Brussels: In a show of unity ahead of meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Joe Biden on Monday (June 14) said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) treaty is rock solid and unshakable.

He then called Putin a bright, tough and worthy adversary. “The NATO treaty is rock solid and unshakable. It`s a sacred commitment,” Biden told reporters after meeting with allies at the headquarters of the 30-member military alliance that has long been focused on the threat posed by Russia.

“Putin is bright, he is tough and I have found that he is… a worthy adversary,” he said while hailing Putin.

In a White House statement, the US President said: “There is a growing recognition over the last couple of years that we have new challenges. And we have Russia that is not acting in a way that is consistent with what we had hoped, and — as well as China.”

“And I must say that we had as (inaudible) a number of my colleagues and our colleagues who are in the G7 have stepped up as well, in terms of the need for there to be greater coordination,” he added.

Biden will meet his Russian counterpart in Geneva, Switzerland on June 16. However, NATO allies announced that they will gather in Spain next year.

Biden also met on the sidelines of the summit with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a time of strained relations between the two countries.

The US President has arrived in-person at the NATO summit, where he urged western allies to better align themselves against China and Russia, the chief foreign policy concerns of his administration.

“I think that there is a growing recognition over the last couple years that we have new challenges, and we have Russia that is not acting in a way that is consistent with what we had hoped, as well as China,” Biden said at the start of the summit, reported CNN.

The summit comes as Biden looks to reassert US leadership on the world stage and strengthen global partnerships.

He arrived in Brussels on the heels of several meetings with US allies and the annual Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, UK.

ALSO READ: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute warns of increasing global nuclear warhead stockpile

Live TV

Mildenhall: President Joe Biden on Wednesday (June 9) began his first trip abroad since taking office by hailing America`s unwavering commitment to the NATO alliance and warning Russia it faced “robust and meaningful” consequences if it engaged in harmful activities.

Biden, speaking to about 1,000 troops and their families at a British airbase, said he would deliver a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet next week after separate summits with NATO, G7 and European leaders.

“We`re not seeking conflict with Russia,” the Democratic president said at the start of his eight-day visit to Europe.

“We want a stable and predictable relationship … but I`ve been clear: The United States will respond in a robust and meaningful way if the Russian government engages in harmful activities.”

Biden has said he is determined to rebuild trans-Atlantic ties and reframe relations with Russia after four rocky years under Republican former President Donald Trump, whose tariffs and withdrawal from treaties strained relations with major allies.

“This is my first overseas trip as president of the United States. I`m heading to the G7, then the NATO ministerial and then to meet with Mr. Putin to let him know what I want him to know,” Biden said, drawing cheers from the troops.

“At every point along the way, we`re going to make it clear that the United States is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges, and the issues that matter most to our future.”

Biden told reporters as he left for Europe that his goals were “strengthening the alliance, making it clear to Putin and to China that Europe and the United States are tight.”

His summit with Putin on June 16 in Geneva is the capstone of the trip, an opportunity to raise U.S. concerns directly with the Russian leader about ransomware attacks emanating from Russia, Moscow`s aggression against Ukraine and a host of other issues.

In a development further straining U.S.-Russia ties, a Russian court on Wednesday outlawed groups linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, after declaring them “extremist.” Condemning the decision, the U.S. State Department said it “effectively criminalized one of the country’s few remaining independent political movements.”

Speaking to U.S. troops based at Royal Air Force Mildenhall base, a huge American flag behind him, Biden underscored the US commitment to the NATO alliance but said it needed to modernize and expand its cyber capabilities.

Biden also comes to Europe with a goodwill gesture, the planned announcement that the United States will buy and donate 500 million Pfizer Inc/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine doses to about 100 countries over the next two years, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Biden is expected to announce the deal on Thursday. The United States has faced criticism over securing access to much of the initial stockpile of the most promising vaccines.

G7 SUMMIT, MEETING WITH JOHNSON

Biden will make his first stop of the trip at the seaside village of St. Ives in Cornwall where he will participate in the G7 summit.

