that just 24% of Likely U.S. Voters consider Clinton a victim of his political opponents. Fifty-three percent (53%) describe the ex-president as a sexual predator instead. Another 24% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) -Rasmussen

    Last week, Clinton erupted at NBC’s Craig Melvin over questions about Monica Lewinsky. Clinton accused Melving of giving a one-sided interview.

    “This was litigated 20 years ago. Two-thirds of the American people sided with me,” Clinton said. “They were not insensitive that I had a sexual harassment policy when I was governor in the ’80s. I had two women chiefs of staff when I was governor. Women were over-represented in the attorney general’s office in the ’70s for their percentage of the bar.”

    The former President continued, “I’ve had nothing but women leaders in my office since I left. You are giving one side and omitting facts.”

    Melvin defended himself, saying that he was “not trying to present a side.” 

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    In response, Juanita Broaddrick, who claims that Bill Clinton raped her on April 25, 1978 in an Arkansas hotel room, biting her upper lip so badly it was nearly severed, asks “WHY Doesn’t any reporter have the guts to ask about Bill Clinton about the sexual assaults and rape???” adding “Monica was Consensual!!!” 

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  • Jeweler Behind $2BN Indian Bank Fraud Reportedly Seeking Political Asylum In London

    Four months after news of India’s largest-ever banking scandal burst into the headlines when authorities discovered that a series of shell companies tied to a famous Indian jeweler had stolen nearly $2 billion from state-owned banks using an elaborate scheme, the location of the alleged mastermind – who fled with his uncle, also an alleged conspirator, before the fraud was discovered – is coming into focus. Though Indian police have been unable to track him down, Nirav Modi, an Indian jeweller known for building an international luxury brand, is reportedly in London, where he is trying to claim asylum from what he claims is a political persecution.

    Nirav

    Nirav Modi

    His presence – along with that of beverage baron Vijay Mallya – has the potential to complicate the relationship between the UK and India, as both men are seeking refuge from the Indian government in London, where Modi’s company has one store, according to the Financial Times.

    The case is the latest complicated diplomatic mess inherited by the UK’s Home Office not long after Russian businessman and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich withdrew his application to renew his British visa after it was delayed.

    As one senior UK foreign official told the FT: “There are always a number of complicated cases that add a little tension and spice to our relationship with India.”

    “But there is also an appreciation from both sides that we have a legal process that has to be gone through and that we are of course governed by human rights legislation.”

    The scandal rattled investors faith in India’s largely state-owned banking sector, and raised questions about how the fraud wasn’t detected years earlier. India’s banks have largely spurned the SWIFT network for international interbank payments, which purportedly made uncovering the fraud more difficult.

    What most people outside India don’t realize is that Modi is one of the country’s most visible businessmen, who launched one of the country’s few truly international brands, by selling his luxurious, western-style jewelry in India, London, New York and Hong Kong.

    The news that Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, were likely behind the country’s largest-ever bank fraud, shocked and surprised many. What was more surprising was the elaborate nature of the scheme. The two men worked bank insiders to help them use shell companies and fake letters of guarantee generated by Punjab National Bank to solicit loans from foreign branches of other Indian state-owned banks. The scheme, which went on for years, allegedly netted the conspirators $1.8 billion. The news, which broke back in February, sent shares of India’s largely state-owned and controlled banks spiraling lower.

    Both men reportedly left India in late January – just before the scandal broke, and Choksi’s location is still unknown. Meanwhile, an Indian court has issued warrants for the arrest of both men. Police have also shuttered Modi’s shops in India and seized jewellery from his stores, frozen his Indian bank accounts, and impounded his cars, including a Rolls-Royce and a Porsche. Still, India’s foreign affairs ministry confirmed to the FT that it hasn’t yet asked the UK for an extradition – instead, it’s waiting to hear from the country’s law enforcement agencies, which are “pursuing the case.”

  • Paul Craig Roberts: In The Western World, Truth Is An Endangered Species

    Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

    Nowhere in the Western world is truth respected. Even universities are imposing censorship and speech control. Governments are shutting down, and will eventually criminalize, all explanations that differ from official ones. The Western world no longer has a print and TV media.

