PM Modi speaks to Trump, extends best wishes

PM Modi speaks to Trump, extends best wishes on being next US President-elect

 PTI, New Delhi
Updated: Nov 09, 2016 23:22 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday spoke to US President-elect Donald Trump to convey his best wishes following his electoral victory and hoped the two nations would continue to build on the “bedrock of strong Indo-US ties”.

“PM conveyed his best wishes & the two leaders looked forward to working closely to take the #IndiaUS strategic partnership to a new height.

“Continuing to build on the bedrock of strong Indo-US relations. PM spoke just now to @realDonaldTrump to congratulate him on his election,” Vikas Swarup, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman, said on twitter.

Earlier in the day, Modi had taken to the microblogging website to congratulate Trump on being elected as US President, saying he looked forward to working with him closely to take Indo-US ties to a new height.

 

Trump-Putin alliance sparks diplomatic crisis

Trump-Putin alliance sparks diplomatic crisis

Britain is facing a diplomatic crisis with the United States over Donald Trump's plans to forge an alliance with Vladimir Putin and bolster the Syrian regime.

In a significant foreign policy split, officials admitted that Britain will have some "very difficult" conversations with the president-elect in the coming months over his approach to Russia.

It comes after Mr Trump used his first interviews since winning the election to indicate that he will withdraw support for rebels in Syria and thanked Vladimir Putin for sending him a "beautiful" letter.

Mr Trump said he will instead join forces with Russia and focus on defeating Islamic State (IS). He has previously said it would be "nice" if the US and Russia could work together to "knock the hell out of" IS.

His views are in stark contrast to those of Theresa May, who has accused President Bashar al-Assad's regime of perpetrating "atrocious violence" and said that the long-term future of
Syria must be "without Assad".

Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, has accused Russia of perpetrating war crimes over the deaths of hundreds of civilians.

The dramatic shift in US policy has prompted significant concern in the Foreign Office, and Britain will use the next two months before Mr Trump enters the White House to try to convince him of the importance of removing Assad from power.
 
Mr Johnson is expected to fly to the US within weeks to meet senior figures in Mr Trump's incoming administration and
make clear Britain believes Assad must go.

The diplomatic tensions emerged as a flotilla of Russian warships which had passed through the English Channel arrived off the coast of Syria.

 Mr Trump told the Wall Street Journal his administration will prioritise defeating IS in Syria rather than removing Assad. He said: "I've had an opposite view of many people regarding
Syria. My attitude was you're fighting Syria, Syria is fighting [IS], and you have to get rid of [IS].

"Russia is now totally aligned with Syria, and now you have Iran, which is becoming powerful, because of us, is aligned with Syria. Now we're backing rebels against Syria, and we have no idea who these people are."

He said that if the US attacks Assad's regime "we end up fighting Russia".

The Government had hoped that Mr Trump would be prepared to soften his stance on the issue after winning the election, as he has with several other flagship campaign plans including his pledge to repeal Obama care.

However, his interview signalled that he will pursue the alliance with Russia. Foreign Office officials emphasised that Britain will not change its position. "We have been very clear that Assad has no place in the future of Syria," the official said. "He has the blood of 400,000 people on his hands."

Another Foreign Office source said there is hope that Mr Trump will be forced to change his position when he deals with Mr Putin directly.

"There is no doubt that he looks upon Putin as a person who he thinks he can do business with," the source said. "When he discovers that Putin is not a rational or reasonable guy he
might change his mind. This will take time to settle down."

It came as President Putin urged Mr Trump to encourage NATO to withdraw its forces from Russia's borders as part of an attempt to improve relations. Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin's official spokesman, said Russia sees "NATO's muscles getting bigger and bigger and closer and closer to Russian borders".As a "confidence-building measure" between the US and Russia, he said, Mr Trump could help relations by "slowing down" or "withdrawing" NATO's military presence from its borders.

There are mounting concerns over the future of NATO after Mr Trump suggested that the US may withdraw from the organisation because European members are failing to "pay their
bills".

During a visit to Norway, Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, agreed that the level of expenditure by EU countries is "not good enough". Defence spending by European members
has fallen from 1.7 per cent of national income to 1.4 per cent on average.

It came as four Americans were killed yesterday in a suicide bombing inside the largest US military base in Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing inside the
heavily fortified Bagram Airfield, north of Kabul. The assault highlights rising insecurity in Afghanistan nearly two years after US-led NATO forces formally ended their combat
operations.

Sir Michael said: "When we go out of the EU, only 20 per cent of the NATO budget will be paid by EU countries. That's not good enough."

Donald Trump's victory averted World War Three, top Putin aide claims

Donald Trump's victory averted World War Three, top Putin aide claims

© Provided by Independent Print Limited  One of Vladimir Putin’s closest advisors has claimed Donald Trump’s victory has averted a third world war.

