Beijing has confirmed that it is discussing a historic meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the US president, Donald Trump, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a press briefing this week in Beijing that China “is in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state”, which could take place on the sidelines of the Apec summit in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen this month. Russia would probably use the summit to nudge China and the…
Tag: Russia
As Trump’s time runs out, this could be his most dangerous legacy: a world divided into three | Steve Bloomfield
In the final two years of a US presidency, when Congress has been lost, approval ratings have sunk like a stone and their party has started to think about who’s coming next, the person occupying the Oval Office can feel their power draining away. Domestic legislation, particularly in an era where bipartisan cooperation is almost nonexistent, grinds to a halt. But as the days tick by until the end, and as presidents begin to think about their legacy, there is one part of the job where they still have power:…
North Korea has opened up bridges to Russia and China – in which direction will it go?
For more than a decade, local Chinese residents pilloried it as nothing more than an empty bridge that led to a North Korean vegetable patch on the other side. Fast forward 12 years and dozens of trucks are now traversing the bridge linking China to North Korea, boosting trade for the reclusive regime. But it has also triggered concern that it could intensify a struggle for influence over the North between Beijing and the region’s other major power, Russia. map The New Yalu River Bridge connects the north-eastern Chinese city…
The Guardian view on Trump and Putin: Ukraine’s future is not theirs to bargain away | Editorial
Does Vladimir Putin know exactly how to play Donald Trump? The history of chummy phone calls, high-profile meetings and attempts to bring Russia in from the cold certainly suggests that Moscow’s thuggish ruler has a hold on this American president. If Mr Trump agrees to negotiate Ukraine’s future with Mr Putin and China’s Xi Jinping without Ukraine at the table, he will have handed the Russian leader a victory before talks begin. The message will be that strongmen are ruling the world and determining the fate of weaker nations. Ukraine has the right to…
The Guardian view on plague in Russia: what is most worrying is the lack of information | Editorial
Is there a plague outbreak in Russia? If the answer were a clear yes, there shouldn’t be much reason to worry. With swift medical intervention, plague is treatable. But in the nearly three weeks since a worker at a Siberian plague research unit died of a mysterious respiratory illness, state officials have been consistently tight-lipped about what happened and whether there were any further cases. It is this uncertainty that has the World Health Organization (WHO) and international community worried: partly because there is a – very small – risk of…
Lethality and Testosterone Will Get Us Only So Far
Enemy drones over Romania. Wayward missiles in Poland. Sabotage in Germany. Every week brings some new Russian provocation as President Vladimir Putin steps up his efforts to divide Europe and undermine support for Ukraine. As Western militaries scramble to respond, the prospect of the war spilling over into NATO territory rises. The problem of escalating instability, unfortunately, is not confined to Europe’s eastern frontier. The danger of war between America’s autocratic adversaries and our democratic allies is rising around the world for one simple, troubling reason: The enemies of liberal…
Russia’s Silence on Possible Plague Outbreak Stokes Fears of a Cover-Up
As rumors swirled this week that a woman working in a Siberian lab may have died of the plague, news programs on Russian state television paid scant attention. The authorities in Moscow released little information. Faced with this potential new threat, the Kremlin seems to be resorting to a familiar playbook: avoiding bad news. The lack of information has caused unease around the world, particularly given the memory of China’s effort to withhold information about Covid-19. The Kremlin has a history of hiding bad news In Russia, federal officials are…
Superpowers Race to Put Nuclear Reactors on the Moon
In late August, NASA asked contractors to prepare to build a nuclear reactor that could survive a space voyage and run without maintenance near the moon’s south pole. That may sound like science fiction, but the agency wants it ready to be launched by December 2030. There is a reason for the rush. Russia aims to have a lunar reactor running by 2036 as part of a secretive partnership with China. NASA has already sped up its schedule to beat its rivals. The race is for the very future of…
Defiance, threats and a ‘rebirth’: five key points from day two of the UN’s big gathering
1. No bending the knee for Iran Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, balanced defiance against the US with an openness to dialogue, in an address that had been in doubt as it was unclear he would be issued a visa to enter the country. “We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” he said. “Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country.” Referring to the United States, Pezeshkian added: “Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.” The…
Europe frets about Trump. But soon he could be the least of our problems | Mujtaba Rahman
I addressed a group of more than 100 European ambassadors recently on the big challenges facing the continent this year and next. My main point to these senior diplomats was that, perhaps counterintuitively, Europe’s biggest external challenges over the next 12 months will come from Russia and China, rather than the US. Europe’s relationship with Trump’s America remains difficult. The US president has weakened confidence in Nato, raised new transatlantic trade tensions and introduced uncertainty into everything from US support for Ukraine to his territorial designs on Greenland. Yet paradoxically,…