Donald Trump says he alone can put an end to Islamist terrorism

Donald Trump is the Republican hopeful who is in the race to the White House but he keeps on making statements that one would not expect from one who aspires to be the President of the United States. In one of his latest such utterances is his claim that he alone can solve the worldwide problem of IsIamist extremism. He made this remark after the Easter Sunday suicide bombing in Pakistan.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 29 March 2016.

On the subject of the Brussels airport attack, he has claimed that he "knew more about Brussels than Brussels knew" and went on to add that he had predicted last week's terror attack in the Belgian capital.
Incidentally, Donald Trump is the Republican presidential front-runner and another of his latest comments on foreign policy is when he labeled President Barack Obama as "insane" for his desire to welcome Syrian refugees. In the opinion of Donald Trump, such an action by Barack Obama would mean the "downfall" of the United States.
John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, has revealed that world leaders he talked to had been "shocked" by the comments coming out in the Republican presidential race. In the course of his campaign, Donald Trump had made a series of foreign policy statements that targeted immigrants and Muslims. In fact, he has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US, would bar new Syrian refugees, and "send back" those who have already arrived. As John Kerry has said - what is happening is an embarrassment to the country.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Cuba Embassy reopens in Washington after 54-years

#Cuba #Havana #JohnKerry #barackobama #RaulCastro Cuba and the US have officially re-established their respective embassies in Washington and Havana respectively at 12.01am on Monday – while the Cuban flag was hung in the lobby of the State Department, the American flag will be raised over the US embassy in Havana during a ceremony that will be attended by John Kerry, US Secretary of State in August.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 20 July 2015.

John Kerry has hailed this as a "new beginning" after a ceremony marked the reopening of the Cuban embassy in Washington. In this symbolic event, the Cuban flag was raised in the US capital for the first time in 54 years.
This is seen as the latest milestone as the two former Cold War foes continue to rebuild the broken diplomatic ties. Of course, one issue which remains unresolved is the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – this was highlighted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. In his words, the historic events will make sense with the removal of the economic, commercial and financial blockade because that resulted in deprivation and damage to the people of Cuba. He also mentioned the return of occupied territory in Guantanamo, and respect for the sovereignty of Cuba.
As far as history goes, relations between the US and Cuba had started to deteriorate after the 1959 Cuban Revolution overthrew the Batista government. However, last December US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro made the breakthrough announcement that the two governments would begin working on normalizing relations – that has now taken shape.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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John Kerry in Sochi on a fence mending mission with Vladimir Putin

#JohnKerry #Russia #Crimea #VladimirPutin US Secretary of State John Kerry would be visiting Sochi on a fence mending mission with Russian President Vladimir Putin as indicated in news.sky.com dated 11 May 2015.
John Kerry would be meeting not only Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Black Sea resort of Sochi but also President Putin with the intention of fixing relations that have been soured by the Ukraine and Syria crises.

This would also be Kerry’s first trip to Russia since the Ukraine conflict erupted in April 2014 and in which Russia has seized control of Crimea. As a result, Western nations have accused Russia of supporting separatists in Ukraine. Even now, despite a ceasefire being in place, there are sporadic clashes between government and rebel forces in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Of course, Moscow continues to deny the claims.
So far, more than 8,000 people are believed to have died in the conflict.
In the opinion of the Russia's foreign ministry, there are hopes that the visit of Kerry would help to normalize bilateral relations since global stability is largely dependent on it. As per reports, the subjects of Yemen and Iran could also feature in the discussions.

