person:vladimir putin

Will #Ukraine Ever Change ?

Denis Voronenkov, a former member of the Russian parliament, was walking out of the Premier Palace Hotel in Kiev on March 23 when he was killed in a hail of bullets. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko immediately blamed the Russian state for his murder. Voronenkov, a former supporter of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine who was accused of corruption in Russia and then fled to Kiev last year, had been a controversial figure. After his defection, he was given Ukrainian citizenship, denounced Putin and his policies, and, perhaps crucially, testified against Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s former president, who had fled to Russia when he was driven from power during the Maidan revolution of 2014.

http://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/judah_1-052517.jpg

What’s New in Japan-Russia Relations? | The Diplomat
▻http://thediplomat.com/2017/05/whats-new-in-japan-russia-relations

http://thediplomat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/thediplomat_2015-09-09_19-22-31-553x360.jpg

During a bilateral summit meeting in Moscow on April 27, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to make concrete progress toward deepening trust, resolving the issue of the disputed Northern Territories (also know as the Kuril Islands), and concluding a peace treaty. As no peace treaty was signed between Japan and Russia in the aftermath of World War II, the two countries are still technically at war.

The question of sovereignty over four disputed islands was set aside (as expected), but several tangible steps were taken. Notably, Japan and Russia agreed that a joint public-private survey mission would be sent to the Northern Territories as early as May to research how the two countries can pursue economic cooperation. Areas of research for potential cooperation include fish and sea urchin farming and ecotourism. This step is in line with Abe and Putin’s December agreement to launch talks on joint activities on the islands.

#japon #russie #asie

Putin-linked think tank crafted plan to swing election for Trump: report | TheHill
▻http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/329602-putin-linked-think-tank-crafted-plan-to-swing-election-for-trump-rep

A Moscow-based think tank linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin created a plan to swing the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Three current and four former U.S. officials told Reuters that two confidential documents obtained from the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies justify the conclusion reached by the U.S. intelligence community about Russia’s interference in the U.S. election.
[…]
A spokesperson for Sputnik dismissed the claims of U.S. sources, calling them an “absolute pack of lies” in a statement to Reuters.

Russia, the friend of our enemies

In Washington it’s becoming clear that the West’s real enemy in the Middle East is Iran, which wields power in Lebanon and Syria and is now trying for Yemen

Moshe Arens Apr 18, 2017
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.783861

An enemy of our enemies is our friend, and a friend of our enemies is presumably our enemy. So what should we make of Vladimir Putin, an enemy of the Islamic State, which is an enemy of Israel, but who is also a friend of Iran, Hezbollah and Syria, who are also enemies of Israel? Has Putin made the wrong choice?
Sergey Lavrov, Javad Zarif and Walid Moallem, the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, and Syria, sit in Moscow coordinating their positions, claiming the charge that Bashar Assad’s forces used chemical warfare on Syrian civilians is a complete fabrication, despite the incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. Putin no doubt knows the truth but has put his money on the Syrian president – who is allied with Iran – and has decided to stick with him for the time being. Presumably he is still counting on Assad to defeat his adversaries with the help of Moscow and Tehran, thus maintaining Russia’s military presence and influence in Syria. He has continued good relations with Israel, and yet backs forces that are pledged to Israel’s destruction. How has it come to this pass?
At least part of the answer is the attempts by ISIS, that zany radical Islamist group, to set up a caliphate spanning parts of Iraq and Syria, as well as the organization’s success with making inroads into Libya and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and spreading terror aimed at “nonbelievers” throughout the world. A worthy enemy for sure. A broad coalition has been formed to fight ISIS, and Assad insists he is a member of that coalition. Assad the terrorist is fighting terrorists and insists that he deserves the world’s sympathy and support. Putin, intent on fighting the Islamic State, has decided to help Assad “fight terrorism.”
U.S. President Donald Trump began going down the same path. At first he saw no need to replace Assad, since he was presumably fighting ISIS, the common enemy. In the profusion of “enemies” taking part in the bloody war in Syria, ISIS looked like the worst of the lot. But militarily, it turned out that it was also among the easiest to defeat. There was no need to ally oneself with Assad to accomplish that aim. If you fight alongside Assad, as the Russians are doing, you find yourself fighting alongside Hezbollah, which is financed, trained and equipped by Iran. Iranian militias are taking part in the fighting against ISIS in Mosul. How do you solve this puzzle?
Trump seems to have found his way out of this labyrinth by condemning Assad for using chemical weapons against civilians and sending him a message via 59 Tomahawks to make sure he and everyone else knows that he means business. Assad’s latest chemical attack against his own citizens dispelled any illusions people may have had about him – and his allies. Maybe the message will be coming through in Moscow as well.

Australia is in danger - Opinion - Israel News
The state Down Under recently revoked the visa of a noted Palestinian activist - the long arm of Israel is most apparent
Amira Hass Apr 12, 2017 4
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.782881

Why is the Australian government afraid of Bassem Tamimi, a Palestinian from the village Nabi Saleh? Last Wednesday, Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection revoked the entry visa it had given him a day earlier.

