VIF News Digest: International Developments (21-27 May, 2018)

USA

Trump casts Doubt on U.S.-North Korea Summit as he meets with South Korea's Moon to Salvage it, 22 May 2018

President Trump threw plans for next month's historic summit with North Korea into greater uncertainty Tuesday even as he met at the White House with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in to try to keep the diplomatic breakthrough on track. "It may not work out for June 12," he told reporters at one point, then further confused the issue by adding, "There's a good chance that we'll have the meeting."

Trump refused to fully commit to the session in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, vowing to attend only if U.S. conditions are met. North Korean denuclearization, the president said, "must take place," but he stopped short of demanding that Kim end his nuclear weapons program all at once. "All-in-one would be nice," Trump said. "Does it have to be? I'm not sure I want to totally commit myself." Click here to read... [2]

Donald Trump Calls Xi a 'World Class Poker Player,' Suggesting He Changed North Korea's Mind about Meeting, 22 May 2018

President Donald Trump called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a master poker player, suggesting that China may be playing North Korea and the United States off each other in a lead up to the historic summit scheduled to take place between the two countries on June 12.

Speaking to reporters during a joint press conference in the Oval Office with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had become less willing to negotiate after visiting China on a surprise trip in early May. The North Korean leader met with Xi twice during a 40 day period.

“I think there was a change in attitude from Kim Jong Un after his meeting with Xi. There was a difference after Kim Jong Un left China the second time. President Xi is a world-class poker player. Maybe nothing happened, I'm not blaming anybody. But there was a different attitude from the North Korean folks after that second meeting,” Trump said during the press conference, after stressing that he has a good personal relationship with President Xi. Click here to read... [3]

Sen. Bob Corker turned down U.S. ambassador spot: Report, 22 May 2018

Sen. Bob Corker turned down an offer to become the US ambassador to Australia, the Tennessean reported on Tuesday. “At the end of the day though … it just felt like it wasn’t the right step,” Mr. Corker, Tennessee Republican, said.
The senator said he was approached about the job a few weeks ago and had conversations with both President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Other candidates considered include retiring Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Jeff Flake of Arizona. " target="_blank">Click here to read... [4]

US Justice Department expands Probe to add 'Campaign Infiltration', 21 May 2018

The US Department of Justice says it is expanding an internal inquiry after President Donald Trump suggested the FBI "infiltrated" his 2016 campaign. The department said on Monday it will look for any "political motivation" in its own inquiry into alleged Russian election meddling in the US. Mr. Trump later backed the move after meeting top justice and FBI officials at the White House. He is angry that a confidential source was used during the investigation. And he has said he wants to know whether a member of the Obama team ordered such a move.

But Democrats and members of the intelligence community have warned against unmasking a source because they say this puts lives at risk. Click here to read... [5]

Pompeo’s Iran Plan: ‘Tell Them to Give Up’, 21 May 2018

Since President Trump renounced America’s commitments under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal this month, the question has been what comes next. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced what he expected to happen — Iranian capitulation. In a belligerent speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation, Mr. Pompeo said the administration intended to use all of America’s economic and military might if Iran did not stop uranium enrichment, developing nuclear-capable missiles and supporting Hezbollah, Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iranian forces in Syria.

The demands — 12 points in all — are so extensive that it is unlikely Iran could comply any time soon, even if it wanted to. And any benefits it would achieve in exchange — sanctions relief, the re-establishment of diplomatic and commercial relations — would be at some unspecified point in the future. Click here to read... [6]

India plans to Buy Choppers from US, 22 May 2018

India is considering a $2-billion proposal to procure multi-role helicopters for the Indian Navy through a direct government purchase from the US. The proposal could go ahead given a critical requirement of the Navy for choppers that can undertake missions ranging from anti-submarine operations to fire support and early warning at sea. The proposal under the foreign military sales route is to purchase 24 of the advanced MH 60 ‘Romeo’ choppers that can be deployed from warships and is being considered as the fastest way to add the capability to the Navy, rather than a competition that could take years to finalise. Click here to read... [7]

