Japan’s Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization, Akira Amari, has spoken in favor of restoration of Russia’s involvement in the Group of Eight after the resolution of current problems around Ukraine.
He said it Tuesday at a news conference in Tokyo.
Russia is an important international actor related to the maintenance of global order and it would be desirable for Moscow to regain its position in the G8 after the solution of the problems the world community has pointed out, Amari said.
He said that the sanctions imposed by the US, the EU and Japan on Russia do not affect the Japanese economy considerably but an escalation of tensions around Ukraine may exert impact on bilateral trade.
Monday night, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.S. issued a statement, which said among other things they were leaving the G8.
The G7 leaders claimed that “this Group came together because of share beliefs and shared responsibilities” but “Russia’s actions in recent weeks” (support for the Crimeans’ referendum on self-determination and reunification with Russia) allegedly were not consistent with them.
“We will suspend our participation in the G-8 until Russia changes course and the environment comes back to where the G-8 is able to have a meaningful discussion and will meet again in G-7 format at the same time as planned, in June 2014, in Brussels, to discuss the broad agenda we have together,” the statement said.
“We have also advised our Foreign Ministers not to attend the April meeting in Moscow. In addition, we have decided that G-7 Energy Ministers will meet to discuss ways to strengthen our collective energy security,” it said.
US President Barack Obama has canceled a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow which was scheduled for September. The move comes after Russia’s recent decision to grant temporary asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
The US decision is seemingly a diplomatic snub to Russia amid heightened tensions between the two countries over recent issues listed by the White House as “missile defense and arms control, trade and commercial relations, global security issues, and human rights and civil society in the last 12 months.”
“Russia’s disappointing decision to grant Edward Snowden temporary asylum was also a factor that we considered in assessing the current state of our bilateral relationship,” Washington said in a statement.
Citing lack of progress on this and other agenda items, the White House said the president deemed it more “constructive” to postpone the summit.
Instead of visiting Putin in Moscow, Obama will add a stop in Sweden to his early September travel itinerary.
Moreover, the US president will not be meeting alone his Russian counterpart while he stops over in St. Petersburg for the G20 summit, diplomats said.
Russia responded by saying it is “disappointed” by the move, with Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov adding that the situation showed the US “is still not ready to build relations with Russia on an equal footing.” It is “clear” that the decision is related to Snowden, he said, reminding that the US for its part has repeatedly refused Russia’s past extradition requests.
The cancelation comes just after President Obama expressed his “disappointment” on Snowden’s asylum – and talked of Moscow slipping into “Cold War” mode despite his calls for negotiations.
“There have been times where they slip back into Cold-War thinking and a Cold-War mentality,” Obama told to Tonight Show host Jay Leno Tuesday night. “And what I consistently say to them, and what I say to President Putin, is that’s the past and we’ve got to think about the future, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to cooperate.”
Edward Snowden, whose US passport has been revoked, was granted one year’s temporary asylum in Russia last Thursday, finally leaving the confines of the Moscow airport where he had been holed up since June 23. His new residence permit allows the former CIA employee to work and freely travel all across Russia.
The former CIA employee is wanted in the US on espionage charges after revealing secret NSA surveillance programs to the public.
Among other issues, Russia and the US have considerable differences over the situation in Syria, with the US government determined to see President Bashar Assad ousted from his position. The House and Senate Intelligence Committees gave a green light to arm Syrian rebels at the end of July.
Obama has also voiced antipathy towards Russian legislation against gay rights activism, saying on the Tonight Show that he has “no patience for countries that try to treat gays and lesbians and transgendered persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”
The last time the two leaders met was in June at the G8 Summit in Ireland.
The G20 summit will be held on September 5-6, with the US deeming it sensible to still attend, as the annual gathering brings together the world’s largest economies. Obama said that it makes sense for the US to have high-level representation at the event. – RT
President Obama’s visit to the Group of Eight summit has created a political row in Ireland after an outspoken liberal lawmaker on Wednesday denounced the U.S. president as a “war criminal” for his drone use and his decision to arm the Syrian rebels.
Parliamentarian Clare Daly said her country’s government had showcased the country “as a nation of pimps, prostituting ourselves in return for a pat on the head,” The Irish Times reports.
The “unprecedented slobbering” during Obama’s two-day visit to Northern Ireland, she said, had even led to speculation that “you were going to deck the Cabinet out in leprechaun hats decorated with a bit of stars and stripes to really mark abject humiliation.”
