China Confidential
Foreign News and Analysis Since April 2005
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Ahmadinejad Accuses US of Orchestrating 9/11
So much for engagement.
As the spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations put it, Iran's president on Thursday used the world body to spread "vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs"--only a few miles from Ground Zero.
Click here to read the Reuters report.
Obama Presses for Yuan Appreciation
An aide to U.S. President Barack Obama says the President has warned Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that his government must do more to ease tensions over the value of China's currency.
Obama's top East Asia adviser, Jeff Bader, told reporters that economic issues occupied most of the leaders' meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Bader described the tone of Thursday's meeting as candid. He said Obama talked about the importance of trade issues in general and the currency issue in particular.
Bader said Obama stressed that the United States expects more significant movement from China on the value of its currency.
"In the last few weeks, you have seen the president, the administration bring a couple of WTO cases against Chinese practices," Bader said. "So the president made clear, through that and in his meeting that he will protect US economic interests, and that we look for the Chinese to take actions. If the Chinese do not take actions, we have other means to protect U.S. interests."
Obama at UN Endorses Demographic Argument for Two-State Solution to Israeli-Palestinian Problem
President Says Killing 'Innocent Israelis is Not Resistance'
Click here for the story. The speech mixed support for Israel with an implied warning that the movement for a one-state solution to the (Islamizing) Arab/Palestinian-Israeli conflict--which would by definition mean the end of Israel as a Jewish State in fulfillment of Jewish national aspirations--could eventually surpass the international consensus for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel (actually, for formation of a second Arab state in Palestine, given that Jordan, with a Palestinian Arab majority, is an Arab state located within the boundaries of historic Palestine).
Question: How does one define "innocent?" The qualifier could be used to justify and rationalize attacks on Israeli military personnel--including members of the reserves--and residents of the disputed West Bank territories.
Russia Confirms China Confidential Analysis: New Korean War Possible, Conflict Could Begin Any Day
Russia's deputy foreign minister seems to be echoing China Confidential. Click here for his starkly and unusually undiplomatic analysis of the Korean situation.
Related news, which could be cause for cautious optimism, over here. Bear in mind that there is a difference between engaging in diplomacy as a tactic, in order to stall, play for time, and extract concessions from adversaries and the world community, and sincerely seeking long-term improved relations. Barring regime change, North Korea will never abandon atomic arms (and its partner in proliferation, Islamist Iran, will never stop trying to develop weapons of mass destruction).
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