Macron, Trudeau 'bromance' fires up internet

Yahoo – AFP, Marianne BARRIAUX, Angus MACKINNON, May 26, 2017

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) and French President Emmanuel
Macron chatted against the backdrop of a sparkling blue Mediterranean sea
 (AFP Photo/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

Taormina (Italy) (AFP) - "A liberal fantasy dream sequence", "a bromance," "insanely romantic".

The Internet was abuzz Friday with pictures of French President Emmanuel Macron and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau schmoozing at the G7 summit in Sicily, strolling through flowered walkways and chatting against the backdrop of a sparkling blue Mediterranean sea.

"Apparently Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron flew to Sicily for their wedding photoshoot," netizen @sherlockify joked on Twitter.

The reaction to the telegenic pair's encounter in the picturesque, hillside town of Taormina, immortalised by Macron himself who tweeted a video of their meeting, provided some light relief from a summit otherwise devoted to thorny issues such as climate change and the threat of extremism.

"The Franco-Canadian friendship has a new face," Macron tweeted after sitting down for talks with Trudeau and taking the now famous stroll.

"@JustinTrudeau, it's up to us to take on the challenges of our generation!"

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) and French President Emmanuel 

Macron meet at the G7 summit (AFP Photo/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

"Sitting down with @EmmanuelMacron for the first time, talking jobs, security & climate -– looking forward to more conversations, my friend," Trudeau responded on Twitter, posting pictures of both smiling, shaking hands, and looking out over the Mediterranean, their dapper suit jackets billowing in the breeze.

Trudeau, 45, is popular with liberals worldwide for his commitment to fighting climate change and easing the refugee crisis -- in stark contrast to the United States, Canada's powerful neighbour.

Macron, 39, has only been in power for 12 days but enjoys similar kudos, particularly abroad where he has been compared to Trudeau.

"This image of Trudeau and Macron in Sicily is right out of a liberal fantasy dream sequence," tweeted Dhruva Jaishankar, an expert on foreign policy at the India section of the Brookings Institution think tank.

Others were even more explicit.

"Le swoon, le sigh," tweeted netizen MissMary, above a photo of both leaders in apparent earnest chat.

"Is there a budding bromance between Macron and Trudeau? Two hunks!" added @MaureenRamsden.

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G7 leaders find common cause on combatting terrorism but fail to bridge gulf with Trump on trade and climate change https://t.co/tm2TCjLsEU pic.twitter.com/bXwcXUExnz

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 26, 2017

AFP Graphic showing US President Donald Trump's famous handshakes with world leaders pic.twitter.com/GEMpaywrNN

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 26, 2017

In Garmisch, G7 chiefs talk Ukraine, Greece and money

The Group of Seven industrialized nations has kicked off a two-day summit in a luxury resort in Bavaria. Going into Sunday's G7 meeting, talk was dominated by civil war in Ukraine and a credit crunch in Greece.

Deutsche Welle, 7 June 2015

Journalists and policemen based in and around Garmisch-Partenkirchen's quaint timber-frame guesthouses and hotels woke on Sunday morning to the sound of helicopters hovering above the usually tranquil Alpine skiing resort nestled among snowcapped mountains in Southern Germany: They were shuttling camera teams and journalists to the Schloss Elmau, the luxury castle where leaders of the Group of Seven - the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, France, Japan and Germany - were set to arrive for their annual summit.

This year, G7 leaders planned to discuss a wide range of topics behind closed doors, including global trade, ensuring more sustainable supply chains, new Millennium Development Goals, international terrorism, and the civil wars and standoffs in the Middle East, Ukraine and the South China Sea. Other planned topics include climate change, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Pact between the EU and US, commonly known as TTIP, and lessons learned from the most recent Ebola outbreak, as well as how to respond to other tropical diseases.

Merkel took Obama out for Bavarian

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama, the first foreign leader to arrive, kicked off the day by joining locals dressed in dirndl and lederhosen for a Bavarian show of beer, pretzels and oompah music in the nearby village of Krün. But, before the camera teams zoomed in on Obama, Merkel and Bavarian dignitaries as they tore in to the local delicacies, both leaders issued stark warnings to Russia over what the US president called Vladimir Putin's "aggression" in Ukraine.