The Irish head of government, Enda Kenny, called the remarks “disgraceful.”
“I think they do down the pride of Irish people all over the world who are more than happy to see this island being host to the G-8,” he said.
“And for you to stand up and criticize the American president for giving a continuation of support for a fragile peace process in Northern Ireland, where over 3,000 people lost their lives in 30 years, is a disgraceful do-down.”
Daly’s pique appears to have been provoked by the White House’s announcement last week that it will provide “military support” for the Syrian rebels after accusing Bashar Assad’s forces of using chemical weapons.
Ireland has remained neutral since shortly after its independence from Great Britain in 1922, and was one of the most vocal critics of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“This is the man who is in essence stalling the Geneva peace talks [scheduled for next month] by trying to broker enhanced leverage for the Syrian opposition by giving them arms — and to hell with the thousands more who’ll lose their lives, or the tens of thousands who will be displaced,” Daly said.
“This is the man who has facilitated a 200 percent increase in the use of drones which have killed thousands of people, including hundreds of children.” – The Hill
Police patrol the water around Enniskillen in Northern Ireland where the G8 summit is being held
British Prime Minister David Cameron says leaders gathering Monday for the G-8 summit in Northern Ireland should reach speedy agreement on trade and tax reforms, and draw inspiration from the host country’s ability to resolve its own stubborn conflict.
Speaking hours ahead of the summit’s official opening at a lakeside golf resort, Cameron said he expects formal agreement to launch negotiations on a European-American free trade agreement. He said a pact to slash tariffs on exports would boost employment and growth on both sides of the Atlantic.
“This will be a summit that will drive growth and prosperity all over the world,” Cameron declared as he arrived at the summit venue ahead of leaders from the United States, Canada, Russia, Germany, France, Italy and Japan as well as the 27-nation European Union.
Referring to Northern Ireland’s ability to leave behind a four-decade conflict that claimed 3,700 lives, he said leaders of the Group of Eight wealthy nations should be inspired by the setting – the lush lakelands of County Fermanagh – to deliver their own economic breakthrough.
“Ten or 20 years ago, a G-8 in Fermanagh would have been unimaginable. But today Northern Ireland is a very different place … a symbol of hope to the world,” Cameron said.
Obama, seizing on that theme, was beginning his trip in the Northern Ireland capital of Belfast, where he’s delivering a speech on sustaining Catholic-Protestant reconciliation 15 years on from the U.S.-brokered Good Friday peace accord.
The U.S. leader was scheduled to speak inside Belfast’s Waterfront Hall, a glass-fronted building that would never have been built during the city’s long era of car bombs that ended with a 1997 Irish Republican Army cease-fire.
But with IRA splinter groups still active today, Northern Ireland’s police appear to be leaving little to chance in ensuring security around the Lough Erne resort west of Enniskillen.
More than 3,500 officers from Britain have been imported to double the security detail, and British Army engineers have helped to erect a daunting perimeter of steel fences and coiled razor wire for miles (kilometers) around the resort’s lone road entrance.
Air space over much of Northern Ireland is being restricted to summit traffic for the duration of the summit, which concludes Tuesday. And the water around the resort’s peninsula has been similarly closed to civilians, with police patrolling by boat, although the public is still free to fish from shore.
And Northern Ireland’s riot-savvy police have been deployed in armored vehicles and flame-retardant suits. They’re keeping massive mobile water-cannon vehicles in reserve, lest hard-left protesters make any serious bid to breach the security fence.
However the police commander of G-8 security, Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay, says he expects peace to reign when socialist and anti-globalization protesters march Monday night from central Enniskillen to the fence.
Finlay said while officers had trained to manage crowds of more than 10,000 protesters, this was unlikely to materialize Monday, with just 2,000 expected and few anti-G-8 activists traveling from continental Europe for the occasion.
As the protesters march, G-8 leaders are due to hold a working dinner where foreign policy issues – especially the increasingly opposed positions of the United States and Russia over Syria’s civil war – will be on the menu.
Obama was expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin before that dinner. Obama last week announced that the United States would begin arming rebel groups trying to oust the Russian-backed government of Bashar al-Assad.
Cameron said he also hoped to achieve agreement that no G-8 member should pay ransoms to secure the release of hostages in North Africa, where western and Asian workers are top targets for kidnappers. – AP
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