Tamimi, who with other popular resistance activists in his village and across the West Bank have managed to focus international attention on the evils of the Israeli occupation, was invited by a left-wing organization and some pro-Palestinian groups to hold a series of lectures and meetings in Australia. No less than Tamimi, they were shocked by the hysterical revocation of his visa. As expected, pro-occupation and pro-expulsion websites were delighted.

The revocation document, posted on the website of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), says “the [immigration] department has recently been made aware of information that indicates there is a risk that members of the public will react adversely to Mr. Tamimi’s presence in Australia regarding his views of the ongoing political tensions in the Middle East. his presence in Australia would or might pose a risk to the good order of the Australian community.”

Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin couldn’t have better formulated the rationale for silencing any opposition voice. What Tamimi has to say is displeasing to some anonymous parties, it says in Australian. Between the lines: These elements could run wild trying to silence him or disrupt events he participates in, and the Australian authorities would be helpless to confront them due to their power (political, financial, physical, or all of these combined). In other words, he constitutes a risk because others will abuse their power in order to silence him.

#Australie #Palestine #Israël

Not Just for the Sake of Syrians, but for Our Sake

Precisely the Arabs in Israel, who are fighting discrimination and oppression, must not stutter when it comes to the injustices perpetrated across the border

Odeh Bisharat Apr 10, 2017 12:16 AM
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.782651

What can the Arabs in Israel do for their Syrian brethren? They have no army, no diplomatic clout, no logistical capabilities that could allow them to offer civilian support. The only thing that remains is moral support – words. “You have neither horses nor treasure to give … so let the words rejoice if circumstances be grim,” said the poet Al-Mutanabbi. But the Arab leadership in Israel has failed in the realm of words as well.
The truth is that even if the Arabs in Israel manage to give verbal support to Syria’s citizens, that will not change the balance of power at all between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, or between Syrian President Bashar Assad’s murderers and the fanatics backed by Qatar. In the situation we’re in, the battle over what position should be taken toward Syria is a battle over the moral image of Arab society in Israel, over its attitude toward the terrible massacre going on across the border.
>> Israeli Arab party fails to condemn Assad’s gas attack in Syria, slams U.S. strikes <<
And if in the hard days of the chemical-weapons assault on Khan Sheikhoun almost none of the leaders of Arab society in Israel saw fit to condemn the Syrian regime, that’s cause for concern. Even those who did condemn it, by the way, did so weakly, to the point where it could not be said whether the statements were condemnation or commentary.
Condemnation of Assad produces furious responses from his supporters, as if he were Mother Theresa, censured out of nowhere. But Assad was part of a bloody regime even before the appearance of ISIS and the Nusra Front. On June 26, 1980, when Hafez Assad waited on the steps of the presidential palace to welcome an African guest, two bombs were thrown at him, miraculously missing their target. Revenge was quick to follow. The next day, June 27, at dawn, a group of some 60 soldiers, led by Muin Nassif, deputy of Rifaat Assad, the president’s brother, boarded helicopters and flew to the Tadmor Prison in the heart of the desert. There, the soldiers broke up into smaller groups and opened fire on the prisoners locked in their cells. Five hundred prisoners were murdered in cold blood. That story appears in Patrick Seale’s biography of the senior Assad.

#Syria #Palestine #Israel

Will Israel be a casualty of U.S.-Russian tension after Trump’s missile attack? - Syria - Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/.premium-1.782265

Putin might want to prove that an attack on Russia’s ally has implications for America’s ally. But Israel needs coordination with Russia over Syria’s skies

Zvi Bar’el Apr 08, 2017 7:30 AM
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013. AP
Analysis Syria strike marks complete turnaround in Trump’s policy
Analysis Trump challenges Putin with first Western punishment for Assad’s massacres since start of Syria war
Russia: U.S. strike in Syria ’one step away from military clashes with Russia’
A military strike was warranted but the likelihood was low − so U.S. President Donald Trump surprised everyone, as usual. Russian President Valdimir Putin was furious, Syrian President Bashar Assad screamed, but the 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired by the USS Ross and USS Porter weren’t just another tug-of-war or show of strength.
>> Get all updates on Trump, Israel and the Middle East: Download our free App, and Subscribe >>
Without a UN Security Council resolution and without exhausting diplomatic chatter, the U.S. strike on the air force base near Homs slapped Assad and Putin in the face, sending a message to many other countries along the way.
The military response was preceded by a foreign-policy revolution in which Trump announced that Assad can no longer be part of the solution. Only a few days earlier, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, announced that Assad’s removal was no longer an American priority.
Did American priorities change as a result of the chemical weapons attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun near Idlib, and will Trump now work to bring down Assad? Not yet. Will Trump renew the military aid to the rebel militias so they can fight the regime? Far from it.