The meeting is expected to be dominated by vaccine diplomacy, trade, climate and an initiative for rebuilding infrastructure in the developing world.

US officials see that effort as a way to counter China`s growing influence.

His push for a global minimum tax on multinational corporations faces opposition at home.

G7 finance ministers agreed before the summit to pursue a global minimum tax rate of at least 15% and to allow market countries to tax up to 20% of the excess profits – above a 10% margin – generated by about 100 large, high-profit companies.

Republicans came out against the plan this week, potentially complicating the US ability to implement a broader global agreement.

Biden will have a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday in Cornwall, a chance to renew the US-British “special relationship” after Britain`s Brexit break from the European Union.

The two countries will issue an updated joint statement of principles between the two countries in honor of the original Atlantic Charter from 1941.

But the two have deep policy issues to discuss, with Biden set to reinforce stalwart U.S. support for the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that ended decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

The agreement has come into question with the United Kingdom`s exit from the European Union.

Biden and Johnson will also discuss climate change, a proposal to counter China`s global influence on infrastructure and the withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan.

The Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline will also be on the agenda when Biden meets with German officials.

The Biden administration opposes the $11 billion natural gas pipeline, but Germany wants it finished.

After three days of G7 summitry, Biden and his wife, Jill, will visit Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. The 78-year-old Biden met the queen back in 1982 when he was a US senator from Delaware.

RUSSIA AND CHINA

Biden then travels to Brussels for talks with leaders of NATO and the European Union. The agenda is expected to be dominated by Russia, China and the perennial issue of getting NATO allies to contribute more to the common defense.

Biden closes out the trip in Geneva for what could prove to be the most difficult meeting of the trip – a session with Putin, who enjoyed friendly relations with Trump.

No major breakthroughs are expected from the summit.

Asked by reporters if his meeting with Putin would yield some accord on cybersecurity, Biden was non-committal.

“Who knows?” said Biden. “It`s going to be a subject of our discussion.”
 

ALSO READ: Joe Biden embarks on 8-day trip to Europe to repair damage done in Donald Trump’s Presidency

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden will meet in-person for the first time on Thursday (June 10) in Cornwall, ahead of the UK-hosted G7 Leaders’ Summit starting on Friday (June 11).

The leaders are expected to agree to a new Atlantic Charter, modelled on the historic joint statement made by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1941 setting out their goals for the post-war world, Downing Street said.

The original Atlantic Charter included landmark agreements, leading directly to the creation of the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

The 2021 Atlantic Charter is designed to echo those values and cover new partnerships, including a new Travel Taskforce for renewed US-UK exchanges.

While Churchill and Roosevelt faced the question of how to help the world recover following a devastating war, today we have to reckon with a very different but no less intimidating challenge – how to build back better from the coronavirus pandemic, said Johnson.

And as we do so, cooperation between the UK and US, the closest of partners and the greatest of allies, will be crucial for the future of the world’s stability and prosperity.

The agreements President Biden and I will make today [Thursday], rooted as they are in our shared values and outlook, will form the foundation of a sustainable global recovery,” he said.

“Eighty years ago the US President and British Prime Minister stood together promising a better future. Today we do the same, he added.

The new Atlantic Charter will outline eight areas to work together, around values of defending democracy, reaffirming the importance of collective security, and building a fair and sustainable global trading system, Downing Street said.

The principled commitments made in the new Atlantic Charter will be underpinned by a series of new policy priorities expected to be agreed by the two leaders ahead of the formal G7 deliberations.

These include working to open up travel between the UK and US as soon as possible.

“Many people in the UK and US have been prevented from seeing family and friends for over 400 days as a result of coronavirus travel restrictions. Before the outbreak of coronavirus more than 5 million Brits visited the US and over 4.5 million Americans visited the UK every year – more than any other country,” Downing Street said.