At a press conference, EU President Donald Tusk, who is also attending the summit, said he wanted to "reconfirm G7 unity on sanctions policy." Russia, he said, would stay out of the G7 "community of values" as long as it "behaves aggressively with Ukraine and other countries."

Russia joined the G7 nations in 1998, creating the Group of Eight, which became the Group of Seven again last year after the other leaders kicked the country out over its interference in Ukraine. Following the annexation of Crimea by Russia, the United States and EU also imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and businesses.

Greece high on the agenda

In a bilateral meeting, Obama and Merkel also discussed financially ailing Greece. According to a White House spokesman quoted by news agencies, the two leaders agreed that the country must reform and return to sustainable long-term growth. Greece's government has been locked in negotiations with its creditors to reach a last-minute deadline before the country has to repay a 300 million-euro ($333.5 million) loan to the IMF by the end of the month.

The seven leaders had much more on their agenda than Greece and Russia, however, as the cameras left the room ahead of the first of the six off-the-record meetings that make up the summit. This year, Germany is also pushing for a pledge to create the Vision Zero Fund, which would guarantee sustainable supply chains by financing preventative measures to guarantee safety standards, such as fire safety measures.

Jörn Kalinski, the director of advocacy and campaigns for Oxfam in Germany, told DW that the Vision Zero Fund "would be a very big and important step forward. We should really end this perverse situation where we have our economic prosperity based on human rights violations and ecological sins committed in the developing world." However, Kalinski, one of several NGO representatives gathered in the press center, added that he was "a little pessimistic" that the initiative would receive much concrete support from the other G7 countries, which face strong lobbies for multinational companies at home.

Geeta Bandi-Philips, of World Vision, also said that this G7 summit was not likely "to be a pledging conference" when it came to sustainable development goals. But it was a good place, she said, to start thinking about how global leaders "could make sustainable development a reality for everyone else."

As is usually the case during such meetings, activists expect few concrete binding commitments in the 15-odd page communique set to be released after the summit closes Monday afternoon.

Protesters fail to breach security parameter

The G7 began in 1975 as the Group of Six, with all the same nations, except Canada. Detractors say the group's annual summits are excessively expensive and lead to too few concrete results. They note that other forums, like the United Nations or even Group of 20 meetings, include poorer countries. The G7's critics say the more-inclusive meetings have proved much better at tackling issues that require a global response, such as climate change or trade policy.

A variety of causes united to
oppose the G7's agenda

Other dissenters reject the idea of globalization more generally. They include many of the demonstrators who took to the streets on Saturday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, among them anarchists, Kurdish activists and even a Hare Krishna monk. Police mobilized from across Germany clashed with the protesters several times. However, the large-scale violence many had feared did not materialize.

On Sunday, several hundred protesters hiked for hours along a steep track through the mountains to reach the security parameter around Schloss Elmau before being turned back by police. Frank Duden, an organizer of the demonstration, told DW's Sabrina Pabst, who accompanied the protesters on their march, that he was there because G7 leaders only made "decisions on behalf of companies and very rich people." Rather than spending money on hosting an expensive summit, Duden said, the funds should be used "to build a better world in Africa, Asia or South America."

Luxembourg and London vie to host AIIB's Europe office

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-03-30

An illustration showing nations lining up to jump on the AIIB bus. (Illustration/CFP)

As of March 28, 42 countries — including 10 from Europe — have officially announced their intent to join the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Due to the expansion of the AIIB's circle of friends in Europe, a focus now is where the bank's European office will be located, with London and Luxembourg having emerged as the two most obvious competitors, Shanghai's China Business News reports.

Although Luxembourg has not caught as much attention as Britain, its strength should not be overlooked. The Grand Duchy has the world's highest GDP per capita at US$110,700 and like London it is one of the world's biggest financial centers. Furthermore, Luxembourg is the largest fund center in the world after the United States, and is the premier private banking center in the eurozone.

Paul Steinmetz, Luxembourg's ambassador to China, told China Business News that Luxembourg is hoping to host the AIIB's Europe office and looks forward to sharing its professional knowledge with China. Steinmetz noted that Luxembourg is home to the headquarters of the European Investment Bank and is an active member of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The chief of the ADB's regional liaison office in Bangkok is from Luxembourg, he added.