Donald Trump after U.S. missiles strike Assad regime airbase in Syria, April 7, 2017JIM WATSON/AFP
>> Read top analyses on U.S. strike in Syria: Trump challenges Putin, punishes Assad for first time | Russia, Iran, denounce strike, Saudi Arabia praises it | Trump’s move could backfire | Trump’s 48-hour policy turnaround <<
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The American attack also provides no answers to the tactical questions. The Tomahawk missiles didn’t hit the warehouses where Assad’s chemical weapons may be stored, but rather the air force base where the planes that dropped the weapons took off.
It’s possible the chemical weapons are still safely stored away. The logic behind the attack on the air force base is understandable, but does it hint that Trump won’t hesitate to attack the person who gave the order and the president who gave the initial approval? For now the answers aren’t clear.
Trump did on a large scale what Israel has been doing on a smaller scale when it attacked weapons convoys leaving Syria for Hezbollah. Unless Washington decides to surprise us once again, it won’t return to being a power on the Syrian front, it won’t steal the show from Russia. Diplomatic efforts, as far as there are any, will be made without active American participation.
So the immediate and important achievement for Trump is an American political one: He tarred and feathered Barack Obama and proved to the Americans that his United States isn’t chicken. Trump, who demanded that Obama receive Congress’ approval before attacking Syria in 2013, has now painted Congress into a corner, too. Who would dare criticize the attack, even if it wasn’t based on “the proper procedures,” and even though the United States didn’t face a clear and present danger?

U.S. envoy to the UN Nikki Haley holds photographs of victims during a UN Security Council meeting on Syria, April 5, 2017. SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS
The question is whether as a result of the American cruise missile attack, Russia and Syria will opt for a war of revenge in order to prove that the attack didn’t change anything in their military strategy against the rebels and the civilian population. They don’t feel they need chemical weapons to continuously and effectively bomb Idlib and its suburbs. They don’t need to make the entire world man the moral barricades if good results can be achieved through legitimate violence, as has been going on for six years.
Such a decision is in the hands of Putin, who despite recent rifts with Assad is still committed to stand alongside the Syrian president against the American attack. This isn’t just defending a friend but preserving Russia’s honor. As recently as Thursday, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s support for Assad was unconditional and “it is not correct to say that Moscow can convince Mr. Assad to do whatever is wanted in Moscow.” But the Kremlin has said such things before, every time Russia has been blamed for Assad’s murderous behavior.
Read Russia’s response to the attack very carefully. Peskov called it “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law and on a made-up up pretext.” He didn’t embrace Assad and didn’t describe the attack as one that harmed an ally. And he didn’t directly attack Trump − just as Trump didn’t hold Putin responsible for the original chemical weapons attack.
It seems that despite the loud talk, which included a Russian warning about U.S.-Russian relations, neither country is keen to give Assad the ability to upset the balance between the two superpowers.
The only practical step taken so far by Russia − suspending aerial coordination between the countries over Syria based on the understandings signed in October 2015 − could turn out a double-edged sword if coalition planes start running into Russian ones. It’s still not clear if this suspension includes the coordination with Israel, which isn’t part of the Russian understandings with the United States.
But Putin is angry about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments about Assad, and might want to prove to Trump that an attack on Russia’s ally has implications for America’s ally. So he could freeze or cancel the agreements with Israel regarding attacks inside Syria.
This would mean the war in Syria puts Israel in the diplomatic crossfire too, not just the military one. It could find itself in a conflict between Trump’s policies and its needs for coordination with Russia.

Zvi Bar’el
Haaretz Correspondent

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إسرائيل تمتلك دليلًا على استخدام النظام السوري للكيميائي
▻http://elaph.com/Web/News/2017/4/1141850.html

أكد مصدر عسكري اسرائيلي كبير لـ"إيلاف" أن النظام السوري قصف خان شيخون بمواد كيميائية، وان سربًا من الطائرات قام بهذه العملية.

اضاف: النظام السوري يستخدم هذا النوع من المواد منذ فترة طويلة، حتى بعد الاتفاق على اخراج الاسلحة الكيميائية من سوريا في العام 2013، لافتًا الى ان المادة قد تكون الكلور وليس السارين.

المصدر الاسرائيلي، الذي رفض الكشف عن اسمه، قال إن اسرائيل تمتلك دليلًا قاطعًا على استخدام النظام للمواد الكيميائية، وان سرب الطائرات الذي قصف خان شيخون استعمل براميل متفجرة وقذائف معبأة بمواد كيميائية، الى جانب مواد أخرى، مؤكدًا بأنها ليست المرة الاولى، فقد قصف النظام مناطق المعارضة مرارًا بهذه المواد.

Cette fois-ci, plus de doute possible : dans le très saoudien Elaph, « une source israélienne importante [mais anonyme] affirme à Elaph que le régime syrien a bombardé chimiquement Khan Sheykhoun, et que c’est une escadrille qui a perpétré cette action. »

#syrie

Here are 10 critics of Vladimir Putin who died violently or in suspicious ways - The Washington Post
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/03/23/here-are-ten-critics-of-vladimir-putin-who-died-violently-or-in-susp

https://images.washingtonpost.com/?url=http://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2017/03/Ukraine_Killing_68796-709ec.jpg&w=1484&op=resize&opt=1&filter=antialias

Not everyone who has a quarrel with Russian President Vladimir Putin dies in violent or suspicious circumstances — far from it. But enough loud critics of Putin’s policies have been murdered that Thursday’s daylight shooting of a Russian who sought asylum in Ukraine has led to speculation of Kremlin involvement.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called the shooting in Kiev of Denis Voronenkov, a former Russian Communist Party member who began sharply criticizing Putin after fleeing Russia in 2016, an “act of state terrorism by Russia.”

