Will G7 pushback against Chinese, Russian aggression work?

by | Jun 12, 2016 | Event Updates

Do the actions of the G7 nations meeting at their May 26-27 summit in Japan suggest that Russian aggression against Ukraine and Chinese aggression in the South China Sea will not succeed in the long run because of pushback from the G7 industrialized democracies? Joshua W. Walker of the German Marshall Fund discusses this in The National Interest.

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He concludes:

“The significance of this year’s G7 in Japan in advance of the G20 in China in September will be judged by which summit ultimately sets the tone for either the enduring nature of the liberal international order or sweeping tide of revisionist authoritarianism. Obama’s historic Hiroshima and Vietnam visits were symbolic of the legacy he hopes to leave. Yet, symbolism risks complacency without action. The G7’s latest initiative for global infrastructure development confirmed the member countries’ internationalist commitment but whether they can remain unified in the face of Chinese and Russian revisionist alternatives such as OBOR {One Belt, One Road} or the {Russiian-led} Eurasian Economic Union will have to be seen. As Japan passes the G7 baton to Italy next year, the world anxiously expects the world’s seven most advanced democracies and economies to lead toward the triumph of internationalism over revisionism.’’

To read the article, hit this link.

Russian official sees Western sanctions continuing

by | Jun 12, 2016 | Event Updates

 

Alexei Pushkov, the Foreign Affairs Committee chairman of the lower house of  the Russian parliament, said that it would be no surprise if the G7 nations extended sanctions against Russia for its occupation of Crimea and its war against the pro-Western government of Ukraine in the eastern part of that country, reports Sputnik News, which acts as a mouthpiece for the Russian government of Vladimir Putin.

But then, the G7 leaders at their May 26-27 summit in Japan had already make it quite clear that the sanctions would be extended.

“The signals from the West on the extension of sanctions are not a surprise. The decision was taken at the G7 [summit]. Since then, other options have been excluded,” Mr. Pushkov wrote on Twitter.

To read the Sputnik News article, hit this link.