    In its place there is a propaganda ministry for the ruling elite.

    Whistleblowers are prosecuted and imprisoned despite their protection by federal statue. The US Department of Justice is a Department of Injustice. It has been a long time since any justice flowed from the DOJ.

    The total corruption of the print and TV media led to the rise of Internet media such as Wikileaks, led by Julian Assange, a prisoner since 2012.

    Assange is an Australian and Ecuadorian citizen. He is not an American citizen. Yet US politicians and media claim that he is guilty of treason because he published official documents leaked to Wikileaks that prove the duplicity and criminality of the US government.

    It is strictly impossible for a non-citizen to be guilty of treason. It is strictly impossible under the US Constitution for the reporting of facts to be spying. The function of the media is to expose and to hold accountable the government. This function is no longer performed by the Western print and TV media.

    Washington wants revenge and is determined to get it. If Assange were as corrupt at the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, National Public Radio, MSNBC, etc., he would have reported the leaker to Washington, not published the information, and retired as a multi-millionaire with Washington’s thanks. However, unfortunately for Assange, he had integrity.

    Integrity today in the Western world has no value. You cannot find integrity in the government, in the global corporations, in the universities and schools, and most certainly not in the media.

    After leaving Assange, an Australian citizen, to Washington’s mercy since 2012, belated pro-Assange protests in Australia forced the US vassal state to come to Assange’s aid before the new corrupt president of Ecuador sells him to Washington for multi-millons of dollars by revoking his asylum.

    When the story was printed in the Sydney Morning Herald, the incompetent or brainwashed, or bought-and-paid-for journalist, Nick Miller, wrote:

    “Assange entered the embassy on June 19, 2012, after he had exhausted his appeals against an extradition order to go to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations. Swedish authorities have since closed their investigation, saying it couldn’t continue without Assange’s presence in their country.”

    Nick Miller has committed libel, whether from his ignorance or from pay.

    There was no extradition order from Sweden for Assange to be returned to Sweden “to face rape and sexual assault allegations.” No such charges were issued by the Swedish prosecutorial office, and no such charges were made by the women involved.

    The case had already been closed by the Swedish prosecutorial office, and the two women who willingly shared their beds with Assange did not press any charges. The Swedish female prosecutor, who many suspect reopened the closed case at the urging of Washington, wrote in the extradition request that she only wanted Assange for questioning.

    Normally, extraditions are not granted for questioning. There has to be actual criminal charges, and there were no such charges against Assange. However, under pressure from Washington, a corrupt UK court granted, perhaps for the first time in history, extradition for questioning.

    Assange’s attorneys understood that if Assange left his embassy refuge and travelled to Sweden to be questioned, there was nothing to prevent Sweden from turning him over to Washington to be tortured, as Washington does, into confession of some crime.

    Consequently, Assange’s attorneys told the Swedish female prosecutor, a person who seems shortchanged on integrity, that Assange would be available for questioning in his place of refuge. The prosecutor, showing her hand, refused to question Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. After refusing for many months while the presstitutes blackened Assange’s reputation as a “rapist who was escaping justice,” the sort of ignorant nonsense that Nick Miller writes, the prosecutor consented to go to London to interview Assange.

    As nothing incriminating emerged from the questioning and as neither of the women claimed that they were raped, the female prosecutor closed the case for the second time. But the corrupt British would not release Assange. They claimed that he was wanted for jumping bail, an argument that made no sense as the charge for his arrest had been dismissed. But Washington insisted, and British “justice” again served Washington instead of justice.

    The basis of the political assault on Assange came from the concern of one of his willing sex partners that he had not used a condom. With everyone worried crazy about HIV and Aids, the woman inquired at a Swedish public office if Assange could be required to take a HIV/Aids test. Assange, not realizing his vulnerability, apparently refused the test, and thus opened himself to a controversy that Washington immediately took advantage of. It is safe for rock stars to have groupies, but not for truth-tellers.

    If you understand the extreme extent to which the US government has gone, riding roughshod over many laws and traditions, to destroy Assange, perhaps you can understand the threats that the very few of us who have the education, experience, and integrity to tell you the truth live under.