Luxembourg has also been competing with London to become an offshore center for trade in the renminbi and joining the AIIB is a crucial step in consolidating this aim.

Liu Ying, a research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said the purpose of the United Kingdom joining the AIIB is to secure its status as a global financial center. Liu said Britain has shown great confidence in China and the renminbi, evidenced by the fact that it is the first G7 nation to sign a bilateral currency swap agreement with China and is speeding up its efforts to establish a yuan settlement system and to become an offshore yuan center.

No returning to G8: Russia

The Brics Post, June 4, 2014

Two security guards pass the entrance of the European Council building
in Brussels ahead of a two-day G7 meeting, Wednesday, June 4, 2014 [AP]

Russia said Wednesday that it was open for cooperation with major Western powers, but ruled out a return to the Group of Eight (G8), made up of the seven most industrialized nations, known as G7, and Russia.

“Such a format does not exist for now,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a Russian radio station.

Russia would, however, continue to participate in the Group of 20, which includes the most developed and major developing countries of the world, Peskov said.

Leaders of G7 declared in March that they would boycott the G8 summit in Sochi, where they were scheduled to have met with Russia this week. Instead, they gathered in Brussels for a two-day G7 summit.

The expulsion of Russia from the G8 came three days after Crimea accession to Russia.

Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin will not have a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama even though both leaders are attending the 70th anniversary of D-Day Landings in France’s Normandy on Friday.

“We are not making such preparations … Participants of war memorial events will stay together, in one group,” Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

He, however, did not rule out possible brief talks between Putin and Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko.

The Kremlin earlier confirmed that Putin, on his first visit to a Western country since the start of the Ukraine crisis, would have separate meetings with British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Normandy.

The US and EU have imposed travel bans and asset freezes on dozens of Russians over what they called Russia’s “meddling” in Ukraine’s affairs.

The European Union, however, would be troubled by Russia’s attempts to veer away from gas exports to the bloc by moving towards energy-hungry China.

Russia has had some success in diverting attention away from the troubling sanctions with the successful negotiations that led to the inking of a massive $400 billion gas deal with China last month and also the signing of the treaty to form the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, a combined $2.7 trillion economy and vast energy resources. 

TBP and Agencies

Related Article:

G7 summit ends with warnings to Russia to cooperate with Kyiv

G7 snubs Russia summit over Ukraine crisis

Google – AFP, Jan Hennop in The Hague and Dmitry Zaks in Kiev (AFP), 24 March 2014

G7 leaders meet at the official residence of the Dutch prime minister in

The Hague on March 24, 2014 (AFP, Saul Loeb)

The Hague — The G7 group of top economic powers on Monday scrapped a planned meeting to be hosted by Russia as they sought to deepen Moscow's isolation over the Ukraine crisis.

After emergency talks on the Ukraine crisis called by US President Barack Obama, the G7 said they would hold a meeting in Brussels without Russia instead of the wider G8 summit that was to have taken place in Sochi.

The G7 also threatened tougher sanctions against Russia for its annexation of Crimea that has plunged relations between the West and Moscow to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

 holds a press conference in The Hague

 on March 24, 2014 on the sidelines of

 the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) (Pool/

AFP, Evert-Jan Daniels)

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defiantly dismissed such a move as "no great tragedy" after separate talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Ukraine's interim Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya.

"If our Western partners think that this format has outlived itself, then so be it," Lavrov told reporters.

"We are not trying to hold on to this format, and we see no great tragedy if it (the G8) does not meet," Lavrov said, insisting that Crimea has "a right to self determination."

Russia's takeover of the region was not "malicious intent," said Lavrov but was to "protect the Russians who have been living there for hundreds of years."

Concern over missing troops

Kerry met with Lavrov for over an hour earlier in the day, his spokeswoman Marie Harf said, welcoming the Russia-Ukraine talks, the highest level contact between Russia and Ukraine since the start of the crisis.

He reiterated to Lavrov US concern about the massing of Russian troops on Ukraine's border and the treatment of Ukrainian troops, "including many Ukrainian service members who are missing," Harf said.

Kerry reminded Lavrov that Obama has signed an executive order "that provides the flexibility to sanction specific industries if Russia continues to take escalatory steps," Harf said, urging Russia to de-escalate the situation and pursue a dialogue with the Ukrainian government.

