Category: Foreign Policy

Opinion: The absurdity of Putin’s lies should be obvious. Thanks to Trump, it isn’t.

Washington Post logo

For the past few years, Republicans in Congress have echoed Russian propaganda. On Wednesday, in Geneva, Vladimir Putin returned the favor: He echoed Republican propaganda.

After a meeting with President Biden, Russia’s strongman used his moment on the international stage to hold a news conference. ABC News’s Rachel Scott was waiting for him.

“The list of your political opponents who are dead, imprisoned or jailed is long,” she said, including “Alexei Navalny, whose organization calls for free and fair elections and an end to corruption …. So my question, Mr. President: What are you so afraid of?” Continue reading.

Nikki Haley warns Republicans on China: ‘If they take Taiwan, it’s all over’

The Hill logo

Potential 2024 GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley sounded the alarm to House conservatives Wednesday that China is hell-bent on world domination — and that Taiwan is ground zero.

In a closed-door meeting with members of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), Haley, who served as former President Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, said that if China takes control of Taiwan, Beijing will be emboldened to seize other territories around the globe.

The U.S. must take stronger action against China, Haley said, starting with organizing a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing with allies like India, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Canada. Continue reading.

Biden warns Putin of ‘significant’ US cyber capabilities

Roll Call Logo

President says meeting was about mutual self-interest

“There were no threats, just simple assertions made,” President Joe Biden said Wednesday in Geneva when asked if he made any threats to Russia during the bilateral summit with President Vladimir Putin.

“I looked at him; I said how would you feel if ransomware took on the pipelines from your oil fields? He said it would matter,” Biden said. “This is not about just our self-interest; it’s about a mutual self-interest.”

Cybersecurity challenges and recent ransomware attacks originating from Russia against U.S. infrastructure were a significant topic of conversation for the U.S. side during Wednesday’s summit, which ran roughly three hours. Continue reading.

‘Let’s get it straight’: Biden sternly smacks down two reporters for making false claims about him in Geneva

AlterNet Logo

President Joe Biden sternly corrected two reporters who mischaracterized his words and relationships during his Geneva press conference recapping his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, continuing to push his China coronavirus “lab leak” theory, even in Geneva Wednesday afternoon, echoed far right wing talking points that Biden is somehow owned by or financially controlled by China, calling President Xi Biden’s “old friend.”

Biden refused to allow him to get away with it, snapping back, “Let’s get something straight: we’ve known each other a long time, but we’re not old friends.” Continue reading.

Biden says he got what he wanted from Putin summit

The Hill logo

President Biden on Wednesday framed his three-hour sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin as a foreign policy win, even as tensions on cyberattacks and human rights loom over the future of the relationship between the two leaders.

White House officials sought to keep expectations low and tightly controlled the optics of the meeting, opting for a solo press conference with Biden instead of a joint one with him standing next to Putin.

The president would not divulge his planned message to Putin when asked at the preceding Group of Seven (G-7) and NATO summits, and officials repeatedly said they hoped for a “predictable and stable” relationship with Moscow, even as experts noted Putin thrives on sowing disorder. Continue reading.

Fiona Hill recalls horrific experiences of Trump’s meeting with Putin — and how she expects Biden’s will go

Raw Story Logo

Fiona Hill, the former official at the U.S. National Security Council, specializing in Russian and European affairs, spoke to CNN’s Don Lemon, remembering what it was like during the meeting between former President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

President Joe Biden will meet with Putin in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the United States, and there will be a significant difference between the Biden and Trump meetings. 

Hill is the former expert who shredded Republican lies about the Russia investigation. She also revealed as part of the investigation into Trump’s bribery of Ukraine that Rudy Giuliani was circumventing the National Security Council with his own shadow efforts. Giuliani has now become part of an investigation by the FBI into his international dealings.  Continue reading.

Biden, E.U. end 17-year Airbus-Boeing trade dispute, seek to calm relations after Trump

Washington Post logo

BRUSSELS — President Biden and European Union leaders reached a deal Tuesday to put to rest a 17-year-old trade dispute about subsidies for aircraft manufacturers, officials said, a significant step in calming trade relations after the fury of the Trump years.

A five-year truce, which was announced at a meeting Tuesday in Brussels between Biden and the top leaders of E.U. institutions, was the latest effort in a transatlantic reconciliation tour that the new president started last week at the Group of Seven summit in Britain.

At each stop, including at NATO on Monday, Biden has tried to mend ties that were damaged under President Donald Trump, who often drew close to traditional American adversaries and targeted longtime allies with vitriol. Continue reading.

Critical entities targeted in suspected Chinese cyber spying

Associated Press Logo

RICHMOND, Va. — A cyberespionage campaign blamed on China was more sweeping than previously known, with suspected state-backed hackers exploiting a device meant to boost internet security to penetrate the computers of critical U.S. entities.

The hack of Pulse Connect Secure networking devices came to light in April, but its scope is only now starting to become clear. The Associated Press has learned that the hackers targeted telecommunications giant Verizon and the country’s largest water agency. News broke earlier this month that the New York City subway system, the country’s largest, was also breached. 

Security researchers say dozens of other high-value entities that have not yet been named were also targeted as part of the breach of Pulse Secure, which is used by many companies and governments for secure remote access to their networks. Continue reading.

Ransomware’s suspected Russian roots point to a long detente between the Kremlin and hackers

Washington Post logo

MOSCOW — The ransomware hackers suspected of targeting Colonial Pipeline and other businesses around the world have a strict set of rules.

First and foremost: Don’t target Russia or friendly states. It’s even hard-wired into the malware, including coding to prevent hacks on Moscow’s ally Syria, according to cybersecurity experts who have analyzed the malware’s digital fingerprints.

They say the reasons appear clear. Continue reading.

Russia is preparing to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that will boost Tehran’s ability to surveil military targets, officials say

Washington Post logo

Russia is preparing to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that will give Tehran an unprecedented ability to track potential military targets across the Middle East and beyond, according to current and former U.S. and Middle Eastern officials briefed on details of the arrangement.

The plan would deliver to the Iranians a Russian-made Kanopus-V satellite equipped with a high-resolution camera that would greatly enhance Iran’s spying capabilities, allowing continuous monitoring of facilities ranging from Persian Gulf oil refineries and Israeli military bases to Iraqi barracks that house U.S. troops, the officials said. The launch could happen within months, they said.

While the Kanopus-V is marketed for civilian use, Iranian military officials have been heavily involved in the acquisition, and leaders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have made multiple trips to Russia since 2018 to help negotiate the terms of the agreement, the officials said. As recently as this spring, Russian experts traveled to Iran to help train ground crews that would operate the satellite from a newly built facility near the northern city of Karaj, the officials said. Continue reading.