#Poutine #Russie #opposants

The role Russia played in the Israel-Syria missile clash
Syria’s missile fire at Israeli warplanes may indicate that Assad and his Russian protectors are not fully coordinated.

Anshel Pfeffer Mar 19, 2017
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.777965

Over the six years of the Syrian war, dozens of airstrikes carried out against Hezbollah targets there have been ascribed to Israel. Until now the government has refused to acknowledge or deny them. Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman have stated publicly that Israel does attack in Syria to defend its strategic interests – in other words, preventing Hezbollah obtaining “balance-breaking” weapons for its arsenal in Lebanon. The attacks that took place early Friday were the first to be confirmed officially by the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson. While it remains unclear what the target or targets were – was it a Hezbollah convoy, a weapons factory or storage, and whether a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in the airstrike as some reports in the Arab media have claimed – a series of important questions arise from the little information that has been published.
>> With missile fire, Assad is trying to change the rules of the game | Analysis <<
First, why has Israel changed its policy and suddenly acknowledged an attack? Syria’s air-defense forces launched a long-range missile in an attempt to shoot down Israel’s fighter-jets. The missile was fired much too late to endanger the planes, but could have fallen on civilian areas within Israel and was therefore intercepted by an Arrow 2 missile. The loud explosion which was heard as far as Jerusalem and the missile parts that fell in Jordan meant that some explanation had to be given. But a statement on the missile intercept would have been sufficient. The decision to take responsibility for the attacks as well would have been made by the prime minister and may have been made for other reasons. 
Exactly a week before the attacks, Netanyahu was in Moscow discussing Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Few details have emerged regarding what was said in the meeting but Netanyahu said before and after that he made it clear that Israel would not agree to Iranian military presence in Syria, or that of Iran’s proxies, now that the civil war in the country seems to be winding down and Syrian President Bashar Assad’s rule has been preserved.
Whether or not this demand was met with a receptive audience, Netanyahu returned to Jerusalem with the impression that Putin takes Israel’s concerns seriously. An attack carried out by Israeli warplanes flying over Syria (and not using standoff missiles from afar as happened in other strikes recently) may be an indication that there is an understanding with Russia over Israeli operations within the area that Russia protects with its own air-defense systems.
Friday’s strikes resemble closely the pattern of the attack in December 2015 on a Damascus suburb in which nine operatives working for Iran were killed, including Samir Kuntar, the murderer of an Israeli family who had been released by Israel in a prisoner exchange in 2008 and was believed to be planning new cross-border raids. That strike took place just three days after Netanyahu and Putin had spoken by telephone and was the first to be carried out after Russia had placed an air-defense shield over large areas of Syria, including its capital.

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It was unlikely then, back in December 2015 and on Friday, that Israel would have attacked in Syria, within Russia’s zone of operations, if it thought the Kremlin would react with anger. The fact that it was the Syrian army which launched a missile against Israel’s warplanes, while there are much more advanced Russian air-defense systems deployed nearby, ostensibly to protect the regime, could also indicate that Assad and his Russian protectors are not fully coordinated. Assad is aware that Putin is discussing his country’s future with other world leaders, including Netanyahu. His belated attempt to shoot down Israeli planes could be a sign of frustration at his impotence to control both his destiny and his airspace.

Netanyahu en visite à Moscou : l’Iran en plat principal
RFI | Publié le 09-03-2017
▻http://www.rfi.fr/moyen-orient/20170308-israel-visite-netanyahu-russie-poutine-inquietudes-iran

Le Premier ministre israélien est attendu à Moscou ce jeudi 9 mars. Benyamin Netanyahu doit notamment s’entretenir avec le président russe, Vladimir Poutine. Et la crise syrienne sera au cœur de leurs discussions. La Russie est alliée au régime de Bachar el-Assad alors qu’Israël, voisin de la Syrie, est plus proche des rebelles. Derrière le sort syrien, c’est en fait la présence de l’Iran dans la région qui inquiète les Israéliens. Et Benyamin Netanyahu décrit cette rencontre comme « très importante pour la sécurité d’Israël ».

Avec notre correspondant à Jérusalem, Guilhem Delteil

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Putin urges Netanyahu to focus on present Iran ties
Mar. 09, 2017
▻http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2017/Mar-09/396794-putin-urges-netanyahu-to-focus-on-present-iran-ties.ashx

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Israel Thursday to focus on today’s “different world” after premier Benjamin Netanyahu evoked age-old tensions with Iran, ahead of a holiday marking an ancient victory.

In a meeting with Putin in Moscow, Netanyahu said Persia had made “an attempt to destroy the Jewish people that did not succeed” some 2,500 years ago, an event commemorated through the holiday of Purim, which Israel will celebrate Sunday and Monday.