Ahead of the talks, Obama stressed that Europe and the United States were "united in our support of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people" and "united in imposing a cost on Russia for its actions so far".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a G7 meeting at the official residence

 of the Dutch premier in The Hague on March 24, 2014 on the sidelines of the

Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) (Pool/AFP, Jerry Lampen)

In Crimea, Russian forces stormed a Ukrainian navy ship, with an AFP correspondent reporting plumes of smoke as a Ukrainian defence spokesman said the crew had fired smoke grenades in self-defence.

Ukraine's interim Foreign Minister Deshchytsya stressed that Kiev sought to resolve the crisis through diplomacy.

"The position of the Ukrainian government is to use all peaceful means, all diplomatic and economic means to resolve this conflict peacefully," Deshchytsya told reporters.

"However, we don't know what are the Russian plans. What the plans of President (Vladimir) Putin (are). That's why we ask for meetings with the Russians," he said, before holding talks with Lavrov.

'Enormous loss'

The diplomatic efforts came as Ukrainian authorities pulled out all servicemen and their families to the mainland.

In a televised address to the nation, Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchynov said a decision had been taken "to conduct a redeployment of military units stationed in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea".

Turchynov's announcement came less than a month after Putin won authorisation to use force in response to the February 22 ouster of pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych's regime by more nationalist leaders who are seeking a closer alliance with Europe.

Russian military ships, including former

 the Ukrainian corvette Khmelnitsky (2nd R),

 which was seized by pro-Russian forces

 last week, are moored in the bay of the

 Crimean city of Sevastopol on March 24,

 2014 (AFP, Viktor Drachev)

Ukraine's increasingly demoralised forces had been steadily losing ground on the Black Sea peninsula and saw their main airbase outside the regional capital Simferopol stormed on Saturday.

Earlier Monday, the White House said it was "very concerned" about the risk of escalation as Russia massed its troops on Ukraine's eastern border.

A top NATO commander had warned that the Western military alliance was carefully watching massive Russian troop formations that could theoretically make a push across the vast ex-Soviet country at any point.

Moscow has denied any such plans despite Putin's open ambition to resurrect vestiges of the Soviet empire and stamp his authority over eastern European nations that sought protection from the West following the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

But the Kremlin has made clear it intends to "protect" compatriots in the Russified southeastern swaths of Ukraine that it says have been victimised by violent nationalists since last month's rise to power of a pro-European team.

The Kremlin stamped its claim on Crimea on Monday with a symbolic visit by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu -- the first top Moscow official to visit the mostly Russian-speaking region of two million people since its March 16 independence referendum.

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Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers talk again, for the
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The diplomatic tug-of-war for Crimea

Deutsche Welle, 16 March 2014

Sunday's referendum in Crimea will see the region decide in favor or against secession from Ukraine. While Russia fully supports this political maneuver, the West sees it as a major breach of international law.

Crimea has been part of Ukraine since 1954 and is an autonomous republic within the country. Its population mostly consists of Ukrainians, Tatars and Russians, with Russians making up the largest group. Due to its size, it would be easy for the pro-Russian population to determine the outcome of the secession referendum. Crimea's unification with Russia is therefore very likely.

In the days - and even hours - ahead of voting, diplomatic channels were in overdrive. DW looks at the parties involved in the conflict and their interests.

Shortly after ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia, the Russian government took matters on the Crimean peninsula into its own hands. Soldiers without official national designations on their uniforms occupied all strategic locations in Crimea - although due to its Black Sea fleet base near Sevastopol, Russia already had a strong military presence in the region. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, has denied official deployment of Russian troops in Crimea, referring to the patrolling forces as "local self-defense units."

Russia to "respect results of the referendum"

The referendum on whether Crimea should unite with the Russian Federation has been welcomed by Kremlin officials. However, the official statement is that Crimea's residents should decide about their own future. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has reaffirmed that Russia would "respect the results of the referendum." The financial cost of the vote has been mostly covered by Russia, which injected around 1.5 million euros ($2.1 million) into the poll. Putin has made it clear that, from the Russian perspective, the referendum does not breach international law.

Putin called the troops in Crimea
local self-defense units

After the change of government in Kyiv following months of protests, Crimea also underwent political restructuring. Crimean Prime Minister Anatolii Mohyliov was dismissed and replaced with Sergei Aksyonov. He is not recognized by the new Ukrainian government but is recognized by Moscow as Crimea's leader.