    When I write an article, it does not inform me. I already know. When I inform you, I am doing so at my risk. I am not going to take this risk if readers do not support this website. I do this for you. If it is not important to you, I have no need to do it.

    You need to support truth-tellers as we are a disappearing breed under constant assault.

  • US-Backed Kurds Agree To "Unconditional Talks" With Syrian Government After Pentagon-Turkey Deal

    We’ve long predicted that the US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces currently holding a vast chunk of land in Syria’s northeast with the help of American coalition air power will naturally drift toward striking a deal with Assad, as the two sides have throughout the war exercised some degree of quiet cooperation against ISIS, foreign jihadists, and Turkish expansionism. 

    In a huge weekend development which has gone largely unnoticed by mainstream media, the political wing of the US-trained and supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced it is open to entering into unprecedented direct negotiations with the Assad government over the future of the country.

    US officer with fighter from Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria in 2017. Image source: AFP via Middle East Eye

    The Syrian Democratic Council, or SDC, is the political arm of the powerful alliance of mostly Kurdish and Arab fighters that make up the SDF, and on Sunday declared willingness to enter into “unconditional talks” with the Syrian government. 

    The London based international Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reports the following: 

    In a statement on Sunday, the SDC said it was committed to resolving Syria’s deadly conflict through dialogue, and would not “hesitate to agree to unconditional talks”.

    “It is positive to see comments about a summit for Syrians, to pave the way to start a new page,” it said.

    Leading SDC member Hekmat Habib told AFP that both the council and the SDF “are serious about opening the door to dialogue” with the regime.

    “With the SDF’s control of 30 percent of Syria, and the regime’s control of swathes of the country, these are the only two forces who can sit at the negotiating table and formulate a solution to the Syrian crisis,” he said.

    As Syria analyst Joshua Landis confirms, the surprise SDC announcement comes just days after a controversial deal reached between Turkey and the US for the withdrawal of Syrian Kurdish forces from Manbij. 

    Syrian Kurdish leaders were enraged by the agreement, announced over the weekend, which allows for US and Turkish forces to patrol the northern Syrian city — though the Syrian Kurdish SDF wrested the city from ISIS in a major 2016 offensive. Turkey has consistently demanded Kurdish withdrawal from Manbij after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan invaded northern Syria in his non-ironically named ‘Operation Olive Branch’ early this year, aimed primarily at annexing Afrin canton. 

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    Increasingly, America’s incoherent policy regarding the Kurds and Syria more broadly has put the more than 2000 US troops occupying northeast Kurdish heavy regions of the country in the middle of a Kurdish-Turkey-Damascus final showdown for the future of Syria. 

    As we remarked after Mattis’ weekend comments stating his desire to keep troops in Syria, Syria looks to be going the way of other major US wars: an open-ended situation short of success in which officials simultaneously are unable to come up with a plan to “win,” but will resist any pullout so they never completely lose.

    Both the Syrian government and Syrian Kurdish forces understand this well, and know that Syrians alone are the lasting stakeholders in the country — something increasingly obvious as the US appears to be handing over sovereign Syrian territory over to expansionist NATO ally Turkey. 

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    A Syrian Kurdish SDC official further stated of weekend developments, “We are looking forward, in the next phase, to the departure of all military forces from Syria and the return to Syrian-Syrian dialogue” — in a reference to both Turkish and US occupying forces. 

    We predicted this almost year a year ago in our analysis of Pentagon goals in northern Syria as it became clearer that Assad and Russia were emerging victorious in the 6-year proxy war:

    Though the US endgame continues to be the ultimate million dollar question in all of this, it appears at least for now that this endgame has something to do with the Pentagon forcing itself into a place of affecting the Syrian war’s outcome and final apportionment of power: the best case scenario for American power in the region being permanent US bases under a Syrian Kurdish federated zone with favored access to Syrian oil doled out by Kurdish partners, and we could now be witnessing the early phases of such negotiations. 

    But if indeed the Kurds are cutting separate deals with Russia, a US exit from Syria could be forced sooner rather than later.