“Today there is an attempt by Persia’s heir, Iran, to destroy the state of the Jews,” Netanyahu said.

“They say this as clearly as possible and inscribe it on their ballistic missiles.”

Adopting a more conciliatory tone, Putin said that the events described by Netanyahu had taken place “in the fifth century B.C.”

“We now live in a different world. Let us talk about that now,” Putin said.

The Plot Against Europe | Foreign Policy

▻http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/06/the-plot-against-europe

https://foreignpolicymag.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/putin.jpg

May 9, 2022 — Standing on the viewing platform in Red Square, President Vladimir Putin observed the military parade commemorating the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. This Victory Day, he had reason to be especially proud of his country.

Earlier that week, a group of 150 Russian special forces — bearing no insignia and disguised like the “little green men” who had occupied the Crimean peninsula eight years prior — had slipped into the tiny neighboring Baltic state of Estonia. Seizing a government building in Narva, a city on the border with an ethnic Russian majority, they planted a Russian flag on the roof and promptly declared the “Narva People’s Republic.” In a statement released to international media, leaders of the nascent breakaway state announced they were “defending ethnic Russians from the fascist regime in Tallinn,” Estonia’s capital. Most of Narva’s Russian-speaking citizens looked upon the tumultuous events with passivity. Ever since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, they suspected something like this would eventually happen.

#trump #putin #otan #guerre #europe

Du coup d’essai au coup d’État ?
Analyse du régime Trump en 24h chrono
Par Yonatan Zunger. (Traduction : Daniel G., Antoine B., Noam A.)
▻http://jefklak.org?p=3615

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Depuis son investiture à la Maison Blanche le 20 janvier, Donald Trump a déjà battu un record : celui du nombre de décrets. En moins de deux semaines, il a signé pas moins de vingt documents bouleversant l’ordre politique aux États-Unis, et portant sur des sujets aussi variés qu’essentiels : sécurité nationale, immigration, santé, industrie, énergie ou économie. Pas facile de tenir les comptes pour les états-unien.ne.s, et encore moins pour celles et ceux qui suivent cette course folle depuis la France. Jef Klak a décidé de traduire un billet de Yonatan Zunger paru le 30 janvier sur le site d’informations collaboratif Medium. Ce haut cadre de Google y analyse les dernières actions du président, pour une durée de 24 heures (ou presque), incluant les dispositions anti-immigration (Mur sur la frontière mexicaine et “Muslim Ban”) signées par la Maison Blanche. Il nous permet surtout de comprendre comment les dispositifs d’équilibre des pouvoirs (bureaucratie fédérale, Congrès, cours de justice) sont en passe d’être réduits à peau de chagrin, le pouvoir se resserrant dans les mains de la garde rapprochée de Trump – grippesous ultraconservateurs tendance extrême-droite.

Trump threatens Europe’s stability, a top leader warns - The Boston Globe
▻https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2017/01/31/trump-threatens-europe-stability-top-leader-warns/DMe7CwSVWjedUaFlBQswhJ/story.html

“For the first time in our history, in an increasingly multipolar external world, so many are becoming openly anti-European, or Eurosceptic at best,” Tusk wrote. The letter was released ahead of an EU summit meeting in Malta on Friday; Tusk is responsible for setting the agenda for the meetings.

“Particularly the change in Washington puts the European Union in a difficult situation; with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy,” he wrote.

The EU has been struggling to contend with fractious internal forces. Among them: the vote by Britain to leave the bloc, the organization’s failure to establish a unified response to the arrival of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, and the debt crisis that has driven many Greeks into poverty. And then there are external pressures like Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Before the election and since taking office, Trump has lauded the vote by Britain, known as Brexit, and said the country would thrive outside the EU. He met with Nigel Farage, a populist leader of the Brexit campaign, before seeing Prime Minister Theresa May. And at one point he went so far as to suggest that May appoint Farage as Britain’s ambassador to the United States.

Trump has also praised President Vladimir Putin of Russia and indicated he would pursue friendlier relations with Moscow, even as Russia encourages chaos on the EU’s eastern border.

Tusk’s letter does not reflect a new policy for the EU, and member states of the 28-nation bloc are not required to act on Tusk’s advice when they meet on Friday. But many European leaders have made their differences with Trump known.

After the United States said it was temporarily blocking refugees from entering the country, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany felt compelled to point out to Trump the obligations of nations under the Geneva Conventions to protect refugees of war on humanitarian grounds. And President François Hollande of France said he had reminded Trump that “the ongoing fight to defend our democracy will be effective only if we sign up to respect to the founding principles and, in particular, the welcoming of refugees.”

May, of Britain, sought in a meeting with Trump last week to confirm his commitment to NATO; he was dismissive of the alliance, the bedrock of European security, during his campaign.

Now, the sentiments expressed in Tusk’s letter are pushing European leaders’ exasperation with the US president further into the public view.

Tusk has sounded the alarm about the existential crises facing the bloc before, but never with the urgency he displayed in the letter. And he has never before included a longstanding ally like the United States in the list of challenges.