Aksyonov quickly got to work organizing a vote to decide on Crimea's future and called on Russia for assistance. He supports Crimea's speedy secession and integration into the Russian Federation. Putin and the Russian parliament have already signaled their approval of the move.

Kyiv calls vote illegitimate under Ukrainian law

Ukraine's new government under Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and President Oleksandr Turchynov declared the Crimean referendum a Kremlin-orchestrated "farce." According to their statements, Kyiv is not prepared to treat the outcome as legitimate. Yatsenyuk said Ukraine would never surrender in a fight to maintain its state territory.

In practice, however, the Ukrainian leaders' hands are tied. Russian forces are in control of Crimea and Ukraine would probably not allow itself to enter into armed conflict with Russia over Crimea.

The United States has announced its refusal to recognize the referendum's outcome, declaring the vote to be illegal according to international law. US President Barack Obama has stated that the move would have harsh consequences, including economic sanctions and a possible expulsion of Russia from the G8.

Security Council veto

Russia has largely isolated itself within the United Nations Security Council. On Saturday (15.03.2014), the US put forward a resolution to the Council that declares the Crimean referendum as illegal and emphasizes Ukraine's territorial integrity. Russia had vetoed the resolution.

Lavrov, left, and Kerry couldn't reach an
agreement on the Crimea referendum

US Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Friday to work on a diplomatic solution to the crisis. However, neither side was ready to make any concessions. Kerry said the Crimean people's desire for more favorable economic conditions could be met through improvements in the region and respecting the locals' complaints.

EU unsure what comes next

The European Union has deemed Russia's actions contrary to international law and is not prepared to recognize the outcome of the Crimean referendum. At the same time, however, the EU does not have a clear-cut strategy in place to deal with the vote. It has already imposed initial sanctions on Russia, but British Foreign Secretary William Hague said tougher restrictive measures than the ones already introduced by the EU are in order.

On the other hand, Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, has voiced concerns about the effects of possible sanctions, urging a cautious approach to the issue. He confirmed, however, that the EU ministers would impose EU travel restrictions on Russian politicians should Moscow not give in. He added that the initial travel sanctions should only affect those who played a deciding role in Crimea's split from Ukraine.

Merkel said any aggression in Crimea
would affect German trade relations

EU foreign ministers are expected to meet on Monday to discuss the result of the referendum and hash out a response.

Among EU countries, Germany has the best relations with Russia and its opinion is more likely to be acknowledged by Moscow than that of the other states. Strong economic ties bind Germany and Russia: Germany imports most of its gas from Russia and operates many businesses in the country.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has nevertheless made her view on Russia's role in Crimea clear. Should Russia refuse to return to the path of "law and cooperation," Merkel said, it would cause "massive" damage to its political and economic interests.

Related Article:

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Putin agrees to dialogue with Ukraine 'contact group': Berlin

Google – AFP, 2 March 2014

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting in his Novo-Ogaryovo

 residence, outside Moscow on February 26, 2014 (RIA-NOVOSTI/AFP

/File, Mikhail Metzel)

Berlin — Russia's Vladimir Putin has agreed to a proposal from Angela Merkel to set up a contact group on Ukraine, the German government said Sunday.

The German chancellor put the proposal to Putin in a telephone conversation late Sunday in which she also "accused the Russian president of violating international law with the unacceptable Russian intervention in Crimea," said a government statement.

"President Putin accepted the German chancellor's proposal to immediately establish a mission of enquiry as well as a contact group, possibly under the direction of the OSCE, to open a political dialogue," it said.

Western allies have condemned Russia's threat to invade its Western-leaning neighbour, which analysts say risks sparking the worst crisis since the Cold War.

Merkel told Putin the intervention was a violation of a 1994 Budapest memorandum on security assurances in which Russia committed itself to respecting the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine in its existing borders, as well as the 1997 treaty on the Russian Black Sea fleet, based in Crimea.

The memorandum was signed by Britain, Ukraine, Russia and the United States.

The statement said Merkel called on Putin to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity.