    Notably, in a wide-ranging interview with RT News last month, President Assad issued an ultimatum to Syrian Kurdish militias backed by the US: “We’re going to deal with it by two options: the first one we started now opening doors for negotiations, because the majority of them [SDF] are Syrians. Supposedly they like their country, they don’t like to be puppets to any foreigners,” Assad said. 

    “If not, we’re going to resort … to liberating those areas by force. It’s our land, it’s our right, and it’s our duty to liberate it, and the Americans should leave. Somehow they’re going to leave,” Assad added while speaking to RT. 

    While it appears the Pentagon is now (predictably) selling out the Kurds to Turkey, Assad has consistently taken a pragmatic approach in dealing with the US-backed SDF, reminding them that no foreign supporters could possibly have Syrian best interests in mind: “either you have a country or you don’t have a country” he said in the RT interview of the foreign invasion of Syrian soil over the past years of war. 

    Should SDC-SDF and Syrian government negotiations come to full fruition, this could mark lasting peace and the final exit of foreign forces, American troops foremost among them. 

  • Pepe Escobar: Putin & Xi Top The G6+1

    Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

    All hell broke loose at the G6+1, aka G7, while the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) aimed at global integration and a peaceful multipolar order…

    East vs. West: the contrast between the “dueling summits” this weekend was something for the history books.

    All hell broke loose at the G6+1, otherwise known as G7, in La Malbaie, Canada, while all focused on divine Eurasian integration at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in China’s Qingdao in Shandong, the home province of Confucius.

    US President Donald Trump was the predictable star of the show in Canada. He came late. He left early. He skipped a working breakfast. He disagreed with everybody. He issued a “free trade proclamation”, as in no barriers and tariffs whatsoever, everywhere, after imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on Europe and Canada. He proposed that Russia should be back at the G8 (Putin said he has other priorities). He signed the final communiqué and then he didn’t.

    Trump’s “I don’t give a damn” attitude drove the European leaders assembled in Canada crazy. After the official photo shoot, the US president grabbed the arm of new Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and said, in ecstasy, “You’ve had a great electoral victory!”

    The Euros were not pleased and forced Conte to abide by the official EU, as in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s, policy: no G8 readmission to Russia as long as Moscow does not respect the Minsk agreements. In fact it is Ukraine that is not respecting the Minsk agreements; Trump and Conte are fully aligned on Russia.

    Merkel, in extremis, proposed a “shared evaluation mechanism”, lasting roughly two weeks, to try to defuse rising trade tensions.

    Yet the Trump administration does not seem to be interested.

    “Strategic” game-changer

    Meanwhile, over in Qingdao, the stunning takeaway was offered predictably by Chinese President Xi Jinping; “President Putin and I both think that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership is mature, firm and stable.”

    This is a massive game-changer because officially, so far, this was a “comprehensive partnership.” It’s the first time on record that Xi has put the stress on “strategic”. Again, in his own words: “It is the highest-level, most profound and strategically most significant relationship between major countries in the world.”

    And if that was not far-reaching enough, it’s also personal. Xi, referring to Putin and perhaps channeling Trump’s bonhomie with leaders he likes, said, “He is my best, most intimate friend.”

    Heavy business, as usual, was in order. The Chinese partnered with Russian nuclear energy giant Rosatom to get advanced nuclear technologies and diversify nuclear power contracts beyond its current Western suppliers. That’s the “strategic” energy alliance component of the partnership.

    In a trilateral Russia-China-Mongolia meeting, they all vowed to go full steam ahead with the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor – one of the key planks of the New Silk Roads, known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

    Mongolia once again volunteered to become a transit hub for Russian gas to China, diversifying from Gazprom’s current direct pipelines from Blagoveshchensk, Vladivostok and Altai. According to Putin, the Eastern Route pipeline remains on schedule, as does the US$27 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Yamal being financed by Russian and Chinese companies.

    On the Arctic, Putin and Xi went all the way for developing the Northern Sea Route, including crucial modernization of deep-water ports such as Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, and investment in infrastructure. The added geopolitical cachet is self-evident.

    Putin had said last week that annual trade between Moscow and Beijing will soon reach US$100 billion. Currently, it stands at US$86 billion. Now Russian businesses venture the possibility of reaching US$200 billion by 2020 as feasible.

