Foreign affairs

Trump Isn’t Ready for Kim Jong Un’s Death

The internet is ablaze with rumors, chatter and circular reporting about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s whereabouts. U.S. and regional media have variously reported that Kim is recovering from heart surgery, in “grave danger,” “in a vegetative state” or even dead, setting off a torrent of speculation about who might succeed him and the implications for regime stability. President Donald Trump did little to shed light on the rumors, stating first, “I’ve had a very good relationship with him. I can only say this, I wish him well,” and later adding, “I do know how he’s doing, relatively speaking. … You will probably be hearing in the not-too-distant future.” Trump also boasted, “If somebody else were in this position, we would’ve been right now at war with North Korea.”

Trump has often bragged about his approach to North Korea, touting his relationship with Kim in and of itself as progress toward bilateral ties and denuclearization. But Kim’s absence is now showing us just how fragile Trump’s approach really is.

Foreign affairs

Kim Jong-un will visit Russia & meet Putin 'soon' – North Korean state media

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un plans to visit Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin “soon,” the North Korean Central News Agency has reported, in what would be the first meeting of the two heads of state.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier confirmed that the two leaders are scheduled to meet before the end of the month.

KCNA did not elaborate on the subject of the summit or where it would take place, but Japanese media has reported Kim will travel to Vladivostok on Thursday to meet with Putin on Russky Island. According to sources cited by the Russian daily Kommersant, the meeting will occur at Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, a location chosen by North Korea for security reasons.

Foreign affairs

A lesson from Nigeria to Trump?

On Monday, the president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, will become the first African leader to meet President Trump at the White House. Much of the meeting will probably focus on what the United States can do for Nigeria. The continent’s largest economy has a median age of only 18, a sluggish economy, and endemic corruption.

Yet Mr. Buhari could have something to offer the US as well.

Nigeria may be one of the few countries willing to negotiate with a branch of Islamic State (ISIS), part of its decade-long struggle with jihadi groups such as Boko Haram. Most other nations, including the US, refuse to talk to ISIS or its affiliates.

On Feb. 19, militants from Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) seized 112 schoolgirls and one boy from the town of Dapchi in northeast Nigeria. A month later, after negotiations with the government, the group accepted a temporary cease-fire and released most of the children. The government said it paid no ransom. It is possible that ISIS leaders in the Middle East ordered the release.

Foreign affairs

Far East, High Aims: Russia Reportedly Emerges as Venue for Kim-Trump Talks

With US President Donald Trump promising to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "in the coming weeks," the location of the summit has yet to be announced, leaving space for speculation.

The South Korean TV channel YTN cited a diplomatic source as saying that a possible summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un may take place in Vladivostok or Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East.

The source said that while Singapore remains the most preferable option for the United States, Pyongyang would like to pick a not-so-remote location that could be reached by railway rather than plane.

North Korea's location of choice could be the Russian city of Vladivostok, the source said, claiming that it was in Vladivostok that the Russian S-400 missile systems were deployed to potentially repel US attacks. 

This is why the summit may instead take place in Khabarovsk, another Russian Far Eastern city, according to YTN.

Foreign affairs

Photos of Mike Pompeo’s Top Secret Meeting With Kim Jong Un Released

The administration of US President Donald Trump released photographs on Twitter, Thursday showing newly minted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while Pompeo was still director of the CIA.

It was reported in mid-April that Pompeo had flown to North Korea and met with Kim Jong Un earlier in the year.

The White House's photographs come the day before a groundbreaking summit between Kim Jong Un and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae In. Pompeo met with Kim in the lead-up to negotiations between North Korea and the United States and US President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Kim sometime in the near future.

Foreign affairs

Bolton Met Russian Ambassador Antonov at White House to Discuss Ukraine, Syria

 US National Security Adviser John Bolton and Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov met to discuss a range of issues including the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, the White House said in a statement.

"Ambassador John R. Bolton met with Ambassador Anatoly Antonov of Russia today in the White House. At the first meeting between the two in their current roles, they discussed the state of the relationships between the United States and Russia," the statement said on Thursday.

"Ambassador Bolton reiterated that it is in the interest of both the United States and Russia to have better relations, but that this will require addressing our concerns regarding Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, the reckless use of chemical weapons in the United Kingdom, and the situations in Ukraine and Syria," the statement said.

Earlier, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said that Russia and the United States need each other to work on boosting the international security, adding that such cooperation "meets the interests of the Russian and American people.

Foreign affairs

Trump ‘looking forward’ to moving US embassy to Jerusalem

Donald Trump says he’s “looking forward” to moving the US embassy to Jerusalem next month. He struck an eager tone on Twitter, ahead of the opening of an interim facility on May 14 – the date of Israel’s 70th Independence Day.

Tagging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the post, Trump thanked the Israeli people and declared the US has “no better friends anywhere.”

A consulate base in the Arnona neighborhood of Jerusalem has been converted to house the US embassy. The site will host the US Ambassador’s office and the offices of a small number of staff. There are plans to add an annex by the end of 2019.

