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BRICS Press Breifing

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Vietnam’s Deputy PM & Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son speak to the media following high-level diplomatic talks.

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A call for new reset, yes?

I could swear I saw a pseudo- headline alluding to Lavrov calling for a new reset of relations between Russia & USA.

Sure sounds 

 like a KGB natured promotion for a Hillary presidency in 2016.

A long, long time ago

"Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov press a red button symbolizing the intention to "reset" US-Russian relations March, 2009." 

Photos (Courtesy):

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3131250/posts
http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/what-came-out-of-the-un-conference-on-syria/
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Lavrov's Peru Visit Very Much In Line With Past Russian Foreign Policy

2 May, 17:37





RIA/NOVOSTI
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, and Peruvian President Ollanta Humala during a meeting in Lima.


By Rustem Safronov and Kells Hetherington

WASHINGTON (VR) — The West and the United States and Europe perceived Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s current tour of Cuba, Nicaragua, Peru and Chile as a response to the large American presence in eastern Europe and U.S. meddling in Ukraine, which has always been regarded as part of Russia's sphere of influence, according to Alex Sanchez, a Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs based in Washington. Sanchez added, Lavrov’s trip to Latin America was regarded as a way for Moscow to demonstrate now Russia can be aggressive and expand its foreign policy and its sphere of influence historically regarded as in Washington's backyard.

"And I have to just point out,” Sanchez said that “Russia has been paying attention to Latin America and the Caribbean more and more in recent years. For example, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, he was in Peru actually in October or November. He went to Brazil as well and also to Peru. So Peru, I will say, in the past couple of years, Peru has had quite a bit of attention from Russia."

According to Sanchez, Cuba and Nicaragua, the latter country, now under the [Daniel] Ortega presidency, have had a history of tensions with the US, but countries such as Peru and Chile have always been more neutral, although their foreign policies have tended toward U.S. appeasement. And he added, this is a big part of the reason Lavrov’s visit to Chile specially was unsettling to Washington.

Radio VR's Rustem Safronov emphasized, in trips such as the recent one by Lavrov Russia has worked to achieve a “multipolar world” as opposed to a U.S. centric one. Russia has a longstanding relationship with the Peruvians, and may be in talks with the Lima government to supply military equipment, including Russian tanks. Peru needs the equipment to fight a war on drugs in the country.

Source
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Raw: Kerry, Lavrov Meet at Rome Conference

AssociatedPress
 

Published on Mar 6, 2014


http://smarturl.it/AssociatedPress

Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Russian counterpart at an international conference in Rome on Thursday. The meeting took place as Washington slapped new visa restrictions on Russian opponents of the new Ukraine government. (March 6)

The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats.

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P.S.  

Why meet at Rome?
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U.S. puts jets in Jordan, fuels Russian fear of Syria no-fly zone

Related Video

Rebels, government forces battle for Aleppo
8:33pm EDT









By Oliver Holmes

BEIRUT | Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:06pm EDT

(Reuters) - The United States said on Saturday it would keep F-16 fighters and Patriot missiles in Jordan at Amman's request, and Russia bristled at the possibility they could be used to enforce a no-fly zone inside Syria.

Washington, which has long called for President Bashar al-Assad to step down, pledged military support to Syrian rebels this week, citing what it said was the Syrian military's use of chemical weapons - an allegation Damascus has denied.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has approved a Jordanian request for American F-16s and Patriot missiles to remain in the Western-backed kingdom after a joint military exercise there next week, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Western diplomats said on Friday Washington was considering a limited no-fly zone over parts of Syria, but the White House noted later that it would be far harder and costlier to set one up there than it was in Libya, saying the United States had no national interest in pursuing that option.

Russia, an ally of Damascus and fierce opponent of outside military intervention in Syria, said any attempt to impose a no-fly zone using F-16s and Patriots from Jordan would be illegal.

"You don't have to be a great expert to understand that this will violate international law," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

The idea of a no-fly zone was endorsed by Egypt, the biggest Arab nation. President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist more distant from Washington than his deposed military predecessor, made a keynote speech in Cairo throwing Egypt's substantial weight more firmly than before against President Bashar al-Assad.

Despite their differences, the United States and Russia announced in May they would try to convene peace talks involving the Syrian government and its opponents, but have set no date.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said chemical attacks by Syrian forces and Hezbollah's involvement on Assad's side showed a lack of commitment to negotiations and threatened to "put a political settlement out of reach".

Kerry had not previously expressed such pessimism about prospects for the conference, which has run into many obstacles.

These include disarray in the Syrian opposition and military gains by the Syrian army and its Lebanese Hezbollah allies against rebels who have few ways to counter Assad's air power.

The involvement of Hezbollah fighters on the side of Assad, a fellow ally of the main Shi'ite power Iran, has galvanized Arab governments, including Egypt, behind the rebels, who mostly follow the Sunni version of Islam that dominates the Arab world.

That has hardened sectarian confrontation across the region, which some Arabs hope might be softened by the election of the moderate Hassan Rohani as Iran's president - though few believe he can truly influence Tehran's supreme leader.

Mursi, addressing thousands of cheering supporters at a stadium gathering organized by Egyptian Sunni clerics, demanded Hezbollah pull out of Syria and, after his Muslim Brotherhood joined calls for jihad against Assad and his Shi'ite allies, the president said Cairo had now cut diplomatic ties with Damascus.