    All this frenzy of activity is now openly described by Putin as the interconnectivity of BRI and the Russia-led Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU). Not to mention that the SCO itself interconnects with both BRI and the EAEU.

    Putin told Chinese TV channel CGTN that though the SCO began as a “low-profile organization” [back in 2001] that sought merely to “solve border issues” between China, Russia and former Soviet countries, it is now evolving into a much bigger global force.

    In parallel, according to Yu Jianlong, secretary general of the China Chamber of International Commerce, the SCO has now gathered extra collective strength to harness BRI expansion to increase business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

    So it’s no wonder companies from SCO nations are now being “encouraged” to use their own currencies to seal deals, bypassing the US dollar, as well as building e-commerce platforms, Alibaba-style. So far, Beijing has invested US$84 billion in other SCO members, mostly in energy, minerals, transportation (including, for instance, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway), construction and manufacturing.

    Putin also met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the SCO and vowed in no uncertain terms to preserve the Iranian nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.

    Iran is a current SCO observer nation. Putin once again reaffirmed he wants Tehran as a full member. The SCO charter determines that “a dialogue partner status can be granted to a country that shares the goals and principles of the SCO and wants to establish relations based on equal and mutually profitable relationship.”

    Iran, as an observer, fulfills the commitment. The spanner in the works happens to be tiny Tajikistan.

    Enter the trademark convoluted internal politics of the Central Asian stans, in this case revolving around Tajik president Emomali Rahmon accepting Saudi Arabia’s acquisition of a 51% stake in Tajikistan’s largest bank. Nobody else wanted it; Riyadh was just buying influence.

    All SCO full members must be approved unanimously. Still, that won’t prevent larger economic integration between Iran, Russia and China. The talk in the SCO corridors was that Chinese companies expect an extra bonanza in the Iranian market after the unilateral Trump pullout of the JCPOA.

    Behind closed doors, as diplomats told Asia Times, the SCO also discussed the crucial plan devised by the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, an Asia-wide peace process with Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan trying to finally solve the decades-long tragedy without Western interference.

    So what about a G3?

    The “dueling summits” clearly set the scene. The G7 meeting at La Malbaie represented the dysfunctional old order, dilacerated by largely self-inflicted chaos and its apoplexy at the Rise of the East – from the integration of BRI, EAEU, SCO and BRICS, to the yuan-based gold-backed oil futures market.

    In contrast to the G7’s full spectrum dominance doctrine of total military superiority, Qingdao represented the new groove. Implacably derided by the old order as autocratic and filled with “democraships” bent on “aggression”, in fact it was a graphic illustration of multi-polarity at work, the intersection of four great civilizations, an Eurasian Café debating that another, non-War Party conducted future is possible.

    In parallel, diplomats in Brussels confirmed to Asia Times there are insistent rumbles about Trump possibly dreaming of a G3 composed of just US, Russia and China. Trump, after all, personally admires the leadership qualities of both Putin and Xi, while deriding the Kafkaesque EU bureaucratic maze and its weaklings, currently represented by the M3 (Merkel, Macron, May).

    In Europe, no one seems to be listening to informed advice, such as provided by Belgian economist Paul de Grauwe, who’s pleading for Frankfurt and Berlin to manage a common debt, without which the EU won’t survive the sovereign crises of individual members.

    Trump, for all his dizzying inconsistencies, seems to have understood that the G7 is a Walking Dead, and the heart of the action revolves around China, Russia and India, which not by accident form the hard node of BRICS.

    The problem is the US national security strategy, as well as the national defense strategy, advocate no less than Cold War 2.0 against both China and Russia all across Eurasia. All bets are off, however, on who blinks first.

  • Why Does Imran Awan Work At His Clinton-Linked Attorney's Law Firm?

    A stunning video by investigative journalist Jason Goodman of Crowdsource the Truth reveals that Pakistani IT worker Imran Awan is reportedly answering phones at the office of his attorney, Chris Gowen. 

    Gowen notably worked for both Bill and Hillary Clinton in various capacities.

    Gowen is a founding partner of Gowen, Rhoades, Winograd and Silva law firm, with offices in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, Penn.