“An increasingly, let us call it, assertive China, especially on the seas,” he wrote, “Russia’s aggressive policy toward Ukraine and its neighbors, wars, terror, and anarchy in the Middle East and in Africa, with radical Islam playing a major role, as well as worrying declarations by the new American administration all make our future highly unpredictable.”

Much of the frustration Tusk displayed in his letter stemmed from what Guntram B. Wolff, director of Bruegel, a research organization in Brussels, said was Trump’s “de facto supporting” of populist forces that could further upend the European order.

Far-right populist challengers in France, Germany, and the Netherlands have adopted some of his antiestablishment rhetoric in their own campaigns.

Still, Wolff said it was unwise to enter into a war of words with the Trump administration.

“We need to uphold our values here, but does it mean that we need now a declaration where we put the United States on the same level as ISIS?” he said, using an alternative name for the Islamic State group. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think it that would be helpful in any way.”

The trans-Atlantic volley of opprobrium Friday included an accusation by Peter Navarro, the director of Trump’s new National Trade Council, that Germany was manipulating its currency to gain a trade advantage. Navarro told The Financial Times that Germany was using a “grossly undervalued” euro to “exploit” the United States and its partners in Europe.

That did not sit well with Merkel, who defended the European Central Bank’s independent role at a news conference on Friday: “Because of that we will not influence the behavior of the ECB. And as a result, I cannot and do not want to change the situation as it is.”

The value of the euro is near a 13-year low compared with the dollar, allowing German carmakers and other manufacturers to sell their goods more cheaply in the United States. But German firms also employ around 670,000 people in the United States, including many in a BMW factory in Spartanburg, S.C., the carmaker’s largest in the world, and a Mercedes factory in Tuscaloosa, Ala. These are the sort of manufacturing jobs that Trump says he wants to keep in the United States.

Jan Techau, director of the Richard C. Holbrooke Forum in Berlin, a research center dedicated to diplomacy, said Tusk’s letter was less a warning to the US president than it was a message to Europeans not to be lured away from union, or to be tempted away from the bloc by favorable bilateral ties offered by the Trump administration.

“He is encouraging everyone to fall into that trap,” Techau said of the US president.

Tusk, by contrast, is making the case for Europeans to stick together for their own survival.

“_He wants to remind them that there is something bigger at stake than just what they are going to be talking about in Malta,” Techau said.

Seymour Hersh Blasts Media for Uncritically Promoting Russian Hacking Story
Jeremy Scahill | January 25 2017
▻https://theintercept.com/2017/01/25/seymour-hersh-blasts-media-for-uncritically-promoting-russian-hacking-

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Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh said in an interview that he does not believe the U.S. intelligence community proved its case that President Vladimir Putin directed a hacking campaign aimed at securing the election of Donald Trump. He blasted news organizations for lazily broadcasting the assertions of U.S. intelligence officials as established facts.

Hersh denounced news organizations as “crazy town” for their uncritical promotion of the pronouncements of the director of national intelligence and the CIA, given their track records of lying and misleading the public.

“The way they behaved on the Russia stuff was outrageous,” Hersh said when I sat down with him at his home in Washington, D.C., two days after Trump was inaugurated. “They were just so willing to believe stuff. And when the heads of intelligence give them that summary of the allegations, instead of attacking the CIA for doing that, which is what I would have done,” they reported it as fact. Hersh said most news organizations missed an important component of the story: “the extent to which the White House was going and permitting the agency to go public with the assessment.”

Hersh said many media outlets failed to provide context when reporting on the intelligence assessment made public in the waning days of the Obama administration that was purported to put to rest any doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacking of the DNC and Clinton campaign manager John Podesta’s emails.(...)

#Seymour_Hersh

En Russie, la guerre contre les femmes est déclarée

Why Russia is about to decriminalise wife-beating | The Economist
▻http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21715726-it-fits-traditional-values-lawmakers-say-why-russia-about-decrim

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SHOULD it be a crime for a husband to hit his wife? In many countries this question no longer needs discussing. But not in Russia, where the Duma (parliament) voted this week to decriminalise domestic violence against family members unless it is a repeat offence or causes serious medical damage. The change is part of a state-sponsored turn to traditionalism during Vladimir Putin’s third presidential term. It has exposed deep fault lines. Many Russians now embrace the liberal notion of individual rights, but others are moving in the opposite direction.

Quds Arabi daily says Jordanian Operation’s Room has been closed; repression of pro-opposition Syrian “activists”
▻https://mideastwire.wordpress.com/2017/01/25/quds-arabi-daily-says-jordanian-operations-room-has-been-clos

@gonzo @nidal @loutre

▻http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=664502

On January 25, the Qatari-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the following report by its Amman Office Chief Bassam Bdareen: “The Jordanian political compass is about to change, though slowly, amid increasing talk in the closed decision-making rooms surrounding the need to alleviate the tone towards Iran, and prepare to deal with it as a “realistic” option. On the other hand, it was decided that King Abdullah II should head to Moscow to meet with its President Vladimir Putin, at a time when Kremlin announced that the bilateral summit will discuss the “anti-terrorism” plans. So, there was no need for Amman to wait for President Donald Trump’s inclinations to start seeking its interests in Moscow, seeing how Egyptian President Abdul Fattah es-Sisi is doing it, while Walid Fares, the advisor close to Trump’s administration, called on the Jordanians to pay attention, because from now on, all the regional files will be discussed in light of the American assignment to Russia.