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Peace in Ukraine is the need of the hour – Merkel and Hollande to present plan to Putin

#ukrainepeacetalks #AngelaMerkel #FrancoisHollande #JohnKerry With over 5000 dead already in the violence in Ukraine and with the numbers increasing on a regular basis, the need of the hour is to work out a peace plan for Ukraine and, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande have taken up this task as reported in theguardian.com dated 6 February 2015. The German and French leaders will be meeting Putin to put up the peace plan to him in the hope of getting a possible breakthrough.
This meeting has been convened in a hurry after Putin put forth his own plan and France and Germany responded with counter-proposals. The urgency was due to an upsurge of fighting and growing European fears of US intervention.
The US had taken a decision to supply arms to Kiev and, in case that really happened, it could trigger an uncontrollable rise in violence.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has indicated that the US wanted a diplomatic solution but was keeping all of its options open and these included “the possibility of providing defensive systems to Ukraine”.
Following a temporary ceasefire between pro-Russia rebels and the Ukrainian authorities, a human corridor was created to remove civilians from the heart of fighting in eastern Ukraine. As per the agreement, the understanding was to evacuate civilians from Debaltseve. This is a railway hub and has become the main target of a rebel offensive because of its strategic location.

US wants to arm Ukraine against the pro-Russian rebels

#johnkerry #minsk #prosussian #poroshenko #ukraine In view of the continued violence in Ukraine and the failure of peace talks in Minsk, the US is contemplating possibilities of arming Ukraine to enable them to fight against the pro-Russian rebels as indicated in theguardian.com dated 2 February 2015.
It is understood that proposals are under consideration in the US for providing defensive weapons and equipment to Ukrainian forces. Already the five-month truce has been broken. US secretary of state John Kerry and US joint chiefs chairman Martin Dempsey were open to discussions on such a line of action and NATO military commander General Philip Breedlove is also supportive of providing such lethal aid.
Even US national security adviser Susan Rice, who was opposed to such ideas, feels such action is needed in the present context.
John Kerry would be visiting Kiev for talks with President Petro Poroshenko and other Ukrainian officials. It may be recalled that in spite of months of sanctions on Russia, it has had no effect and Russia continues to arm the pro-Russian rebels. Till now, White House has not gone in for providing military aid to Ukraine in order to avoid provoking Russia.
However, with the adamant attitude of Russia, US could review the current scenario and could change its stance. The tentative plan appears to be to send $3bn in defensive arms and equipment to Ukraine, including anti-armor missiles as well as reconnaissance drones.

Ukraine says there are 9000 Russian troops on its soil – Russia denies

#petroporoshenko #sergeilavrov #johnkerry #ukraine #davos In the course of a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has claimed that over 9,000 Russian soldiers, backed by a whole range of heavy weapons including more than 500 tanks, armed personnel carriers and artillery systems, are at present on the soil of Ukraine.
These actions amount to aggression and these pro-Moscow fighters are supporting the separatist east of the country. This has been challenged by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who has demanded that Kiev present necessary proof to prove the charges. US Secretary of State John Kerry has termed the actions of Russia as "a blatant land grab".
President Petro Poroshenko is a pro-western leader and he has called upon Moscow to comply with a September peace plan and also extend cooperation to seal the long joint border with Ukraine and simultaneously, withdrawing the Russian troops.
The nine-month conflict that began in March has already taken more than 4,800 lives and has heaped miseries on the economy of Ukraine. Moocow continues to deny that it is extending support to the insurgents. Moscow also disputes NATO satellite imagery that reportedly shows the presence of Russian forces in Ukraine.
Germany is trying to mediate in the ongoing conflict and it hosting representatives of France, Russia and Ukraine in Berlin to discuss the crisis. As revealed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, the objective of the talks was to try to reschedule a summit of the four countries in the Kazakh capital Astana. This had been called off last week due to renewed fighting.

White House admits Paris rally mistake after criticism from US media

#CharlieHebdo #ParisRally #BarackObama #JohnKerry #White House What prompted the US to stay away from the Paris rally is a mystery but, White House has, reportedly, admitted that it was a grave mistake of not sending "someone with a higher profile" to Sunday's Paris unity rally. The US ambassador to France was the highest ranking US official attending.
The admission has come after US media criticized President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry for not attending the rally which followed three terror attacks in Paris – the rally was attended by an estimated 1.6 million people and some 40 world leaders.
White House has explained that President Obama wished he could have attended, however, the extent of security preparation involved for a presidential visit required in excess of the 36-hour advance notice the White House received. Seventeen people lost their lives in attacks in Paris last week at the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has indicated to reporters in India that he would visit France to reaffirm US solidarity with the country, which he called America's oldest ally. Incidentally, he is fluent in French and had visited the country 17 times since becoming secretary of state.
He would probably arrive in Paris later this week after his trips to India and Pakistan. In the meantime, the White House has announced there would be an international summit in Washington in February on countering violent extremism.