    His official bio on the firm’s web site notes that he “left the Public Defender’s office to work for former President William Jefferson Clinton and then-Senator Hillary Clinton. Chris was a fact checker for President Clinton’s memoir, ‘My Life.’”

    “He also served as a traveling aid for President Clinton’s national and international trips. Chris finished his tenure with the Clintons by directing the advance operations for then-Senator Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign.”

    Conservative Review — which first reported Gowen’s extensive Clinton connections Wednesday — said they also include work for the Clinton Foundation and its Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Health Access Initiative. –Daily Caller

    In the video, Goodman can be seen visiting the law offices of Awan’s attorney, where he asks to speak with the former House IT staffer. After his request was denied, Goodman asks: “Is Imran here?“, to which the employee replies “Uh, he is, why?“

    Goodman responds “‘Cause it sounds like he’s answering your phones,” which drew the retort “What’s your point?” 

    “Is he working for you?” asks Goodman, to which the employee whispers back “Go away.” 

    Watch: 

    Awan and several family members worked for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz along with 20% of House Democrats as IT staffers who held – as the House Inspector General called it – the “keys to the kingdom,” when it came to accessing confidential information on Congressional computer systems. He is currently on trial on allegations of bank fraud unrelated to his work in Congress, while potential crimes committed go unprosecuted. 

    Awan was arrested one day after reports emerged that the FBI had seized a number of “smashed hard drives” and other computer equipment from the residence Imran Awan, the IT aide of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, we learn that Awan has been captured at the Dulles airport while attempted to flee the country. While charged with bank fraud, there is ample evidence that the Awans were spying on members of Congress through their access to highly-sensitive information on computers, servers and other electronic devices belonging to members of Congress. 

    After months of delays Imran Awan and his wife Hina Alvi, appear to be about to slide right out of a D.C. courtroom with a plea deal in their bank fraud case – while a litany of far more serious allegations documented by the Daily Caller‘s Luke Rosiak remain unprosecuted.

    “Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, were charged last summer with bank fraud. They now appear poised to strike a plea deal with the Department of Justice. A plea agreement hearing is set for July 3 before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan in Washington,” –Fox News

    President Trump wasn’t too pleased with the rumored plea deal:

    Meanwhile, as we noted last week, the judge in the Awan case, Tanya Chutkan, was appointed to the D.C. US District Court by President Obama on June 5, 2014, after Chutkan had contributed to him for years.

     

     

    Prior to her appointment to the District Court, she was a partner at law firm Boies Schiller & Flexner (BSF) where she represented scandal-plagued biotechnology company Theranos – which hired Fusion GPS to threaten the news media. Because of this, Chutkan had to recuse herself from two cases involving Fusion GPS.

    So we’ve got Imran Awan working for his Clinton-linked attorney, appearing in for his fraud trial in front of an Obama-appointed Judge – perhaps about to receive a plea arrangement – while a litany of allegations against the Awans including high level espionage remain uninvestigated. 

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  • Kim Heralds "Prelude To Peace" At Historic US-North Korea Summit

    The world is crossing its fingers (even Maxine Waters)…

    The Handshake…

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    Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs reports that Kim Jong Un told Trump, after their handshake and before their one-on-one meeting:

    “Many people in the world will think of this as a scene from a fantasy … science fiction movie.”

    Walking to the meeting…

    “It’s my honor — we will have a terrific relationship, I have no doubt,” President Trump says as he sits down with Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

    “The way to get here was not easy…but we overcome all the obstacles to get here,” replies Kim Jong Un.

    After their one-on-one talks, Pres Trump and Kim Jong-un joined their delegation members for an expanded bilateral.

    On the brief walk there, Trump asked how things were going: “Very, very good. Excellent relationship.”

    Once at the expanded bilateral, Trump tuned everyone out and focused laser-like on Kim.

    Kim: “We overcame speculation about this summit… I believe this is a good prelude for peace.”

    Trump: “We will solve it, we will be successful… I look forward to working on it with you.”

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    The Trump-Kim Summit just reached the two-hour mark…

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    And amid it all CNN…

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    *  *  *

    Contrary to rumors spread early Monday by the Washington Post, international media has confirmed that the denuclearization of North Korea is, in fact, on the agenda – as is the easing of US economic sanctions.