“Something unannounced is happening behind the scenes in this regard, enhancing the conviction that talking to Moscow regarding any Jordanian file related to Syria would be the productive path to follow… As for the summit meeting between Abdullah II and Putin, it might end with the activation of the Russian security coordination centre against terrorism in Amman. And at this level exclusively, Amman is telling all the sides that the famous MOC 1 base, which was like an operations room for the support of the Syrian opposition, is closed, no longer exists, and is out of service, while the activities of its technical and political cells today are limited to the fighting of terrorism. Therefore, in light of the new equations, there is nothing preventing Moscow from truly considering the establishment of a Russian version of MOC 2, whose task would be limited to deterring the Islamic State organization, seeing how An-Nusra Front’s card is contained on the Jordanian and Israeli levels…

“In the meantime, fresh information acquired by Al-Quds al-Arabi revealed that the campaign of arrests which recently targeted 19 activists in the context of what was dubbed the “death or reform” meeting had regional roots, and followed the assessment of the Karak Castle terrorist operation, which was considered to be a regional message by a specific party. For its part, Moscow seems open to the discussion of details that are worrying Amman, and the presentation of guarantees regarding some basic Jordanian conditions, namely the containment of the movement of militias affiliated with Hezbollah, the Iraqi An-Najba’ Movement and the Revolutionary Guard around and inside Daraa, and the launching of actual discussions surrounding the recovery of the official crossing.

“What is pushing Jordan to take studied and slow steps in diversifying its contacts is its command’s wish to avoid any surprises that could thwart or downplay the importance of the Arab summit, which will be hosted by Amman at the end of March… This political diversification action, which former Prime Minister Samir Rifai had proposed through Al-Quds al-Arabi earlier, was apparently prompted by two noticeable and important developments, i.e. the wide retreat of the Saudi and American economic aid, and the public rivalry proclaimed against the Jordanian regime by the scenarios of the Israeli far-right…”

#Syrie #Jordanie

Le journalisme de nos jours : « non vérifiés, potentiellement invérifiables, et que nous n’avons pas pu vérifier », mais que nous publions tout de même :
▻https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/10/fbi-chief-given-dossier-by-john-mccain-alleging-secret-trump-russia-con

…later published the documents, which it said were “unverified and potentially unverifiable”.

The Guardian has not been able to confirm the veracity of the documents’ contents…

Je sais rien mais je dirai tout :
▻http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/11/14233898/cnn-bombshell-report-russia-blackmail-trump-explained-videotape-sex-money

We don’t know who CNN’s sources are or if those people’s information is accurate. We don’t know which Trump aides were allegedly dealing with the Russians or whether those Russians worked for Vladimir Putin’s government. And we don’t know the answer to the biggest question of them all: Just what does Russia have on Trump?

Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks undergo grueling prep for hearings - POLITICO
▻http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-cabinet-picks-confirmation-hearings-233322

They call them “#murder_boards” for a reason.

Seated beneath bright lights that mimic the conditions of a camera-packed hearing room, President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks are being put through hours-long mock confirmation hearings this weekend to prepare for the Senate grillings that may decide their fates.

Numerous murder-board sessions are being run in anticipation of one of the most consequential weeks for the Trump transition: Nine of the president-elect’s Cabinet picks, many of whom have no federal government experience, will face Senate questioning this week — including from hostile Democrats eager to score points on everything from the president-elect’s admiration of Vladimir Putin to the candidate’s wealth and potential conflicts-of-interest.

There Is Still No Hard Evidence For “Russian Hacking”
▻https://medium.com/mtracey/there-is-still-no-hard-evidence-for-russian-hacking-d7e12b6429db

[A] declaration from Democrats’ new favorite pundit, former George W. Bush speechwriter and Clinton voter David Frum, has been retweeted over 3,500 times in approximately three hours. Media superstars such as John Harwood and Peter Daou joined in on the retweeting action. How many casual news consumers cursorily saw this tweet, accepted it as accurate, and then continued on with their day? Many, many tens of thousands, surely. And yet what the tweet omits, as does most every other account of the contents of the laughably anticlimactic DNI report, is that this much-anticipated document contains no new evidence corroborating the Government’s claims regarding “Russian Hacking.”

#propagande #manipulation

Why I Still Don’t Buy the Russian Hacking Story - Leonid Bershidsky
▻https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-12-22/why-i-still-don-t-buy-the-russian-hacking-story

Hence, it’s hard for me to believe that this infected app — found somewhere on the internet and likely never used by Ukrainian soldiers — offers evidence tying the GRU to APT28. And that’s even if one accepts the initial logical leap to the GRU, as opposed to any of the other Russian spy services also involved in the Ukrainian conflict. I sincerely hope that when the U.S. intelligence community finally produces its findings on the election-related hacks, it will be more convincing. 