John Kerry wants better bonding between India and the United States

#VibrantGujarat2015 #NarendraModi #JohnKerry Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on cloud nine with the Vibrant Gujarat 2015 campaign and, US Secretary of State John Kerry has called for stronger US-Indian trade ties while speaking at an international investor conference.
His remarks are significant in view of the visit of President Barack Obama's visit to India this month. He would be the chief guest at India's Republic Day ceremony in the capital on 26 January.
John Kerry has indicated that better economic ties would help boost India's growth and fight climate change. The bilateral foreign direct investment now stands at nearly $30bn (£19bn). In the course of his speech in Ahmedabad John Kerry has described Indian PM Narendra Modi as a "visionary prime minister".
He has stressed on the need to do more together, and do it fast enough because, such a drive would help to create an environment where American companies can play leading roles in bringing cutting-edge technologies, equipment, capital, and know-how for India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his part, has assured to cut red tape, pursue predictable policies, ensure stable taxes and make India the "easiest place" to do business.
However, what remains unsaid is how to work out a balance between Russia and America because of the heavy extent of reliance at present on Russia for extending support to the armed forces that rely heavily on Russian equipment. How will the United States fit into the bigger picture?

Obama did not attend historic Paris rally - American attitude towards Paris terror attack raises questions

#ParisRally #CharlieHebdo The attitude of the USA towards the Paris terror attack has raised many questions. There was no sign of Barack Obama, John Kerry or Joe Biden in the historic Paris rally to express solidarity with more than 40 world leaders from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and even Russia who had gathered in Paris to condemn the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
'France is our oldest ally,' Obama had said during a speech Friday in Tennessee. 'I want the people of France to know that the United States stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow.' However, he gave Paris a miss and had, reportedly, spent part of his Sunday afternoon watching a National Football League game on television.
It seems US Attorney General Eric Holder was in Paris on the day for a security summit, but he did not appear alongside world leaders when they joined an anti-terrorism march in the afternoon - he went to appear on a number of US morning shows.
Why Obama was not in Paris is a mystery but, the fact remains that he was not there even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas put aside their differences and linked arms.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov made the same unifying gesture in the march down the Place de la Concorde in defiance of the Islamist terror attacks that rocked the city last week. Heads of state from every major European power, including British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, joined French President Francois Hollande.

Eyes of the World are on India and Vibrant Gujarat 2015

#VibrantGujarat2015 #NarendraModi #BanKiMoon #JohnKerry Right now, the eyes of the World are on a resurgent India with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm of affairs. He would be inaugurating the seventh Vibrant Gujarat Summit in Gandhinagar. Present on the occasion would be UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Other dignitaries would be World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Minister for Trade and Investment in Australia Andrew Robb, Minister for Immigration, Canada Chris Alexander are also present among many others.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, has already announced an investment of Rs 100,000 crore in the next 12-18 months in Gujarat on the occasion.
Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has remarked that Gujarat is the most preferred destination for them and has also promised to invest Rs 20,000 crore in expansion of cement and other plants in Gujarat.
Yosuke Takag, Minister of Economy, Japan indicated that Japan is examining to doubling Japan’s FDI in India within a few years.
It is obvious that India is going places and the promises made by Prime Minister Modi will give tangible results in spite of innumerable hurdles. The Prime Minister has his own ideas of how to go about delivering the goods and appears to be a hard taskmaster. Once he can wriggle out of the web of red-tapism that the bureaucracy weaves around any venture, he can expect to get results. There has to be a sense of pride in what government officials do and, unless accountability is ensured, the final outcome may not be as desired.