5 Big Questions the FBI Hasn’t Answered on its Conduct during the 2016 Campaign, 22 May 2018

At least 19 House Republicans are sponsoring a resolution calling for a special counsel to investigate the conduct of the Justice Department and FBI during the 2016 election campaign. For a year now, special counsel Robert Mueller and his team have investigated Russia’s meddling in the presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. The resolution calls for a second special counsel to look at how the Justice Department handled the probe of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state, how the Russia investigation regarding President Donald Trump began, and potential abuse of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The 12-page measure, if approved, would be a “sense of Congress” resolution and would not bind the Justice Department. Click here to read... [8]

Asian Envoys Visit US Ahead of Trump-Kim Summit, 23 May 2018

Top officials from China, Japan, and South Korea are in Washington this week to discuss an upcoming U.S.-North Korea summit, in which President Donald J. Trump is expected to push for Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program. After a meeting between President Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in yesterday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono, are also expected to discuss the issue with U.S. officials (Korea Herald/ANN). Their visits come shortly after foreign journalists arrived in North Korea to witness the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site (ABC). Click here to read... [9]

Michael Cohen ‘Took Secret Payment from Ukraine’, 24 May 2018

Donald Trump’s long-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen accepted a payment of at least $400,000 to help arrange a meeting between Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, according to the BBC. Both Cohen and Poroshenko have denied the existence of any payments, but a second source has told the BBC that Cohen received $600,000.

According to the report, the payment was made before Poroshenko’s visit to the White House in June 2017, where he was initially scheduled to have a brief photo opportunity with Trump in the Oval Office during staff briefings in the morning. Click here to read... [10]

Jared Kushner Gets Security Clearance, Ending Swirl of Questions over Delay, 23 May 2018

Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has been granted his permanent security clearance, a person briefed on the matter said on Wednesday, ending a period of uncertainty that had fueled questions about whether Mr. Kushner was in peril in the special counsel investigation.

Mr. Kushner is a senior presidential aide with a prominent role in Middle East diplomacy. But his FBI. background checks dragged on for a year and became one of many political distractions for the White House. Even some inside the administration suspected that Mr. Kushner’s delay reflected legal problems on the horizon. Click here to read... [11]

U.S. delegation arrives for talks on summit with North Korea, 27 May 2018

U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim is leading a delegation to North Korea amid new signs that a summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump could be back on. Their arrival comes after South Korea’s president said Kim is committed to denuclearization. Click here to read... [12]

RUSSIA

At Sochi, Modi, Putin Hold 'Intense' Talks and Cement 'Special Privileged' Ties, 21 May 2018

The prime minister said he had "extremely productive" discussions with President Vladimir Putin and they reviewed the complete range of India-Russia relations as well as other global subjects during their first ever informal summit in Sochi.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “very intense” discussions on bilateral and global issues that would provide the guidelines for the further development of “special privileged” strategic ties between India and Russia, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said today.

Modi said the strategic partnership between India and Russia has now been elevated into a “special privileged strategic partnership” which is a “very big achievement” as he met Putin in this Black Sea coastal city of Sochi for their first informal summit to discuss a range of bilateral topics, including defence cooperation as well as global issues of common concern. Click here to read... [13]

Duma Passes Bill on Counter-sanctions, gives Russian Government Power to Impose Restrictions, 22 May 2018

The Russian State Duma has passed a bill aimed at defending "economic interests and security" in response to the latest sanctions introduced by the United States and its allies.

The motion was drafted by State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and the heads of all four parliamentary caucuses in mid-April, days after the US Treasury Department released a list of 24 Russian citizens and 14 Russian corporations that fall under new sanctions imposed over Russia’s foreign policy. “The main objective of this federal law is to defend the economic interests and security of the Russian Federation, its territorial integrity and the rights and freedoms of its citizens, from unfriendly actions of the USA and other foreign states that impose political or economic sanctions against the Russian Federation, its citizens and companies or any other activities aimed at destabilizing Russia’s politics or economy,” reads the freshly approved bill. Click here to read... [14]

Modi, Putin Agree on Economic Ties between Indian Think Tank, Russian Ministry, 23 May 2018

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during an informal summit on Monday on the establishment of an economic dialogue between NITI Aayog, the policy think tank of the Indian government, and the Russian Economic Development Ministry, the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Both leaders agreed to institute a Strategic Economic Dialogue between NITI Aayog of India and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, to identify greater synergy in trade and investment," the statement read. Click here to read... [15]

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Iran rejects Moscow’s call for it to leave Syria, 23 May 2018