Biden and Johnson expected to agree to work to relaunch UK-US travel as soon as possible through a new Travel Taskforce, which will make recommendations on safely reopening international travel.

The taskforce will work to explore options and to ensure that the UK and US closely share thinking and expertise on international travel policy going forward.

It’s also expected that the leaders will agree to pursue a landmark bilateral technology agreement, to be signed next year.

“The agreement will start a new era of strategic cooperation by reducing the barriers British tech firms face when trying to work with their US counterparts. By combining our shared expertise in areas like AI and quantum technology, the UK and US have the potential to transform the way we live,” Downing Street said.

It added that the two leaders will agree to work together to harness their power to address modern challenges like climate change, fighting cancer and antimicrobial resistance, as well as strengthening our strategic advantage on the international stage as like-minded democracies.

To strengthen UK and US efforts to beat the coronavirus pandemic and prevent any future outbreaks, the two leaders are expected to agree to “scale up” joint work on genomic sequencing and variant assessments.

This includes the UK Health Security Agency’s new Centre for Pandemic Preparedness linking up with its US counterpart, the proposed National Center for Epidemic Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, as part of an integrated global surveillance system.

Discussions between the Prime Minister and President Biden are also expected to cover other areas of bilateral cooperation. 

ALSO READ: US Senate approves bipartisan legislation against China’s rising economic influence

Washington: US President Joe Biden departs for Britain on Wednesday (June 9) on his first trip abroad since taking office, an eight-day mission to rebuild trans-Atlantic ties strained during the Trump era and to reframe relations with Russia.

The trip represents a test of the Democratic president`s ability to manage and repair relationships with major allies who grew disenchanted with then-President Donald Trump`s trade tariffs and withdrawal from international treaties.

“Will the democratic alliances and institutions that shaped so much of the last century prove their capacity against modern-day threats and adversaries? I believe the answer is yes. And this week in Europe, we have the chance to prove it,” Biden said in an opinion article published in the Washington Post.

His summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 16 in Geneva is the capstone to the trip, an opportunity to raise US concerns directly with Putin about ransomware attacks emanating from Russia, Moscow`s aggression against Ukraine and a host of other issues.

Biden will make his first stop at the seaside village of St. Ives in Cornwall where he will participate in the G7 summit.

The meeting is expected to be dominated by vaccine diplomacy, trade, climate and an initiative for rebuilding infrastructure in the developing world. U.S. officials see that effort as a way to counter China`s growing influence.

Biden may face pressure to do more to share U.S. vaccine supplies with other countries after an initial pledge of 20 million doses announced last week.

His push for a global minimum tax on multinational corporations faces opposition at home. G7 finance ministers agreed before the summit to pursue a global minimum tax rate of at least 15% and to allow market countries to tax up to 20% of the excess profits – above a 10% margin – generated by about 100 large, high-profit companies.

Republicans came out against the plan this week, potentially complicating the US ability to implement a broader global agreement.

Biden will have a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday in Cornwall, a chance to renew the US-British “special relationship” after Britain`s Brexit break from the European Union.

After three days of G7 summitry, Biden and his wife Jill will visit Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle.

The 78-year-old Biden met the queen back in 1982 when he was a US senator from Delaware.

Afterwards Biden travels to Brussels for talks with leaders of NATO and the European Union.

The agenda is expected to be dominated by Russia, China and the perennial issue of getting NATO allies to contribute more to the common defense.

Biden closes out the trip in Geneva for what could prove to be the most difficult meeting of the week – a session with Putin, who had enjoyed friendly relations with Trump.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden hoped his G7 and NATO meetings will bolster a sense of allied unity as he goes into his session with Putin.

No major breakthroughs are expected from the summit. Sullivan said Biden would press Putin on U.S. priorities. The two sides were negotiating whether to hold a joint news conference.

ALSO READ: US Senate approves bipartisan legislation against China’s rising economic influence

Kabul: As the United States declares its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Turkey is interested in taking control of Afghanistan`s Hamid Karzai International Airport if North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies permit.