    Achieving this would require much more than the removal of weapons…

    *  *  *

    Dennis Rodman getting choked up on CNN…

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    The following is a rough outline of President Trump’s schedule for the (all times are Singapore local time):

    • 09:15 Trump to meet North Korean leader Kim at the Capella Hotel, Sentosa (estimated to be a 45 minute meeting)
    • 10:00 A bilateral meeting, involving Pompeo, Kelly & Bolton
    • 11:30 Working lunch
    • 16:00 Trump
    • 18:30 Trump leaves for Air Force One
    • 19:00 Departs Singapore

    POTUS exits his limo…

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    Kim exits his limo…

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    Kim’s motorcade arrives at the summit hotel…

    POTUS arrives at the hotel:

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    Kim heading to The Summit…

    Trump heading to the hotel where the Summit is being held…

    Activists hold a vigil outside the White House to celebrate the joint summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held in Singapore.

    *  *  *

    After a year of vitriolic sound, fiery tweet fury, and hidden diplomacy, the day has arrived when President Trump will meet face-to-face with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday.

    Kim prepared by sightseeing some of Singapore’s finest nightlife…

    And selfies with the Singapore minister of Foreign Affairs…

    And after meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong…

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    Trump’s team hunkered down…

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    A successful summit could lead to a peace that has been elusive for 50 years; an unsuccessful summit would offer the left yet more ammunition to attack the current administration as having been ‘duped’ and before the summit had begun, Trump had some choice words for the naysayers… ” The fact that I am having a meeting is a major loss for the U.S., say the haters & losers,” Trump tweeted, then explaining where they are wrong: “We have our hostages, testing, research and all missle launches have stopped, and these pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say! We will be fine!”

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    And sure enough, just an hour before the historic meeting, the House Democrats chimed in with Nancy Pelosi explaining solemnly what a “historic opportunity” this was – setting the scene for their post-summit PR blitz to play down any and every achievement – and furthermore demanding that the ever-so-helpful Congress “must weigh in on any US-North Korea deal.”

    Democrats say they are hope Trump can pull a strong deal off, though they express worry he could accept a bad deal just to secure an agreement.

    “We don’t want the president to fail at this,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) told reporters this week. “We want him to succeed. The stakes for our nation are simply too great. We all want diplomacy to succeed. But, if the president signs on to any deal, even if it’s a bad deal, simply because he wants a deal, that would be a huge mistake.”

      As The Hill reports, The Trump-Kim meeting will be a first for a sitting U.S. president and North Korean leader, and the picture would have seemed unthinkable just a year ago.

      “No matter what happens, President Trump and Kim Jong Un are going to call it a success because both leaders are invested in this and they want to,” Sue Mi Terry, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said at a press briefing.

      The history is short and often not so sweet. As The Hill details, Trump took office having been warned by President Obama that North Korea would be his gravest challenge.

      Tensions boiled almost immediately as Pyongyang began a barrage of missile tests during Trump’s first months in office.

      The tests culminated in November’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that North Korea said could reach the entirety of the United States.

      North Korea also conducting its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September, which Pyongyang said was a successful hydrogen bomb detonation.

      Trump responded to the provocations with provocative rhetoric, belittling Kim as “Little Rocket Man” and threatening “fire and fury.” The Trump administration also launched a “maximum pressure” campaign that sought to choke North Korea with sanctions.

      Then came the new year, an Olympics in South Korea and change.

      Kim used his New Year’s address to suggest a diplomatic opening: sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

      “I think that was a very shrewd move on Kim Jong Un’s part,” Terry said. “North Korea knew just the line to stop. They didn’t go further. They didn’t conduct — remember, we were worried about North Korea conducting atmospheric nuclear tests and going further. But they just stopped right before they crossed that line.”

      The Olympics-inspired diplomacy led to more talks with the South, during which the North extended an invitation for Trump to meet with Kim.

      When the South Koreans visited Washington to relay the invitation in March, Trump accepted on the spot.

      Since then, U.S. and North Korean diplomats have been trying to bridge the gap between the two countries’ definition of denuclearization.