Foreign affairs

CIA Director Pompeo met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over Easter weekend

CIA Director Mike Pompeo made a top-secret visit to North Korea over Easter weekend as an envoy for President Trump to meet with that country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, according to two people with direct knowledge of the trip.

The extraordinary meeting between one of Trump’s most trusted emissaries and the authoritarian head of a rogue state was part of an effort to lay the groundwork for direct talks between Trump and Kim about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the highly classified nature of the talks.

The clandestine mission, which has not previously been reported, came soon after Pompeo was nominated to be secretary of state.

“I’m optimistic that the United States government can set the conditions for that appropriately so that the president and the North Korean leader can have that conversation [that] will set us down the course of achieving a diplomatic outcome that America so desperately — America and the world so desperately need,” Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week during his confirmation hearing.

Foreign affairs

Gen. Zinni, Adm. Stavridis: What Pompeo must do first if confirmed as secretary of state

...When we were combatant commanders, it was an article of faith that deploying development officers and diplomats today costs less in blood and treasure than deploying troops tomorrow. Foreign aid is not a reward for good behavior. It is a critical tool to advance American interests around the world and address the drivers of conflict and instability.

We hope that the warning about State Department cuts by the current U.S. European Command commander and NATO Chief Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti will be heeded. The Army general said that “diplomacy leads … a reduction of their abilities would not be positive.”

We hope policymakers will listen to Defense Secretary James Mattis’ conviction that America has “two fundamental powers – the power of intimidation and the power of inspiration” – and we need both to win in today’s world.

The next secretary of state will have to deal with a difficult and dangerous world. It’s time to stop the hemorrhaging of our top civilian talent and the proposals to slash the State Department budget by a third. To lead the State Department in a way that advances our national security interests, he must first save it.

Foreign affairs

CIA boss Mike Pompeo failed to disclose Chinese business connection. Could it derail bid to become secretary of state?

CIA Director Mike Pompeo failed to disclose last year that he owned a Kansas business that imported oilfield equipment from a company owned by the Chinese government.

That omission, on the questionnaire Pompeo was required to fill out for Senate confirmation to lead the spy agency, could cause a problem for him in Thursday’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be US President Donald Trump’s secretary of state.

The issue with the Chinese company, which was confirmed in a series of documents obtained by McClatchy this week, never came up during his confirmation hearings last year.

Many senators contacted Wednesday were reluctant to comment until they had more information.

Democrat Senator Ben Cardin, a committee member, said he was unfamiliar with the discrepancy, but said it was troubling.

“If there’s an inconsistency in his questionnaire, that would be a matter of major interest,” Cardin said.

Foreign affairs

Russian spy: Politicians in 'idiot' row over poisoning

A bitter row has broken out between Labour and the Conservatives over their language and response to the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

Boris Johnson accused Jeremy Corbyn of refusing to "unequivocally" blame the Russian state, describing him as "the Kremlin's useful idiot".

But Labour said Mr Johnson was the "idiot" having "undermined his own government's position" on the evidence.

Moscow has denied the UK government's claim that it was behind the attack.

The UK says there is "no other plausible explanation" for the incident, while Russia has accused Britain of waging a "propaganda war" against it over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, on 4 March.

Foreign affairs

Spy poisoning: Russia expels 60 US diplomats in tit-for-tat measure

Russia has expelled 60 US diplomats and closed the St Petersburg consulate in a tit-for-tat response to US action over a spy poisoning case in the UK.

Russia's foreign minister said other countries that expelled Russians could expect a "symmetrical" response.

It comes amid a row over the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in southern England.

The White House said Russia's move to expel its diplomats had been "not unanticipated".

It marked "a further deterioration in the United States-Russia relationship", it said in a statement.

Foreign affairs

Official CIA representatives in Russia have diplomatic status, former FSB chief says

Official representatives of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Russia are working for the Embassy and have a diplomatic status, Russian MP and former head of the Federal Security Service Nikolai Kovalev told TASS.

Earlier, a number of countries claimed that some of the Russian diplomats being expelled were secret service officers. The chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence service SVR, Sergey Naryshkin, confirmed that to a number of mass media, adding that the officers in question worked abroad quite officially.

"Certainly [official CIA representatives have a diplomatic status]," said Kovalev, who is a member of the State Duma (lower house) committee for security and countering corruption.

"They are working as diplomats, they introduce themselves officially, this is common practice of both sides," he noted.

Earlier, US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman said in an interview with TASS that 60 Russian diplomats were expelled from the US due to the need to protect Americans from espionage. A large number of Russian intelligence officers were working in the US and Canada, he said.

Joint operations 

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service and the CIA have many times carried out joint operations coordinated by their official representatives, Kovalev has pointed out. 

A number of countries said earlier that there were intelligence officers among expelled Russian diplomats. SVR head Sergei Naryshkin confirmed the fact to the media, pointing out that the officers had official status.