Speaking after Mr Trump won a shock victory over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, Kremlin advisor Sergei Glazyev said the Democrat politician was a “symbol of war” and under Mr Trump the US had “a chance to change course”.

He told Russian news wire RNS: “Americans had two choices: World War Three or multilateral peace.

“Clinton was a symbol of war, and Trump has a chance to change this course”.

Relations between the two countries have sunk to their lowest point since the Cold War after Russia was accused of interfering in the election with the strategic leak of emails which were damaging to Ms Clinton and the Democrat party.

In October, the Department of Homeland Security officially blamed Russia for the leaking of emails exchanged by members of the Democrat National Committee (DNC) where they conspired to undermine the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders. Russian officials have repeatedly denied allegations of interference.

On Thursday, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Kremlin had been in frequent contact with Mr Trump’s campaign team ahead of his victory.

He told Russian news agency Interfax that Moscow had “contacts” within Mr Trump’s inner circle.
He said: “I don't say that all of them, but a whole array of them, supported contacts with Russian representatives”.

It comes as the former head of Nato, Anders Rasmussen, warned Mr Trump to show “strength” against Russia or it will be the “beginning of the end” for the US-led organisation.

Mr Rasmussen, who led the alliance between 2009 and 2014, said Mr Putin “only respects a firm hand” when dealing with other world leaders and said Nato needs to intervene to protect the vulnerable Baltic states.

He said: “The US must increase support for Nato's eastern flank, set up military bases wherever Russia is threatening the freedom and livelihood of US allies, and whole-heartedly protect Ukraine against future Russian aggression.

“The US President must initiate a no-fly zone to impose and maintain a credible and durable ceasefire in Syria.

“The US must force the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, to the negotiating table and find a political solution to the devastating conflict.”

Mr Rasmussen, who previously served as the Prime Minister of Denmark, is currently working as an adviser to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

His comments follow remarks made by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright where she called Mr Trump “a useful idiot” for Mr Putin to exploit.

She said: “The main thing is to remember that he is President of the United States and that our interests vis a vis what the Russians are doing are very important, and that our friends and allies in central and eastern Europe have been our friends and allies for a very, very long time”.

President Assad: Syria is ready to co-operate with Donald Trump

President Assad: Syria is ready to co-operate with Donald Trump

President-elect has vowed that the US will be less interventionist in the Middle East in future, a stance welcomed by Damascus

Bethan McKernan Beirut

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Iranian and Russian allies have welcomed the news Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States Getty

Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is “ready” to cooperate with the US President-elect Donald Trump, one of Mr Assad’s advisers has said.

Speaking to US media group National Public Radio on Thursday – just after Mr Trump’s seismic victory in the US general election – Bouthaina Shaaban cautiously suggested the Syrian government would "wait to see what are the policies of the President-elect... particularly towards terrorism," ahead of any collaboration on Syria’s almost six-year-long civil war.

“I think the American people have sent a great, a very important message to the world,” she added.
The US has tacitly supported rebels in the war both logistically and financially.  In order to bring peace to the conflict which has killed more than 400,000 people to date, Washington has been committed to the idea that Mr Assad must be removed from power.

Mr Trump has indicated that his foreign policy stance will be less interventionist than his predecessors'. He stated in the second presidential debate that regime change only causes more instability in the Middle East and while Mr Assad is not exactly a welcome partner, shoring up his government is the best way to stem the extremism that has flourished in the chaos of Syria’s civil war.

Mr Trump has suggested withdrawing support for the Syrian rebels still fighting in east Aleppo, neighbouring Idlib province and the south of the country, which could prove to finally tilt the war in the Syrian government's favour.

Mr Trump has also advocated changes to the current US-led coalition’s strategy in dealing with Isis. He memorably elaborated on his policy on the campaign trail last year, saying he would “bomb the s*** out of them.”

“Isis is making a tremendous amount of money because they have certain oil camps, certain areas of oil that they took away,” he incorrectly claimed.

“I would just bomb those suckers. That's right. I'd blow up the pipes... I'd blow up every single inch. There would be nothing left. And you know what, you'll get Exxon to come in there and in two months, you ever see these guys, how good they are, the great oil companies? They’ll rebuild that sucker, brand new - it'll be beautiful."

The US is currently enmeshed in a complicated alliance in Syria with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, who would like to provide rebels – among them al-Qaeda-backed factions – with surface-to-air missiles.
Analysts are worried that such a move could greatly escalate the war, particularly if Russian planes backing Mr Assad’s air force are targeted.

Mr Trump himself has indicated he would like to repair ties with Russia, a sentiment President Vladimir Putin has welcomed.

Observers who believe that much of Mr Trump’s more alarming rhetoric was “campaign bluster” are waiting to find out whether the President-elect will tone down or amend his policy ideas when he takes office in January.