Egypt's powerful, U.S.-backed army seems unlikely to involve itself in Syria, but religious passions are running high and more Egyptian volunteers could travel to join the rebels.

AIR STRIKES

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian jets and artillery had again attacked Jobar, a battered district where rebels operate on the edge of central Damascus.

It said heavy artillery was also shelling opposition fighters in the provinces of Homs, Aleppo and Deir al-Zor.

Western powers have been reluctant in the past to arm Syrian insurgents, let alone give them sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles that might fall into the hands of Sunni Islamist insurgents in rebel ranks who have pledged loyalty to al Qaeda.

Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander Salim Idriss told Reuters late on Friday that rebels urgently needed anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, as well as a protective no-fly zone.

"But our friends in the United States haven't told us yet that they are going to support us with weapons and ammunition," he said after meeting U.S. and European officials in Turkey.

A source in the Middle East familiar with U.S. dealings with the rebels has said planned arms supplies would include automatic weapons, light mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

The United Nations says at least 93,000 people, including civilians and combatants, have died in the Syrian civil war, with the monthly death toll averaging 5,000 in the past year.

Abu Nidal, from the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham rebel group, said U.S. help was welcome, but questioned how effective it would be.

"I doubt the influx of weapons will significantly tip the balance into our favor," he said via Skype. "They might help push back regime offensives of the last few days."

SYRIAN OFFICERS DEFECT

Abu Nidal's faction is not part of the more moderate FSA, Washington's chosen channel for military aid, but he said the two groups fight alongside each other on the battlefield.

The FSA was set up by defectors from the Syrian military in August 2011, but many rebel factions operate independently.

Assad's armed forces have remained relatively cohesive, although a Turkish official said 71 Syrian army officers, including six generals, had just defected to Turkey, in the biggest such mass desertion in months.

Western nations have stopped short of arming Syrian rebels or mounting an air campaign as they did, with U.N. approval, to help Libyan insurgents topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Intervening against Assad is considered riskier because Syria has a stronger military, sits on the sectarian faultlines of the Middle East, and is supported by Iran and Russia, which has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions on Syria.

Yet an apparent shift in the military balance in Assad's favor, especially with the arrival of thousands of Shi'ite fighters from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, has made his swift removal look unlikely without outside intervention.

However, Israel's defense minister suggested the pendulum could still swing the other way, despite the capture this month of Qusair, a former rebel stronghold near the Lebanese border.

"Bashar al-Assad's victory in Qusair was not a turning point in the Syrian civil war, and I do not believe that he has the momentum to win," said Moshe Yaalon, who is visiting Washington.

"He controls just 40 percent of the territory in Syria. Hezbollah is involved in the fighting in Syria and has suffered many casualties in the battles, and as far as we know, it is more than 1,000 casualties," Yaalon said in a statement.

"We should be prepared for a long civil war with ups and downs."

Israel has not taken sides in Syria, but does not want to see any Western anti-aircraft missiles or other advanced arms reach Islamist militants hostile to the Jewish state.



(Additional reporting by Jonathon Burch in Ankara, Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Mark Hosenball in Washington, Thomas Grove in Moscow and Tom Perry and Alastair Macdonald in Cairo; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Source

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Lavrov and Rodham-Clinton in the recent 'good olde days'. 

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Russia, China warn US against military intervention in Syria

ELECTIONS 2012
AUGUST 21, 2012

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the US on Tuesday against any unilateral military action in Syria

Credits:

Pravda

President Obama told the White House press corp on Monday he had refrained "at this point" from ordering military action against the Assad regime in Syria, but that could change if he felt there was a need to secure Syrian chemical and biological weapons. This was some of the strongest language yet from Obama regarding Syria, and both Russia and China responded to his remarks on Tuesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the U.S. and it's Western allies on Tuesday against any unilateral action in Syria after Obama said U.S. forces may act if Syrian President Assad uses chemical weapons against his adversaries.

Lavrov, speaking at a meeting with in Russia with Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo, said that Russia and China understand "the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law and the principles contained in the U.N. Charter, and not to allow their violation."

In July Lavrov said "the US position on Syria directly endorses terrorism."

Lavrov said on Monday that only the UN Security Council could legally authorize the use of external force against Syria, and warned Obama and the West against imposing "democracy by bombs".

Russian leaders have said in recent days that they will not stand aside as they did in Libya last year, when Moscow let NATO military operations go forward by abstaining from the UN Security Council resolution that authorized air operations.

Russian warships and marines have been seen in Syrian ports in recent weeks, although Russia says the warships were only delivering supplies, and were returning to Russia. There have been conflicting reports as to whether the Russian marines may have stayed behind in Syria.

Dai said he had come to Russia for "consultations on strategic security" and also had a "very good, friendly and important meeting" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin has publicly stated his opposition to what he calls "foreign intervention in sovereign states."

A recent report on the Pravda website quoted Putin as saying to Obama, "We know your plans, where your military and agents are located. World War 3 will be on your head and legacy," during their last face to face meeting.

Many Middle east experts are concerned that a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities by Israel, which some reports say could come before U.S. elections in November, combined with U.S. military intervention in Syria could ignite a larger war in the region, and some warn that it could mark the beginning of a global conflict.

Source


P.S.

What a difference a daze makes?

Remember this photo-op?

Sergei Lavrov and Hillary R. Clinton in happier (goofier) times.

What a riot, what a stunt?

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