Obama changes tack on Russia, calls up Putin

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The US President Barack Obama sprang a New Year surprise on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by telephoning him Wednesday night. It was a double surprise since the Russian New Year Holiday Week is ending on Thursday, January 14, and Obama rarely makes such gestures; and, secondly, the call signified a virtual U-turn just a day after the US president had made some unfriendly remarks about the Kremlin’s policies and caricatured Russia as undermining the international system.

The Kremlin readout and the White House readout both make it clear that the two presidents held a detailed discussion on the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East tensions (Syrian conflict and Saudi-Iran rift) and North Korea’s dangerous nuclear brinkmanship. It was indeed a substantial phone conversation, signifying a Russian-American constructive engagement.

The Kremlin readout is an unusually detailed one, conveying a high degree of satisfaction, while the White House readout underscored that Obama’s intention was to discuss with Putin the “full implementation” of the Minsk agreement on Ukraine “by all parties”, to coordinate on the upcoming UN-sponsored roadmap on Syrian transition, and to get Russia on board a unified big-power stance to pressure North Korea.

According to the Kremlin’s version, Putin stressed the “need for Kiev’s full and rigorous observance of the Minsk Agreements”, in particular regarding the constitutional amendments that enable local elections to be held in the breakaway regions of Donbass. The White House maintained that on his part, Obama stressed that “the key next step” is about the two sides in Ukraine reaching agreement on the modalities of holding elections in the breakaway regions.

http://atimes.com/2016/01/obama-changes-tack-on-russia-calls-up-putin/

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1. UPDATE 1-China's Xi to visit Saudi, Iran in new diplomacy push

Jan 15 Chinese President Xi Jinping will make an unusual visit next week to Saudi Arabia and Iran, who are locked in a bitter dispute, in what could be a bid by Beijing to act as an "honest broker" as it seeks a greater regional diplomatic role.

While relying on the region for oil supplies, China has tended to leave Middle Eastern diplomacy to the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France and Russia.

But China has been trying to get more involved, especially in Syria, recently hosting both its foreign minister and opposition officials.

In a brief statement, China's Foreign Ministry said Xi would visit Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt on his Jan. 19-23 visit. It provided no other details.

http://www.reuters.com/article/china-mideast-idUSL3N14Z3RC

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2. Seymour Hersh: US Military Recognizes Russia's Success in Syria

According to Seymour Hersh, one of America’s best-known investigative journalists, the US recognizes Russia’s military success in Syria.

Russians have acted in a very professional manner and managed to strengthen the Syrian Army, while US policy in the region has remained inconsistent, Seymour Hersh said.

“Americans have not recognized one thing above all: Syria, like Iraq and Libya, was a secular ally of the West, with moderate Sunnis. And we have intervened into these countries, overthrown their governments, and thus helped those whom we view now as our worst enemies — ISIS or Daesh and all the other extreme Sunnis,” the journalist said in an interview with the German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN).

Hersh argued that Americans’ hatred for Syrian President Bashar Assad has no logical reasons. The Syrian leader repeatedly tried to build a good relationship with the US, while Syria’s intelligence services provided Washington with hundreds of documents, warning about Islamist attacks against the West and the US in particular.

http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160115/1033194681/seymour-hersh-syria-russia-success.html

[KoKo]

3. ....!

A bit of "tongue in cheek" from Hersh in the last line of the article?

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4. "Delightfully ambiguous" is the way I'd put it. nt

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5. Ukraine: Euromaidan’s godmother engages Kremlin grey cardinal

What passes for Kremlinology at times hits intriguing boundaries due to sheer paucity of information. This happened on Friday when a key Kremlin functionary and presidential aide Vladislav Surkov and the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Eurasia Victoria Nuland met up in the remote north-western Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and clocked several hours of secret conversation.

Nuland flew in from Lithuania and left Russian soil immediately after the conversation. There is a surreal touch to it – Moscow sees Nuland as the godmother of the Euromaidan in Kiev in February 2014 and there are pictures of her braving the snow and ice on the city square in the tick of winter distributing sandwiches to protestors seeking the ouster of former President Viktor Yanukovich.

Surkov, of course, is often depicted in the West as the ‘grey cardinal’ in Kremlin politics, stands blacklisted for visa under the US sanctions because of his role in the Ukraine conflict. There are two versions of Surkov: one, he was a charioteer of the ‘Novorossiysk’ project to annex eastern Ukraine; and, two, he is actually a ‘westernist’ at heart.

Nuland and Surkov huddled together to sort out the mess in Ukraine. What we know is almost entirely from Surkov’s disclosure: “The discussions we had were detailed enough, fruitful and useful. This is brainstorming of a kind to tap compromise solutions. Ideas were voiced on some extremely sensitive issues like the constitutional reform (in Ukraine), security and elections. They can now be discussed at the Contact Group (in charge of settling the armed conflict in Donbass region of eastern Ukraine) or in the Normandy format (Russia, Germany, France, and Ukraine)”.

http://atimes.com/2016/01/ukraine-euromaidans-godmother-engages-kremlin-grey-cardinal/

[KoKo]

7. ...1

With a cast of characters with surnames fit for a Dicken's novel....it actually looks like some progress might be made out of the chaos that Nuland & Co. inflicted on Ukraine, which would be a very good thing, going forward for everyone involved. BTW: Quite a title for the article

Snips:

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Gryzlov is a political heavyweight who holds the powerful position as permanent member of Russia’s Security Council and he used to be minister of interior and speaker of State Duma, apart from being a colleague from Putin’s St. Petersburg days in the KGB. Gryzlov’s presence in the Trilateral Contact Group (which is entrusted with implementation of the Minsk Agreement) literally electrifies the body.