      Instead of “rocket man,” Trump has been calling Kim a “very honorable” man.

      The summit was thrown into doubt late last month after North Korea took exception to comments from national security adviser John Bolton and made clear its definition of denuclearization includes concessions from the United States. Trump canceled the meeting, but decided to move ahead with it a week later after a visit to Washington by a top North Korean official.

      *  *  *

      But here we are, and President Trump sounds hopeful:

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    • Contagion: Suicide Hotline Calls Jump 25% After Celebrity Deaths

      When the headlines broke that celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain took his own life just days after designer Kate Spade killed herself, and almost two months after Avicii ended his life, mental health experts raised concerns about a suicide contagionvibrating through America.

      Last week, the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) spiked by more than 25 percentafter the latest round of celebrity deaths.

      “When I heard about Bourdain, I was sad for him and for all the people who were going to hear about it, and I am also sad for people who might be influenced by it,” said Madelyn Gould, a professor of epidemiology in child psychiatry at Columbia University.

      Gould, who has conducted extensive research on “suicide contagion” trends for years, said, “research has shown that the phenomenon is real and suggests that media coverage of celebrity deaths, in particular, can influence those who are vulnerable or at risk and can lead to a spike in suicide rates.”

      “The deaths of two high-profile people by suicide this week has much more of an impact than less well-known individuals,” Gould said.

      Whenever a celebrity commits suicide — a flood of calls normally hits the hotline, Director John Draper of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline told The Wall Street Journal. Draper said that the surge in calls started shortly after Kate Spade’s death, then peaked again during Bourdain’s death last week.” Calls jumped 25 percent in the two days after her death, compared with the same period the previous week,” Draper added.

      Draper said that people often feel connected to celebrities, which there can be a “collective sense of loss that many people feel.”

      Alan Ross, executive director of Samaritans suicide prevention center in New York, said the surge in calls that hotlines experince might not be a direct correlation of hearing about a celebrity’s death. In some cases, individuals who are already mentally unstable might have been triggered to seek help when the news of a celebrity death occurs.

      “The random number of things that can stimulate people who are already likely to get worse is so varied,” he said. “When there is promotion and marketing and in some ways acceptance, yeah, it does drive people to reach out.”

      The deaths of Bourdain and Spade came the same week the CDC published a shocking report that suicides across America have climbed 30 percent since 1999 — and is now the country’s tenth-leading cause of death. In 2016, nearly 45,000 Americans ten years old or older died by suicide, according to the CDC.

      Suicide Statistics

      Suicide rates have increased in almost every state since 1999, with the exception of Nevada, which already maintained one of the highest rates in the country. Western and Midwestern states like Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, and Oklahoma saw some of the most significant increases in rates.

      “I have been learning as a nation we have seen increases and decreases over time in suicide,” said CDC principal deputy director Dr. Anne Schuchat. “Increases mostly seem to correlate with economic downturns.”

      Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer on Sunday asked the federal government for an increased spending bill for more suicide-prevention programs. Programs that have been “flat-funded include the Suicide Lifeline hotline, which has received $7 million annually since 2013”, he said. Schumer noted that a New Yorker dies by suicide every five hours.

      The current trends in suicide rates across America have developed into a contagion sparked by the Dot Com bust and 2008 economic crisis — continuing to spread across the country like wildfire.

      The latest round of celebrity suicides confirmed that many Americans dialed the hotline, as they also had thoughts about ending their lives.

      Besides the massive gap in wealth/health inequality plaguing much of the middle class, America’s love affair with mind-altering prescription drugs could be one of the many reasons producing structural decay.

      President Trump continues to spoon feed the vanishing middle class with the hope and hype narrative that the U.S. economy is now magically the “greatest in history,” meanwhile structural decay proves otherwise.

      Suicide trends across America are so bad that even Hollywood had to bring together a bunch of celebrity stars to rap about the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, in a 2017 music video, called 1-800-273-8255.

      As it has been understood, Hollywood is the propaganda arm of Washington, and the elected and unelected elites know that the empire is starting to unravel, as their failed fiscal, monetary, and social policies have produced massive amounts of inequality triggering the latest wave of suicides.

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