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Vladimir Putin may allow Assad to go if power vacuum in Syria is avoided

British hopeful that peace talks to end civil war can go ahead, but divided Syrian opposition remains a big stumbling block

The Guardian, Patrick Wintour, political editor, Tuesday 18 June 2013

Vladimir Putin with G8 leaders. The Russian leader has agreed to let President

 Assad of Syria go on certain conditions. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/

AFP/Getty Images

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is willing to see the removal of the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, but only if it leads to a balanced government and not a dangerous power vacuum of the kind that followed Saddam Hussein's removal in Iraq, British officials believe after two days of intensive talks at the G8 summit.

Putin blocked any reference in the subsequent communique to the removal of Assad, but British officials believe the talks have opened the way for a peace settlement if more can be done to organise the Syrian opposition forces politically and militarily.

Talks over the terms of the communique lasted until 3am. The Russians accepted the need for UN weapons inspectors to visit Syria to check on western claims that Assad has used chemical weapons.

But Putin flatly refused to have any reference in the communiqué to the nature of delegations that should be sent to the planned Geneva peace conference, insisting that this was a matter for both sides.

British officials insisted that in private Putin had declared no personal allegiance to Assad, but needed assurances that Syria would not turn into an ungoverned space on Russia's borders if he were removed. David Cameron in his press conference at the end of the summit made repeated calls for Assad's allies to realise that a strong army and security state would be preserved during a transition, words designed to reassure them that they would have a future after Assad.

British officials admitted that the Syrian opposition was still a work in progress. They had been unable to agree a negotiating mandate for a new peace conference.

The G8 communique made no reference to Assad, but called for peace talks to be resumed as soon as possible. Cameron said the main breakthrough was an agreement that a transitional government with executive powers was needed, together with a deal to call for an investigation into chemical weapons use. "We remain committed to achieving a political solution to the crisis based on a vision for a united, inclusive and democratic Syria," the final communique read. "We strongly endorse the decision to hold as soon as possible the Geneva conference on Syria."

Putin struck a defiant tone in public, telling the west that sending weapons to rebels could backfire one day, while he defended his own military contacts with the Syrian government.

"There are different types of supplies. We supply weapons based on legal contracts to a legal government … And if we sign these contracts [in the future], we will supply [more arms]."

In the final document, G8 leaders also called on the Syrian authorities and the opposition to commit to destroying all organisations affiliated with al-Qaida, a reflection of growing concern in the west that Islamist militants are playing a more dominant role in the rebel ranks.

Cameron, who chaired the summit, said separately after the talks that the west believed strongly that there was no place for Assad in a future Syria. "It is unthinkable that President Assad can play any part in the future of his country. He has blood on his hands. You can't imagine a Syria where this man continues to rule having done such awful things to his people."

He appealed to Assad's acolytes to abandon the president, insisting the need for the retention of a strong security force showed they would have a future role in Syria. He said the aim was "to learn the lessons of Iraq by ensuring the key institutions of the state are maintained through the transition and there is no vacuum. To those who have been loyal to Assad but who know he has to go and who want stability in their country, they should take note of this point".

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, speaking on the sidelines, said earlier that any debate about Assad's role in the resolution of the conflict was unthinkable, adding he would not tolerate an outcome that led to Assad's capitulation. "This would be not just unacceptable for the Russian side, but we are convinced that it would be utterly wrong, harmful and would completely upset the political balance," Ryabkov said.

In a further development, the French president, François Hollande, opened the door to Iran attending a Syria peace conference, but reiterated that there was no future for Assad.

Paris had previously ruled out Iran taking part in the proposed conference, saying Tehran had no desire for peace, but a new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, was elected on Friday.

"There will no future for Syria with Assad. The Russians are not yet ready to say or write it, but when we speak of transition ... it's difficult to see how he (Assad) could be responsible for it," Hollande said.British officials said they did not rule out Iran attending talks, but needed to know more about the new president and what he would do about the Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in Syria.

Related Article:

Archangel Michael on Putin -  May 13, 2013 (An Hour with an Angel)

SB: Okay. Thank you, Lord. I’m going to put the Vladimir Putin question ahead of the Boston bombing question. I think a lot of Russian readers and listeners are wondering if they can trust Vladimir Putin.