Andres Aslund at the Atlantic Council assesses that these two Kremlin appointments would signify a shift in Russian policies on Ukraine and hint at Moscow’s interest to negotiate a deal. He wrote, “The transition to Kozak and Gryzlov is undoubtedly an important milestone. Kozak’s appointment indicates that Russia has concluded its active military phase… The appointment of Gryzlov is more curious. He represented Putin in the roundtable negotiation that led to the settlement of the Orange Revolution (in Ukraine) with repeat elections in December 2004. If Putin authorized Gryzlov to make substantial concessions to Ukraine then, he might be ready to do so again”.
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However, a denouement in Ukraine could be struggling to be born. The overarching reality is that there are no ‘winners’ in Ukraine. The US brilliantly succeeded in putting a pro-western leadership in power in Kiev two years ago, but it turned out to be a Pyrrhic victory.

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Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine recently, Taras Kuzio, one of the West’s leading experts on Ukraine, pointed out that the pro-western leadership in Kiev is widely unpopular across the country and its rating stands below that of the Yanukovich regime it replaced. The economy is in shambles, corruption and venality have become rampant, leadership in Kiev is testy and the country is becoming chaotic.

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6. Putin hosts Qatar's ruler for Syria-focused talks

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian's president is hosting the ruler of Qatar for talks set to focus on the Syrian crisis.

Vladimir Putin welcomed Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani at the start of Monday's talks in the Kremlin by hailing Qatar's role in regional affairs. He voiced hope that they would be able to "search for ways of settlement of the most difficult issues."

Al-Thani emphasized a key role Russia could play in stabilizing the region, adding that Qatar wants to find a solution for problems "concerning stability of some of the countries of the region."

Neither leader mentioned Syria in their opening remarks, but the Syrian crisis was looming over the talks. Russia has backed Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the nearly five-year conflict, while Qatar has supported the opposition.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Putin-hosts-Qatar-s-ruler-for-Syria-focused-talks-6766595.php

[KoKo]

8. ...!

Putin is very busy these days. Will be interesting to watch how it all turns out. .

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11. Doesn't seem to be too isolated, does he? nt

[KoKo]

9. Russia Breaking Wall Street Oil Price Monopoly--Engdahl

Last edited Mon Jan 18, 2016, 09:28 PM - Edit history (2)

Russia Breaking Wall St Oil Price Monopoly

By F. William Engdahl

January 13, 2016 "Information Clearing House" - "NEO" - Russia has just taken significant steps that will break the present Wall Street oil price monopoly, at least for a huge part of the world oil market. The move is part of a longer-term strategy of decoupling Russia’s economy and especially its very significant export of oil, from the US dollar, today the Achilles Heel of the Russian economy.

Later in November the Russian Energy Ministry has announced that it will begin test-trading of a new Russian oil benchmark. While this might sound like small beer to many, it’s huge. If successful, and there is no reason why it won’t be, the Russian crude oil benchmark futures contract traded on Russian exchanges, will price oil in rubles and no longer in US dollars. It is part of a de-dollarization move that Russia, China and a growing number of other countries have quietly begun.

The setting of an oil benchmark price is at the heart of the method used by major Wall Street banks to control world oil prices. Oil is the world’s largest commodity in dollar terms. Today, the price of Russian crude oil is referenced to what is called the Brent price. The problem is that the Brent field, along with other major North Sea oil fields is in major decline, meaning that Wall Street can use a vanishing benchmark to leverage control over vastly larger oil volumes. The other problem is that the Brent contract is controlled essentially by Wall Street and the derivatives manipulations of banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP MorganChase and Citibank.

The ‘Petrodollar’ demise

The sale of oil denominated in dollars is essential for the support of the US dollar. In turn, maintaining demand for dollars by world central banks for their currency reserves to back foreign trade of countries like China, Japan or Germany, is essential if the United States dollar is to remain the leading world reserve currency. That status as world’s leading reserve currency is one of two pillars of American hegemony since the end of World War II. The second pillar is world military supremacy.

US wars financed with others’ dollars

Continued at....

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43934.htm

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10. Yes, the oil price cartel has done broke down.

Hence the price collapse. It has been a long time since we had gas price wars, but that is what this is.

It is going to get very messy and nobody has any idea how it will shake out.

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12. Backed by Russian air power, Syria's army builds on gains

Earlier this month, as Syrian pro-government forces closed in on rebels in the mountains of Latakia province, a prominent Islamist leader issued a frank rebuke to fellow militants.

In a nine-minute speech released on social media, Murad Margoshvili complained of a dearth of fighters, saying that he and his men were "in a Roman wrestling ring where the gladiators fight and the rest of the Islamic world spectates."

"In this decisive moment you leave us without assistance?" asked Margoshvili, an ethnic Chechen commander who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Walid al Shishani and heads a hard-line Islamist faction called Soldiers of Syria.

His exhortations went unheeded. Syrian army units, backed by dozens of Russian airstrikes, soon swept through a onetime rebel bastion, Salma. Government forces have since consolidated their hold over strategic swaths of mountainous territory while driving the rebels back to their rear-guard bases across the Turkish border.

http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-war-20160118-story.html?utm_source=The+Daily+News+Brief&utm_campaign=9f9dca90da-Morning_Email1_19_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b4a0944fbd-9f9dca90da-74427813