Our Friday News Analysis | How Do You Love Your Enemies? Have None! (Part 1)

During his two-day visit to China, Lula emphasized that Brazil is "back on the world stage." Photo Ricardo Stuckert/Brazilian Presidency/AFP

The Hague, 21 April 2023 | If you know of any story that is decisive, tell the world. We're still searching.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva said the United States should stop "encouraging war" in Ukraine. The president said this on Saturday, the last day of his state visit to China, Brazil's most important trading partner. During his two-day visit, Lula stressed that Brazil is "back on the world stage" and hopes to mediate the conflict in Ukraine.

“The US needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace. The European Union must also start talking about peace,” Lula told reporters in Beijing on Saturday.

According to Lula, it is essential to be patient in the talks with Putin and Zelensky. It is necessary to "persuade the countries that supply arms and encourage the war to stop." Only then will the international community be able to convince Putin and Zelensky that “peace is in the interest of the whole world?”

Brazil takes a neutral stance in the war between Russia and Ukraine and often emphasizes the importance of negotiations. Lula is also trying to strengthen his ties with the US. The president had another meeting with US President Joe Biden in February.

What is the Side of the Story that is Not Yet Decisive? Edited by Abraham A. van Kempen, featuring journalism from the Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Top Economist Frets that the US is Getting ‘Lonely’

Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has warned that America is losing global influence as other powers form trading blocs

Published 14 April 2023

RT

FILE PHOTO: Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers appears in a 2015 Fox Business Network interview in New York. © Getty Images / Rob Kim

Globalization and the American-led financial order are giving way to a more fragmented world economy in which other powers are aligning in trading blocs that diminish Washington’s global influence, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has claimed.

               “There’s a growing acceptance of fragmentation, and – maybe even more troubling – I think there’s a growing sense that ours may not be the best fragment to be associated with,” Summers said on Friday in a Bloomberg News interview.

He commented following a week of World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in which finance chiefs reportedly discussed efforts to “reshape supply chains away from China and other strategic competitors.”

Summers, a former World Bank chief economist who was an adviser to President Barack Obama and served as treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, suggested that US tactics have alienated some governments.

               “Somebody from a developing country said to me, ‘What we get from China is an airport. What we get from the United States is a lecture. We like your values better than we like theirs, but we like airports more than we like lectures.’”

The emergence of competing economic blocs has accelerated amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the US-led sanctions campaign against Moscow. As financial officials of the US and its allies gathered in Washington, Brazilian President Lula da Silva visited China and called for developing nations to move away from the US dollar. China brokered last month’s normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. At the same time, Russia, the Saudis, and OPEC announced a cut to their oil production quotas, portending more inflation struggles in the West.

               “We are on the right side of history – with our commitment to democracy, with our resistance to aggression in Russia,” Summers said.

               “But it’s looking lonely on the right side of history. Those who seem much less on the right side increasingly band together in various structures.”

Summers said policymakers face a more significant challenge than the every day World Bank-IMF issues like debt relief and promoting sustainable development. What’s at stake, he added, is “what the broad structure of the system is going to be.”

Summers said that the current system – born out of the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement that pegged other currencies to the US dollar, which was then linked to gold – is under threat. “If the Bretton Woods system is not delivering strongly worldwide, serious challenges and proposed alternatives will exist.”

WHITE HOUSE ACCUSES LULA OF PARROTING RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA

By Georgia Oost
Published 18 April 2023
NRC News, The Netherlands

Sergey Lavrov and Mauro Vieira after their meeting in Brasilia. Photo Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters

The United States has reacted strongly to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva's comments accusing the US of "encouraging" the war in Ukraine. He said this during a state visit to China last weekend. On Monday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Lula was "imitating Russian and Chinese propaganda."

According to Kirby, Lula misses the mark by “suggesting that the US and Europe are somehow not interested in peace or that we are responsible for this war.” Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said he strongly disagreed.

After his visit to President Xi Jinping on Saturday, President Lula said the US should "stop encouraging war in Ukraine and start peace negotiations." Two days later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Brazil's capital and thanked Lula for his support. Lavrov says Russia is "grateful for its Brazilian friends and their understanding of the situation."

Trading partners

Brazil is neutral in the war between Russia and Ukraine, repeatedly rejecting requests to supply Ukraine with ammunition. Instead, the country is increasingly emphasizing the importance of peace negotiations.

Russia and Brazil are important trading partners. Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of soybeans, whose production depends on imported fertilizers. A large part of these fertilizers is imported from Russia. A few days after the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, Brazilian far-right president Jair Bolsonaro said that “the fertilizer issue is sacred” and Brazil “does not take sides.” The current left-wing president Lula, who came to power in January this year, also refuses to impose sanctions against Russia.

