South China Sea ruling will ‘intensify conflict’ – Chinese envoy

Reuters | 13 July 2016 An international tribunal’s ruling denying China‘s claims in the South China Sea will “intensify conflict and even confrontation,” Beijing’s ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday. The ambassador, Cui Tiankai, also told an international forum in Washington that Beijing remains committed to negotiations with other parties in disputes over…

Ex-Pentagon Chief: US President Must Swallow Pride, Work it Out With Putin

Sputnik News | 12 May 2016 Tensions between Moscow and Washington have been at an all-time post-Cold War high. The US is currently engaged in joint military drills with Georgia, mere miles from Russia’s border, while the US Navy has sailed aggressively close to Russian waters in the Baltic Sea. To avoid future conflict, former secretary of defense Hagel stated that the next…

Angela Merkel Under Pressure: EU Countries Resisting Extension of Economic Sanctions against Russia

Eric Zuesse | 14 Dec 2015 The following text is a translation by Eric Zuesse of an article in deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de The EU is in the surprising situation of needing to deal, at its upcoming summit meeting at the end of this week, with the question of whether to extend sanctions against Russia. It had been expected…

EU Cannot Go On Fighting Russia, “We can not have our relationship towards Russia dictated by Washington” EU Commission President

Russia Insider  | 14 October 2015 Note: This article originally appeared at German Economic News. Translated from German by Boris Jaruselski Huge reversal: the EU seeks a normal relationship with Russia. It seems that the EU is being greatly affected by the actions of Vladimir Putin in Syria: suddenly the EU President Jean-Claude Junker is saying that the EU…

Swiss Give Netanyahu the Bird

VT | 30 Aug 2015 Jerusalem Post – Giulio Haas, the Swiss envoy to Iran, showed the image during a speech to hundreds of Swiss and Iranian business people at a Zurich hotel on Thursday. Switzerland expressed regret on Friday after its ambassador to Iran displayed a cartoon depicting two doves defecating on Prime Minister…