Foreign affairs

The Threat of a Trade War Is Overblown―Real War Is Far More Likely

Trump has been all about weapons of mass distraction; the real danger now is that he will switch to the distraction of weapons as his presidency crumbles—with a real war, not a trade war. His appointment as national security adviser of the extremist John Bolton, who still defends the Iraq invasion and wants to bomb both North Korea and Iran, is an ugly premonition. The same goes for scrapping Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for Mike Pompeo, another advocate of bombing Iran.

On Fox News Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin defended Trump’s acceptance of the omnibus spending bill by saying that “in Iran, in North Korea, in Venezuela, and Russia, all around the world where we’re using sanctions, we need to make sure we have a military that has the necessary resources.” At the same time, Mnuchin offered some soothing comments about trade negotiations with China, which calmed stock markets on Monday.

While most of the major media have expressed consternation at Trump’s new “war cabinet,” in the past such sentiments dissipated rapidly once the bombs started falling, as pundits and politicians rallied around the flag.

Foreign affairs

US and 23 other countries join mass expulsion of Russian spies to 'dismantle' Putin espionage network

Theresa May has told Vladimir Putin the Salisbury poisonings have “spectacularly backfired” after 24 countries joined with Britain to “dismantle” Russia’s worldwide spy network.

The Prime Minister vowed never to allow President Putin’s espionage machine to be rebuilt after the US and other Western allies announced the expulsion of more than 130 Russian intelligence officers.

President Donald Trump ordered 60 suspected Russian spies to leave the US - including 12 from the United Nations in New York - while 16 EU countries and five other non-EU members also gave Russians notice to leave in the largest collective expulsion of Russian spies in history. At least two other EU members will follow suit today.

Foreign affairs

Trump Plans Expulsion of Russian Envoys Over U.K. Attack

President Donald Trump is preparing to expel dozens of Russian diplomats from the U.S. in response to the nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian spy in the U.K., two people familiar with the matter said Saturday.

Trump agreed with the recommendation of advisers and the expulsions are likely to be announced on Monday, the people said, though they cautioned that Trump’s decision may not be final. Trump is prepared to act but first wants to be sure European allies will take similar steps against Russia, aides said.

U.S. officials are working through the weekend to develop a coordinated response with the Europeans, one of the people said, after British Prime Minister Theresa May this week rallied support for a tough rebuke.

Foreign affairs

Salisbury Attack: Top Cold War diplomat criticises Gavin Williamson over 'go away and shut up' remarks

The UK’s former ambassador to Russia has criticised senior ministers for “shooting their mouths off”, singling out Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson for displaying a lack of seriousness amid the deepest crisis in relations with Moscow since the end of the Cold War. 

Speaking exclusively to The Independent, Sir Rodric Braithwaite, took aim at the Cabinet minister following comments in which he told Russia to “go away and shut up“, sparking retaliatory insults from the Russian Foreign Minister and others in Moscow.

Sir Rodric, who was the UK’s man in Moscow during critical years of the Cold War, also attacked other senior ministers whom he said “have come out much too early, saying things that are much too wild”, as the UK seeks to build pressure on Vladimir Putin over Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Foreign affairs

Russia to expel 23 British diplomats, close consulate in escalating row over poisoned ex-spy

Russia will expel 23 British diplomats and close the British Consulate in St. Petersburg as part of its response to London’s decision to expel Russian diplomats in an escalating row over the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in Britain earlier this month.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday that “23 diplomatic personnel from the British Embassy in Moscow have been declared persona non grata” and have one week to leave. The closure of the consulate in St. Petersburg was not given a firm deadline, with the Foreign Ministry saying only that consulate employees will be given sufficient time to finish their work.

The move comes a day before Russia’s presidential election, which President Vladi­mir Putin is expected to win.

Foreign affairs

Spy poisoning: Russia to expel 23 British diplomats

Russia is to expel 23 British diplomats amid tensions over the nerve agent attack on a former spy and his daughter in the UK.

The move comes in response to Britain's decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats.

They were ordered to leave over the incident on 4 March which the UK government has blamed on Russia.

The Russian foreign ministry said 23 diplomatic staff at the UK Embassy in Moscow would be "declared persona non-grata" and expelled within a week.

Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia Skripal, 33, remain critically ill in hospital, after they were found unconscious on a bench in the Wiltshire city.

Foreign affairs

Russian Embassy Slams Johnson's Salisbury Remarks

The remarks made by UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on the suspected poisoning of a former Russian intelligence officer in the UK town of Salisbury show that "the script of a new campaign against Moscow" has already been prepared, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in the United Kingdom said in a Tuesday statement.

While delivering a speech in parliament earlier in the day, the top UK diplomat said that London could reconsider the level of its representation at the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Russia if the investigation into suspected poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former officer of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) accused of spying on behalf of London, showed that Moscow was linked to the incident.

"We are impressed by the statement of the Foreign Secretary in Parliament today. The Foreign Secretary spoke in such a manner as if the investigation was already over and Russia was found responsible for what had happened in Salisbury. We regret that instead of a proper official clarification on the issue the Foreign Secretary chose to threaten Russia with retribution. Looks like the script of yet another anti-Russian campaign has been already written," the statement said.