“QUITE A FEW EU LEADERS AGREE WITH MACRON ON AUTONOMY FROM THE US” – MICHEL

“They, too, believe that the bloc should distance itself from America’s fights but won’t speak out,” the European Council’s president claims

Published 12 April 2023

RT

FILE PHOTO: French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and President of the European Council Charles Michel (R). © Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via Getty Images

“Quite a few” European leaders side with French President Emmanuel Macron in his position. The EU should not be beholden to Washington’s policies, especially regarding China, even if they don’t say that publicly, President of the European Council Charles Michel said on Tuesday.

Macron last week urged Western Europe to pursue “strategic autonomy” so that it would not be “caught up in crises that are not ours.” He cited a potential US-Chinese standoff over Taiwan as an example.

“The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” the French leader said during a visit to China.

“Some European leaders wouldn’t say things like Emmanuel Macron did,” Michel commented Wednesday. But “I think quite a few think like Emmanuel Macron.”

Michel, who made the remarks in an interview with a French television program, noted that “there has been a leap forward in strategic autonomy compared to several years ago.”

The alliance between the US and the EU remains strong, he assessed. But “if this alliance with the United States would suppose that we blindly, systematically follow the position of the United States on all issues, no,” the official added.

Discussions in the EU about increasing its autonomy from the US, including by creating a pan-European military force, have been sidelined amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels has firmly supported Washington’s drive to punish Russia with sanctions and arm Ukraine against it, even as decoupling from the Russian economy contributed to inflation and hurt the competitiveness of European businesses.

According to assessments in Moscow, the EU has deviated from its original purpose of economic integration and become an extension of NATO, putting US geostrategic goals before its interests.

US-Chinese relations have deteriorated for years, as Washington has accused Beijing of undermining a “rules-based order.” The Chinese government said the US leadership was stuck in a “Cold War mentality” and perceived the balance of interests between global powers as a “zero-sum game.”

US SENATOR WARNS EUROPEANS OVER ‘PICKING SIDES’

“The EU may have to deal with the Ukraine conflict without Washington’s help if it acts soft towards China,” Marco Rubio has threatened.

Published 10 April, 2023

RT

US Senator Marco Rubio speaks in Hialeah, Florida, 2022. Eva Marie Uzcategui / AFP

US Senator Marco Rubio has warned that America's Western European allies may have to resolve the Ukraine conflict independently if they do not wish to “pick sides” in Washington’s standoff with China.

The Florida Republican sharply criticized French President Emmanuel Macron, who has argued that European states should not risk being dragged into a confrontation over Taiwan.

“The question Europeans need to answer … is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] in Taiwan? No,” Macron told journalists after wrapping up his three-day trip to China.

“The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” Macron added.

Rubio responded with a video on Twitter. “This is a good moment for us to ask Europe: Does Macron now speak for all of Europe? Is Macron now the head of Europe?” he said. “Because if he is, then there are some things we will need to change.”

The politician claimed China was “very excited” about Macron’s comments. Rubio argued that European countries still relied on Washington’s defense capabilities while “we are spending a lot of our taxpayer money on a European war [in Ukraine].”

If their position now is, ‘We’re not going to pick sides between the US and China over Taiwan,’ then maybe we shouldn’t be picking sides either. Perhaps we should say, ‘We’re going to focus on Taiwan and the threats that China poses, and you guys handle Ukraine in Europe.’

On Friday, Beijing launched three-day naval maneuvers around Taiwan in response to the visit of Tsai Ing-wen, the island’s president, to the US. Tsai met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who pledged to continue to support Taipei.

Beijing considers Taiwan, which a separate government has ruled since the late 1940s, its territory and views third-country contact with Taipei officials as meddling in its domestic affairs. In August, China’s People's Liberation Army held snap drills in the Taiwan Strait after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island.

The US formally upholds the ‘One China policy,’ refraining from establishing official diplomatic relations with Taipei. At the same time, Washington has sold weapons to Taiwan and promised to defend it if attacked from the mainland.

During his visit, Macron said China could significantly achieve a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia. Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated that Beijing was ready to play “a constructive role” in ending the conflict.

MACRON REFUSES TO BACK THE US LINE ON CHINA

The French president distanced himself from Washington’s aggressive policy on Taiwan

Published 9 April, 2023
RT

Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks to students at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, April 7, 2023, © AFP / Ludovic Marin

Western Europe must pursue “strategic autonomy” and avoid getting dragged into confrontations on behalf of the US, Emmanuel Macron told Politico on Sunday. The French president has made similar assertions but has followed Washington’s lead on Ukraine.

