China - Putin Meets Xi JinPing

On June 25, Russia's president Putin meets with China's leader Xi Jinping for talks in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
[People's Network / People's Daily]




Using the traditional stances of "eternal friendship and mutual cooperation", the semi-official Chinese source praises Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing in its daily news for June 26, 2016.

两国元首一致同意，坚持战略协作精神和世代友好理念，加大相互支持，增进政治和战略互信，坚定不移致力于深化中俄全面战略协作伙伴关系。

The heads of state of both countries unanimously agree to uphold the spirit of (their) strategic cooperation and acknowledge the idea of (everlasting) friendship, to increase mutual support, and enhance mutual trust in politics and strategy. .....

经贸、外交、基础设施、技术创新、农业、金融、能源、媒体、网络、体育等领域30多项合作文件

The talks should comprise more than 30 subjects of cooperation, ranging from economy and trade to diplomacy, basic installations, technological progress, agriculture, finance and banking, energy resources, media and internet as well as sports.
According to the wide range of items to be discussed this is as well a meeting of high-ranking members of both administrations, including both ministers of foreign affairs and Russia's first deputy prime-minister.

China - Launch of Long March 7

People's Network just reported the succesful maiden flight of carrier rocket "Long March No.7" after its launch from Wenchang space center in Hainan province.




6月25日20时00分，我国新一代运载火箭长征七号在海南文昌航天发射场点火升空，约603秒后，载荷组合体与火箭成功分离，进入近地点200千米、远地点394千米的椭圆轨道，长征七号运载火箭首次发射圆满成功。

On June 25, at 20:00 local time, China's new carrier rocket "Long March No.7" had a flaming lift-off from Wenchang space launching site in Hainan [province]. After 603 seconds, the payload assembly successfully separated and entered an elliptic orbit with a minimum distance from Earth of 200 km [perigee] and a maximum distance of 394 km [apogee], such making the maiden launch of carrier rocket "Long March No.7" a complete success.

Technical information from other sources:

The Long March 7 is the medium-lift variant of a new generation rocket family that includes the heavier-lift Long March 5 and the small-mid cargo Long March 6. The structure is based on the reliable, man-rated Long March 2F rocket. It inherited the 3.35m-diameter core stage and 2.25m-diameter liquid rocket boosters. Where the earlier Long March 2 rocket family used expensive and dangerous N2O4/UDMH propellants, the Long March 7 uses LOX/kerosene. The engines are shared with the Long March 5 and 6. The goal was to build a more cost-effective and less hazardous rocket family to replace today's Long March 2 and eventually the Long March 3. It will be capable of placing a 5,500 kilograms (12,100 lb) payload into a sun-synchronous orbit.




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Iran - Khomeini's Secret Deal with the US

وثائق أميركية مسربة: الخميني استرضى كيندي وكارتر

[Released] U.S. documents: Khomeini appeased Kennedy and Carter.

The Arabic article from Al-Arabiya TV العربية was published on their website, today, June 3, 2016.

It is referring to recently declassified U.S. documents that suggest an unusual background story behind the grasp of power in Iran by Ayatollah Khomeini and his seemingly unchallenged introduction of an Islamic revolution.

Detailed information is available, as well, from BBC London on one of today's news websites under the headline:

Two Weeks in January: America's secret engagement with Khomeini



Here some quotations from that article published only some hours ago:

On 27 January, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini - founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, the man who called the United States "the Great Satan" - sent a secret message to Washington.

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In a first-person message, Khomeini told the White House not to panic at the prospect of losing a strategic ally of 37 years and assured them that he, too, would be a friend.

"You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans," said Khomeini, pledging his Islamic Republic will be "a humanitarian one, which will benefit the cause of peace and tranquillity for all mankind".

Khomeini's message is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents - diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records - that tell the largely unknown story of America's secret engagement with Khomeini, an enigmatic cleric who would soon inspire Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism worldwide.

This story is a detailed account of how Khomeini brokered his return to Iran using a tone of deference and amenability towards the US that has never before been revealed.

The ayatollah's message was, in fact, the culmination of two weeks of direct talks between his de facto chief of staff and a representative of the US government in France - a quiet process that helped pave the way for Khomeini's safe return to Iran and rapid rise to power - and decades of high-stakes tension between Iran and America.

In the official Iranian narrative of the revolution, Khomeini bravely defied the United States and defeated "the Great Satan" in its desperate efforts to keep the Shah in power.

But the documents reveal that Khomeini was far more engaged with the US than either government has ever admitted. Far from defying America, the ayatollah courted the Carter administration, sending quiet signals that he wanted a dialogue and then portraying a potential Islamic Republic as amenable to US interests.

Khomeini had even earlier reached out to the U.S. for support when he had sent a private message to President Kennedy while being held under house arrest in Tehran in 1963.

For more information, you should read the whole story from BBC, London.

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