Dear CCI Readers,
Two reputable international journalists below give us excellent summations of the China Summit held last week in Alaska, including where the world stands after the Summit. Our U.S. media covered it quite differently than China or Russia, the latter obviously hoping to speak out to U.S. citizens who normally don’t get international coverage apart from the plainly biased reporting we see in our mainstream media.
It behooves us all to begin to read and to listen to responsible international voices to assure that we are receiving a balanced assessment of what is going on in our world. Further we need to respond to our journalists and Congress members immediately to request wider coverage of issues that may or will impact us all.
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives
Russia and China Are Sending Biden a Message: Don’t Judge Us or Try to Change us. Those Days Are Over
March 27, 2021
Yves Smith
Yves here. It’s noteworthy that a mainstream venue like The Conversation would run a piece that describes how the Biden approach to China and Russia is backfiring. While the press spoke in almost one voice against Trump’s policies towards China and Russia, even when it was aghast at Trump’s belligerence, I believe most countries on the receiving end discounted it as bluster and would wait to see what if any actions would follow.
By contrast, the campaign pitch for Biden was that his leadership would put the adults back in charge. Yet it’s been hard to ignore the stunning and pointless Biden slap at Putin, shortly followed by the train wreck of the China summit in Alaska. The incoming team is managing the difficult task of making Trump look not terrible. Those who have met Trump say he’s usually affable, even charming in a meeting, even though he’s likely to screw you in the 24 hours after that.
So the big difference is the US press (for the most part) not calling out these Biden bombs. Funny that.
By Tony Kevin, Emeritus Fellow, Australian National University. Originally published at The Conversation
The past week has marked a watershed moment in Russia’s relations with the West — and the US in particular. In two dramatic, televised moments, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have changed the dynamics between their countries perhaps irrevocably.