In an interview while traveling in China this week, Macron told the news site that

               “Europe faces a great risk” if it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours.”

               “The paradox would be that, overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers,” Macron said.

               “The question Europeans need to answer… is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan?

               No.

               The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”

Macron met with Chinese President Xi Jinping before the interview, concluding afterward that if

               “Europeans cannot resolve the crisis in Ukraine, how can we credibly say on Taiwan: ‘watch out, if you do something wrong we will be there’?”

Hours after Macron left Chinese airspace, Beijing launched military exercises around Taiwan, a move widely perceived as a response to the island’s pro-independence leader Tsai Ing-Wen meeting with US lawmakers in California on Wednesday.

Relations between China and the US are at a historic low point, with US President Joe Biden suggesting on several occasions last year that Washington would intervene militarily to prevent Beijing from reunifying Taiwan with the mainland. While world leaders, including Macron, are seemingly content to stay out of the Taiwan standoff, their insistence on pushing China to denounce Russia over its military operation in Ukraine has angered Xi, according to media reports and comments from Chinese officials.

The conflict in Ukraine has also largely scuppered discussions of “strategic autonomy” in Europe. While Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in recent years, had talked extensively about lessening their reliance on the US. Nonetheless, a change in power in Berlin saw Olaf Scholz’s government reverse decades of pacifist foreign policy to arm Ukraine at Washington’s behest. At the same time, both France and Germany supplied armored vehicles, ammunition, and in Germany’s case, tanks to Kyiv’s forces.

With rising energy costs and inflation contributing to domestic instability, Macron has backed all 10 of the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions packages. Despite speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin several times since last February, Macron has not managed to push the Kremlin toward halting its operation in Ukraine.

The French president “is still talking about the strategic independence of the EU,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov remarked last summer, adding, “I am certain they will not be allowed to have it.”

ANALYSIS | XI DIVIDES AND CONQUERS DURING MACRON’S CHINA VISIT

The French president was accompanied by Ursula von der Leyen, who failed in her bid to impose "European unity."

By Timur Fomenko, Political Analyst

Published 8 April, 2023
RT

China's President Xi Jinping, center, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, left, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meet for a working session in Beijing Thursday, April 6, 2023. © Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP

French President Emmanuel Macron has wrapped up a three-day visit to China, accompanied partly by European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen, who went home a day earlier.

The dual visit came when EU nations, worried about a growing Sino-Russian partnership, sought ways to strengthen their diplomatic engagement with Beijing.

Von der Leyen's presence on the trip was widely seen as a “check” on Macron to ensure he complied with “European unity” regarding the EU’s relationship with China. Before the visit, she gave a hawkish address warning China against supporting Russia in the Ukraine conflict and slamming Beijing for becoming “more repressive at home and more assertive abroad.”

While she urged the bloc to reduce “dependencies” on China, she also opposed the complete “decoupling” of economies, as called for by the US. Enduring trade relations were made abundantly clear because Macron was accompanied by a 50-strong delegation of business leaders who came to Beijing to sign deals.

It is unusual that Macron, an advocate of the EU’s so-called “strategic autonomy” in negotiating with other actors on the world stage, and von der Leyen, an ardent Atlanticist reportedly in the wings to be the next NATO secretary general, were both in China together.

Despite their somewhat conflicting agendas, their visit was a net positive for Beijing and a net negative for US attempts to force the EU to take its side in its geopolitical crusade against Beijing fully. The US looks upon all attempts by the EU to engage with China with disdain and does its best to undermine it where possible.

Likewise, when it comes to the Ukraine conflict, China’s effort to open talks by presenting its 12-step peace plan was immediately dismissed by Washington. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Beijing of providing “diplomatic cover” for Russia’s attempts to “freeze the war.”

However, Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Moscow has shown EU leaders the potential consequences of “losing China” – and now Macron is urging Xi to mediate a return to the negotiating table by “bringing Russia to its senses.” Most EU leaders prefer the war to end rather than drag on indefinitely,

In other words, many EU leaders, bar the overzealous and fanatical ones in states such as Lithuania, now realize that they must pursue a diplomatic effort to “keep China on board,” which in turn illustrates the tactical cunning of Xi Jinping in preserving his partnership with Moscow without explicitly endorsing the Ukraine conflict. This has given China geopolitical leverage.

It should also be noted that China has never sought to oppose Europe, but its principal objective has been to try and keep Europe out of the American camp at all costs. The EU, after all, collectively represents the largest export market China has in the developed world and is, therefore, critical to China’s growth and development.