Don’t get me wrong. It stands to reason that Russian intelligence was interested in the U.S. election campaign, and it’s a distinct possibility that it leaked what it found to the press via WikiLeaks, despite the latter’s denials. Russian President Vladimir Putin dislikes Hillary Clinton, and he probably would have been happy to hurt her chances of getting elected — thus, by default, helping Trump. It’s all quite logical, which is why a third of Americans believe Russia influenced the outcome of the election.

In the real world outside of soap operas and spy novels, however, any conclusions concerning the hackers’ identity, motives and goals need to be based on solid, demonstrable evidence. At this point, it’s inadequate.

12月31日のツイート
▻http://twilog.org/ChikuwaQ/date-161231

The latest Papier! paper.li/ChikuwaQ/13277… Thanks to @lcm1pen @CMarcandier @sevelaure #art #cathealth posted at 09:13:30

Top story: Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I a… twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…, see more tweetedtimes.com/ChikuwaQ?s=tnp posted at 07:19:11

Top story: Behind the Lens: 2016 Year in Photographs – The White House – Medium medium.com/@WhiteHouse/be…, see more tweetedtimes.com/ChikuwaQ?s=tnp posted at 05:19:54

Top story: Heritage Foundation on Twitter: "Vladimir Putin respects two things:… twitter.com/Heritage/statu…, see more tweetedtimes.com/ChikuwaQ?s=tnp posted at 03:13:46

ま、いっかー blog.goo.ne.jp/kuru0214/e/874… posted at 02:41:08

Top story: En 2016, les cinémas français atteignent leur deuxième meilleur nive… www.lemonde.fr/cinema/article…, see more (...)

Russia ratifies bill on Turkish Stream gas pipeline - ENERGY
▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=238&nID=107480&NewsCatID=348

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Russia announced late on Dec. 16 that it had approved a bill to ratify the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline project.

The bill was passed by the Russian government and was sent to the Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the Kremlin said in a statement.

The Russian Energy Ministry and Foreign Ministry jointly prepared the bill on the project, which is meant to supply natural gas to Turkey and other countries through Turkey.

The Turkish Stream, announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a 2014 visit to Turkey, would carry gas from Russia under the Black Sea to Turkey’s Thrace region. One line, with 15.75 billion cubic meters (bcm) of capacity, is expected to supply the Turkish market, while a second line is set to carry gas to Europe.

The agreement on the project entered into force through publication in Turkey’s Official Gazette on Dec. 6.

Turkey’s parliament ratified a bill for the Turkish Stream agreement on Dec. 2 and it was signed into law by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

#russie #turquie #gaz #pipelines #mer_noire

Tragedy or triumph? Russians agonise over how to mark 1917 revolutions | World news | The Guardian

▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/17/russia-1917-revolutions-legacy-lenin-putin

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/814cc1be2844387c0906bcefbb417bbf83f82cec/0_477_3562_2136/master/3562.jpg?w=1200&h=630&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=crop&crop=faces%2Centropy&bm=normal&ba=bottom%2Cleft&blend64=aHR0cHM6Ly91cGxvYWRzLmd1aW0uY28udWsvMjAxNi8wNS8yNS9vdmVybGF5LWxvZ28tMTIwMC05MF9vcHQucG5n&s=d004277d6fcc28366dcd4f585fda8779

On a recent evening at Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery, Vladimir Lenin paced back and forth, debating the finer points of Marxist theory, Vladimir Mayakovsky thundered staccato lines of poetry from atop a pedestal, and the monk Grigory Rasputin mused ominously on the future of Russia.

The event, in which hundreds of modern Moscow’s artistic and creative elite dressed as tsarist-era aristocrats, ate black caviar by the spoonful and drank champagne, was the launch party for an ambitious new project designed to bring the events of 1917 to life for modern Russians 100 years later.

As the country enters the centenary of the tumultuous year that ended tsarism and ushered in the 70-year communist experiment, President Vladimir Putin faces the dilemma of how to commemorate the events that had such a huge effect on Russia and the world.

#urss #union_soviétique #soviétisme #révolution #1917

EU Fatigue Over Russia Sanctions Shows as Putin Reset Looms - Bloomberg
▻https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-12-15/eu-fatigue-over-russia-sanctions-on-display-as-putin-reset-looms

European Union differences over Russia were exposed as leaders arrived for their last summit of the year, underlining the 28-nation bloc’s fatigue with a sanctions regime that is losing support globally.

Even as EU leaders agreed to roll over economic penalties imposed on Russia over Ukraine, they sent divergent signals on whether to widen sanctions against the Kremlin in response to Russia’s bombing of civilians in Syria.

The mixed messages underscored the shifting mood in Europe as well as in the U.S. in favor of resetting relations with President Vladimir Putin even as Russian forces are blamed for escalating a humanitarian crisis in the final assault on the Syrian city of Aleppo.