Now, you’ve said he was in containment and he’s coming out of containment. Can you direct yourself to Russian listeners, please, and tell them what they need to know about Vladimir Putin, please?\

AAM: Well, I will say that he has been gradually coming out of containment, and reintegrated, shall we say, into society and into his role and decisions. So what I say to you is be vigilant and be the observer. Do not get caught in what appears to be the drama of this readjustment of power. So, allow the shifting of the core and the centers of power to be adjusted.

Russia has a very important role to play in the future years, as I have said before. So, stand back, my friends. Be the observer. I am not asking you to extend your wholehearted trust and empathy to this individual. What I am asking you to do is to extend trust to your own discernment, because it is not 100 per cent clean, but it is not dirty either.

G8 calls for urgent Syria peace talks

Google – AFP, Guy Jackson (AFP), 18 June 2013

Barack Obama listens during a bilateral meeting with Francois Hollande

in Northern Ireland on June 18, 2013 (AFP, Jewel Samad)

ENNISKILLEN, United Kingdom — G8 leaders on Tuesday threw their weight behind calls for a peace conference on Syria to be held in Geneva "as soon as possible", after a summit dominated by the country's civil war.

At the end of two days of talks in Northern Ireland, the leaders also called for agreement on a transitional government in Syria "with full executive powers, formed by mutual consent".

British Prime Minister David Cameron, the summit host, said it was "unthinkable" that President Bashar al-Assad could play a role in a transitional administration, but the G8 communique pointedly made no reference to him, in an apparent concession to Syria's ally Russia.

After talks which at times pitted Russian President Vladimir Putin against his fellow G8 leaders, the final communique said the Syrian military and security services "must be preserved and restored" in a future set-up.

Vladimir Putin speaks during a press

 conference in Northern Ireland

 on June 18, 2013 (Pool/AFP, Matt

Dunham)

The leaders did not suggest a date for the proposed Syria talks, which were supposed to take place this month but have already been delayed.

Gathered on the picturesque banks of Lough Erne, the world's leading industrialised nations also struck a deal to crack down on tax evasion and share more cross-border financial information.

They vowed concrete steps to target not only illegal tax evasion but also tax avoidance by multinational companies that costs taxpayers billions in lost revenues.

And they agreed to stamp out the payment of ransoms for hostages kidnapped by "terrorists", and called on companies to follow their lead in refusing to pay for the release of their employees.

But the summit was dominated by the conflict in Syria, which has cost more than 90,000 lives since it broke out in March 2011.

The G8 nations pledged almost $1.5 billion (1.1 billion euros) in humanitarian aid for refugees inside and outside Syria, including $300 million from the United States and 200 million euros from Germany.

After Washington said it would arm the Syrian rebels and the EU mulled the issue, the G8 said it was deeply concerned at the growing extremism and "terrorism" in Syria.

The world leaders called on the regime and the opposition to "commit to destroying and expelling from Syria all organisations and individuals affiliated to Al-Qaeda, and any other non-state actors linked to terrorism".

Putin's sharp differences with US President Barack Obama over Syria were laid bare in icy face-to-face talks on Monday.

In his end-of-summit press conference, Putin said defiantly that Russia could not rule out sending fresh shipments of weapons to the Syrian regime.

The Russian president also accused the United States of "destabilising" the situation in Syria with its allegations that the regime has used nerve gas on a limited scale.

"Any decision about arms supplies to the opposition based on unconfirmed reports about the use of chemical weapons only additionally destabilises the situation," he said.

Barack Obama (L), David Cameron (C) and

 Enda Kenny (R) in Northern Ireland on 

June 18, 2013 (AFP, Ben Stansall)

Aside from Syria, Cameron heralded a commitment to fight the "scourge" of tax evasion and to promote corporate transparency.

"Countries should change rules that let companies shift their profits across borders to avoid taxes, and multinationals should report to tax authorities what tax they pay where," the G8 said.

The final declaration also called for greater transparency on corporate ownership, saying: "Companies should know who really owns them, and tax collectors and law enforcers should be able to obtain this information easily."

But activists said the deal came up short.

Alex Wilks, campaign director at global civic organisation Avaaz said opposition from Canada and Germany "blocked the strong deal the world demanded."

The summit also saw the launch of formal negotiations on a vast trade pact between the United States and the European Union.

It was guarded by 8,000 police officers in the biggest security operation ever mounted in Northern Ireland's troubled history, but protesters were thin on the ground.

The G8 brings together Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.