Of course, on the other hand, the US has long been pushing very aggressively to undermine China’s prospects in the EU. It has been waging a public opinion war against Beijing, using its state-sponsored think tanks and pushing issues such as human rights to create the negative sentiment and to block engagement, such as on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), which was proposed back in 2013 and is still pending ratification a decade later. Similarly, the US uses bilateral and unilateral diplomacy to undermine China’s relationships with specific European countries to wreck its attempts to engage with the bloc.

For example, the US explicitly supported Lithuania in undermining the 'One China' principle by opening a “Taiwan representative office.” It also forced the Netherlands to agree to new export controls on sending advanced lithography machines (used for making computer chips) to China. Similarly, because the EU could never agree to a comprehensive ban of Huawei’s application in 5G networks in 2020, the US simply resorted to bilaterally approaching countries one by one, making them agree to the ban until those states that were not on board, such as Germany, were effectively isolated and could not drive the EU agenda.

Ultimately, the EU is a bloc that can only operate by consensus between its member states, but if the US can undermine that consensus, it can throw a spanner in the works and break the entire machine. This is why it is difficult for Europe to create an “autonomous” foreign policy that serves coherent “European interests.” This means when nations such as France and Germany declare their desire to engage with China, they have influence, but the overall effect is never genuinely consistent. The bloc is being subjected to a constant tug-of-war in its foreign policy direction, which ultimately shows that Europe remains more of a passenger than a player in the world of US-China competition.

However, despite the traditional dominance of the US over Europe, Beijing is by no means out of the game. Much as the US can divide and conquer against EU countries, so can China. The outcome of the visit demonstrates that very well. Having given von der Leyen and her message of “unity” a noticeably cooler reception, the Chinese hosted a cordial tea ceremony for Macron after signing a joint communique that spoke at length about improving trade, economic and cultural ties but made barely any mention of the main political sticking point between China and the EU – Beijing's good relations with Moscow and Xi's refusal to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine crisis.

For China, this is a clear win. For France, this is a win regarding enduring business and economic relations with China. Still, a loss in that Macron's attempts to change Xi's mind on Putin and Ukraine were comprehensively stonewalled.

For von der Leyen, whose mission in Beijing was purely political, it was a complete failure. Not only did her message fall on deaf ears, but the wooing of France also continued unabated under her nose. But perhaps most importantly, the result of this visit dealt a blow to the US agenda, showing that positive relations between China and the EU are worth working towards and Washington's attempts to drive wedges between them are, so far, futile.

Read more: ‘Hank Paulson: “I think it’s pretty likely we will see a recession” The former US Treasury secretary on why the banking crisis isn’t over — and WHY THE US-CHINA RELATIONSHIP ‘IS ON THE BRINK,’’ by Edward Luce, Financial Times, 14 April 2023.

               “This is a very different China to even a few years ago,” says Paulson.

               “The US-China relationship is on the brink. Communications have ground to a halt. A lot is going on in the world that’s troubling, but to me, the US-China relationship is the most worrying.” 

               “What we’re seeing right now is Biden waiting to have a sorely needed call with Xi, and meanwhile, Xi’s everything-but-America strategy is a whirlwind of activity.”

               “Xi is playing the global statesman, meeting with heads of state worldwide and in China.”

               “The Chinese argue that the US is trying to contain them, and the Chinese people believe that. They’re telling the world and American CEOs that China is open for business again. If America goes too far in curtailing trade and investment with China and we go far beyond what our allies and partners want to do, the result will be to isolate the US.”

Read more: ‘As Xi Befriends World Leaders, He Hardens His Stance on the US,’ by David Pierson, New York Times, 20 April 2023.

               “Taken together, the efforts to shore up ties with American allies while publicly discrediting the United States reflect Beijing’s hardening position as relations sink to their lowest point in decades over what Mr. Xi has described as Washington’s “containment, encirclement, and suppression of China.”

________________________

Editor's Note |

Who wants a nuclear crater in their backyard?

NONE!

Who needs enemies?

NONE!

How does one destroy one’s enemy?

“By becoming friends,” said Abraham Lincoln.

Peace is like a ‘tug-of-war,’
with constant give and take,
not reckless armed conflict
with plausible nuclear confrontation.

The clowns in Brussels and their stooges in Washington, DC,
recklessly contrived a conflict and provoked war with the Russian Federation,
Over What?

It’s time to stop exploiting the Ukrainian people to serve the EU-US/NATO Alliance as cannon fodder and human shields.

The world will substitute the EU-US/NATO Defense Alliance for a less offensive multipolar police force.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The EU-US/NATO Alliance could become one with the world as friends, not enemies.

_______________________

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The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of the Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague.