新闻:伊朗军力在叙利亚国界
更新:美国制裁—中国帮助伊朗
NEWS UPDATE: On May 17, Lu Xi, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, said at a regular press conference that China will continue to maintain normal economic and trade contacts with Iran, including cooperation in the oil field.
NEWS UPDATE: On May 18, the European Union launched a bundle of plans intended to counter new US sanctions on Iran and the related implications for European companies doing business with the Islamic Republic.
美国“退群”点燃中东火药桶
America's "leaving the flock" ignited the Middle Eastern powder keg.
5月11日,伊朗民众在德黑兰参加反美游行,抗议美国退出伊核协议。
On May 11, Iranian people in Tehran participated in anti-US demonstrations to
protest against the United States' withdrawal from the nuclear treaty with Iran.
[SINA 新浪新闻中心, Shanghai, on May 16, 2018]
Editor's Comment:
Even before US president Trump started his private talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, planned to be held in Singapore on June 12, he finds himself already discredited by his own disturbing and unwise foreign policies.
A few political and economic subjects, in some way connected with each other, have to be mentioned in order to underline such evaluation:
1) Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear treaty with Iran, together with the announcement of new sanctions. That decision and its implications had to lead, both, friends and foes of America to the same conclusion and which is: Nobody can trust America any longer. Even more as Trump's adage: "America First" is still ringing in the ears of foreign leaders.
However, at times when partners and enemies of America are forced to find new alliances and business partners, Trump's "America First" could finally turn into "America Alone".
Trump's plannings for the introduction of tariffs on some imported goods and which are intended to support domestic industries, have already become an embarrassment for other developed countries, even though most of such plannings are being postponed for the moment. Anyway, the regulation of foreign trade with the help of tariffs has already been proven to be of little value. At least, that is what most experts would tell you. In fact, such policy would lead to some kind of "tit for tat".
Trump after imposing tariffs on aluminium and steel:
"Trade wars are good, and easy to win."
And now, additional US sanctions are threatening such companies in the US and abroad that still dare doing business with Iran.
2) The recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, accompanied by moving the US embassy to the holy city, was an unexpected and completely unnecessary decision. When Trump's family members, and who are practising Jews, attended the inauguration of the new embassy equipped with branded caps, this sent two related signals to the world.
- Trump is running his own country like a family trust with a Jewish connection.
- The United States lost their credibility as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians when a traditionally strong relationship between America's Jewish community and Israel suddenly lay bare under the eyes of the world, and which is something other US administrations tried to avoid. Moreover all that happened on Israel's 70ies anniversary when culminating protest of furious Palestinians was to be expected anyway.
3) Furthermore and possibly decisive in Trump's negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is the fact that Trump discredited the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA when he questioned the agency's controlling efficiency in the survey of the nuclear treaty with Iran.
How then could he "sell" a nuclear disarmament treaty with North Korea to his own people and the world after insisting that the IAEA as the only worldwide accepted controlling tool could not be trusted.
Regarding North Korea's latest decision to skip a round of negotiations with the South because of joint US and South Korean military drills and steady US demands of a complete denuclearisation, one might even expect that it would not be Trump who walked out of the Singapore meeting but rather Kim Jong-un.
Donald Trump’s White House is undermining the international system for detecting illicit nuclear activity just as he may be about to need it.
U.S. National Security Council adviser John Bolton said in an interview this week with ABC that “we don’t have adequate inspections” in Iran, where the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has established the most comprehensive monitoring regime ever imposed without a military invasion.
That’s the same United Nations organization that will have to keep track of North Korea’s uranium stocks if Trump’s efforts to broker an agreement with Kim Jong Un bear fruit.
[Quotations from Bloomberg on May 16, 2018. Read the complete article on IAEA monitoring !]
North Korea threw President Trump’s planned summit meeting with its leader, Kim Jong-un, into doubt on Wednesday, threatening to call off the landmark encounter if the United States insisted on “unilateral nuclear abandonment.”
The statement, made by the North’s disarmament negotiator, came hours after state media warned that the summit meeting might be canceled to protest a joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea that began this week.
The warnings caught Trump administration officials off guard and set off an internal debate over whether Mr. Kim was merely posturing in advance of the meeting in Singapore next month or was erecting a serious new hurdle.
[The New York Times on May 15, 2018]
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