Tensions between the guarantors of Syria’s ceasefire - Russia, Turkey and Iran - are mounting, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes on Wednesday. Tehran has rejected the Russian leadership’s call for it to pull out foreign contingents from the Syrian Arab Republic stressing that its forces are there at the official invitation of Damascus. Experts link these statements to possible bargaining between Moscow and Washington on Syria. One of the US demands for Russia could be exerting pressure on Iran, the paper says. Click here to read... [16]

Russian Security Chief calls Afghanistan Major Source of Terrorist Threat for SCO, 23 May 2018

Afghanistan is a major source of terrorist threat for the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev said on Tuesday. "For the SCO member-states the threat of terrorism and extremism comes first and foremost from Afghanistan’s territory. We are convinced that any unilateral attempts to solve the situation in the Islamic republic by force bypassing the norms and principles of the international law may only worsen the situation and create additional security risks," Patrushev said.

According to Patrushev, Russia jointly with other member-states of the organization has been calling for restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan through political settlement led by Afghan citizens.

The Tashkent conference on Afghanistan on March 26-27 confirmed the need to step up multilateral cooperation, including in the SCO framework. We view this meeting, and also meetings in the framework of the Kabul process as a logical continuation of consultations as part of the Moscow format and the SCO-Afghanistan contact group," Patrushev said. Click here to read... [17]

Attempts to Blame Russia for MH17 Disaster Continue Zealously, 24 May 2018

A representative of the International Investigation group officially announced that the Buk anti-aircraft missile system, which shot down the passenger Boeing airliner of Malaysia Airlines above the Donetsk region on July 17, 2014, belonged to the Russian military. As it was said at a news conference about the results of the investigation, the Buk system belonged to the 53rd SAM missile brigade of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Investigators came to such a conclusion having analyzed photos and videos from social networks showing the route of the Buk system on June 23-25, 2014, from the Kursk region, where the 53rd Brigade is deployed.

It is considered established that the Buk system left the base on June 23. The system was allegedly part of a convoy consisting of 50 vehicles and six SAMs. Experts of the international investigative group studied distinctive features of the vehicles from dozens of photos that had been uploaded on the Internet back then. Click here to read... [18]

Macron looks for Common Ground with Putin on Russia Trip, 24 May 2018

With relations between the West and Russia at historic lows, French President Emmanuel Macron travels to St Petersburg Thursday to seek common ground with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The talks between the two come at a crucial time for their relationship which has been marked by sometimes harsh exchanges but also an awareness they need to work together on crises spanning Syria, Iran to Ukraine. Having bet on turning US President Donald Trump into a buddy with charm and flattery, 40-year-old Macron has taken a different approach with Putin since emerging as the surprise winner of France's elections last May. Click here to read... [19]

AFRICA

UNECA to hold conference on Africa's digital trade: Xinhua, 22 May 2018

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) on Tuesday emphasized exploring opportunities of digital trade within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Click here to read... [20]

Storm Kills Dozens in Somaliland, Puntland and Djibouti: Africanews, 23 May 2018

More than 50 people have died in Somaliland, livestock has been wiped out and hundreds of farms destroyed by heavy rains and floods caused by a tropical cyclone that hit the Horn of Africa, officials and aid agencies in the breakaway Somali region said. Click here to read... [21]

United Nation Appeals for $80 m after Cyclone Sagar hits Horn of Africa: EWN, 23 May 2018

The United Nations has appealed for $80 million to help pay for the damage caused by a tropical cyclone in the Horn of Africa. At least 18 people have been killed by the storm and 40 fishermen remain unaccounted for in the Gulf of Aden. Click here to read... [22]

East Africa: Ethiopia to Allow All Africans to Visit without Visas "Very Soon" PM Abiy Ahmed Says: allAfrica, 26 May 2018

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has revealed that the country will "very soon" follow Rwanda's example allowing all Africans to travel to the country without visas. The policy will open up the east African country to African visitors, and it will undoubtedly ease the free movement of African nationals and boost tourism. Click here to read... [23]

Rwanda becomes Third Country to ratify AU Free Trade Pact: Africanews, 27 May 2018

Rwanda has become the third African country to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) deal. Kigali submitted ratification instruments to the African Union (AU) on Saturday. Click here to read... [24]