Khaama Press reported that Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said that Turkish forces have agreed to take the control of the Hamid Karzai International Airport if allies provide support.”500 Turkish forces in Afghanistan will take the control and responsibility of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul if financial, logistic and political support is provided by the allies,” Akar said in a meeting with its NATO allies.

This comes as the withdrawal of the foreign forces which is scheduled to be completed by September 11 have increased concerns among the international community and the diplomatic mission`s presence in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials had earlier said that Pakistan had allowed the US military to use its airspace and given ground access so that it could support its presence in Afghanistan.

However, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi refuted the claim and said that the country would not provide its military bases to the US for future counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan and also not allow drone attacks inside Pakistan.

Whereas, according to the New York Times, some American officials believe the negotiations have reached an impasse for now. The US intelligence agency CIA did use a base in Pakistan to launch drone strikes against militants but “was kicked out of the facility in 2011 when US relations with Pakistan unravelled,” the report said.”Some American officials (told the newspaper) that negotiations with Pakistan had reached an impasse for now.

Others have said the option remains on the table and a deal is possible,” the report explains. According to NYT, William J. Burns, the CIA director, recently made an unannounced visit to Islamabad to meet the chief of the Pakistani military and the head of the directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin also has had frequent calls with the Pakistani military chief about getting the country`s help for future US operations in Afghanistan.

(inputs from agency)

Live TV

Belarus: The United States and several leaders under the European Union have demanded an investigation into the diversion of a Lithuanian-bound flight to Minsk. The head of NATO has joined the leaders of EU contries asking Belarus to explain its act of detaining an opposition activist and journalist Raman Pratasevich.

ALSO READ | Israel, Hamas End 11 Days Of War, Begin Truce; Celebrations In Gaza As People Seek Normalcy

Belarus Orders Diversion Of Passenger Plane, Detention Of Journalist

Belarusian authorities on Sunday forced a civilian jetliner Ryanair to make an emergency landing in capital Minsk and arrested a wanted opposition activist on board. 

A 26-year-old dissident journalist identified as Roman Protasevich was detained by police after his Ryanair flight traveling between Athens and Vilnius, Lithuania — the capitals of two NATO nations, was diverted over Belarusian airspace and the Minsk government said Lukashenko ordered his military to scramble a MiG-29 fighter to escort the plane. The MiG-29 fighter jet scrambled to escort the Boeing 737-8AS to Minsk, although the aircraft was at that point much closer to Vilnius. 

According to reports, mere minitues before flight’s exit from Belarusian airspace, its crew received an order from Belarus’s air traffic control to turn around because of possible explosives on board.

However, the opposition in Belarus said that the supposed bomb scare was a pretext for the real reason strongman President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the arrest of Roman Protasevich. 

ALSO READ | Nepal President Dissolves Parliament, Elections To Be Conducted In November

‘Act of State Terrorism’: Outrage Against Belarus

The detention of the journalist has been highly condemned by the US and Europe, and several NATO nations. The act has stroked a heated controversy as some European leaders compared it to a hijacking, and accused Belarus of engaging in an act of state terrorism. 

Raising concerns over the arrest of journalist, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken in an official statement said, “The United States strongly condemns the forced diversion of a flight between two EU member states and the subsequent removal and arrest of journalist Roman Pratasevich. Initial reports suggesting the involvement of the Belarusian security services and the use of Belarusian military aircraft to escort the plane are deeply concerning and require full investigation.” 

According to AFP reports, the European Union is set to discuss toughening its existing sanctions against Belarus — imposed over the crackdown by the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko on opposition protesters — at a pre-planned summit on Monday. The UE leaders will discuss the consequences of what EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called an “unacceptable” action.

The NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has also opposed the act and said that  alliance was closely monitoring the “forcible landing” of the flight. He said that this is a serious & dangerous incident which requires international investigation. Belarus must ensure safe return of crew & all passengers.