The much-anticipated video "summit" on Tuesday touched on a number of topics, including the American accusation that Russia is amassing troops to “invade” Ukraine, which Moscow has dismissed as “fake news.”

READ MORE: First images released from crucial Putin & Biden summit (VIDEO)

Contact at the highest level was “badly needed,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said before the call. The two countries have “multiplying problems,” he added, with no progress on bilateral relations.

A White House readout of the call said Biden voiced “deep concerns” of the US over Russia’s “escalation of forces surrounding Ukraine” and threatened “strong economic and other measures in the event of military escalation.”Ransomware and “regional issues such as Iran” were also brought up.

Biden is expected to contact Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as the leaders of UK, France, Germany and Italy after his conversation with Putin, according to the White House. His national security adviser Jake Sullivan is scheduled to brief reporters on the call later in the day.

The only live meeting between Putin and Biden since the latter took office was in June. The Geneva summit was hailed as a potential breakthrough, but progress has since failed to materialize.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/542489-putin-biden-meeting-wrap/

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WASHINGTON — President Biden and his top aides are struggling to bridge the gap between the economy they want to celebrate and the one that has left many Americans anxious and frustrated, as a record-setting recovery collides with prolonged inflation and an ongoing pandemic that has left consumers deeply pessimistic.

The challenge begins with a disbelief of sorts among Mr. Biden’s economic advisers. They insist the job market, with a 4.2 percent unemployment rate, has never been better, delivering wage gains for lower-paid workers that Mr. Biden believes will help lift more people into the middle class. They say those benefits will endure for years, even once inflation, which last -month accelerated at its fastest pace in 40 years, cools down.

The struggle is also entwined with Mr. Biden’s fight against Covid. Administration officials say that the anxiety voters are expressing to pollsters is less about the economy and the president’s handling of it and more an expression of pent-up frustration with a pandemic that has persisted for nearly two years.

White House officials say they have no plans to shift Mr. Biden’s messaging on economic issues, even as poll after poll shows his approval ratings in decline and voter worry over inflation swamping all other views of the economy. Their strategy remains focused on stressing the administration’s work to spread vaccinations and end the pandemic without further lockdowns, cheering the nation’s progress in economic growth and promising that Mr. Biden’s policies will bring down prices for oil, food and consumer goods.

“Every economic indicator shows an economy that is growing, that is stronger, that is creating jobs, that is putting more money in people’s pockets, and that is in part a result of President Biden’s economic agenda,” Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director, said in an interview. “I think what you hear from the president is that he understands that when people experience a higher price at the grocery store or at the gas pumpthat has an impact on their budget, and so he’s doing everything in his power to bring those prices down.”

Still, there is an economic and political chasm on inflation between the administration and American voters. Recent polls by Monmouth University, CNBC and even the liberal Navigator research group show rising anxiety over the issue and warning signs for the Democrats who control Congress ahead of the midterm elections. Consumer confidence surveys show price increases are denting Americans’ optimism for the economy in the year ahead. The University of Michigan’s survey of consumers shows Americans have lower expectations for the growth of their incomes, adjusted for inflation, over the next year than they have since the waning years of the Obama administration.

Administration officials have consistently underestimated the size and persistence of price increases throughout this year, declaring at regular intervals that they would abate as various pandemic-related challenges worked their way through the global economy. On Friday, after the Labor Department reported that prices rose at their fastest annual rate since 1982, Mr. Biden issued a statement saying the data did not reflect more recent trends, which he said showed prices moving down for cars and gasoline, among others.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/business/biden-economy-growth-jobs.html

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BY James O’Neill

This past week saw the electronic meeting of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and United States president Joe Biden. It was billed as a head to head meeting of two of the world’s most powerful political figures. In fact, Biden was supported by four of his top aides in foreign affairs. Their precise role was unclear. One suspects that, given Biden’s propensity for unfortunate remarks, their presence was to ensure that their man did not go too far “off script” in his meeting with Putin.

Expectations of the meeting were quite high, given that it had been sought by Biden. The question was always whether Biden was genuine in seeking a reduction of tensions with Russia or whether it was in fact mere grandstanding by him, with the main target being a domestic audience among whom his approval ratings had fallen to disastrous levels.

Discussion on the outcome has been widely divergent. On the one hand the British commentator Alexander Mercouris regarded the meeting as an unqualified success for Putin, with the role of Ukraine reduced to secondary status and its mooted membership of NATO put on the back burner for at least 10 years.

That was not the impression gained by Indian commentator M.K Bhadrakumar who handed Biden the victory from the encounter. He pointed to the range of sanctions the Americans have threatened Russia with if it goes so far as to directly intervene in Ukraine. In fact, Ukraine is doing a good job of self-destruction without any direct intervention by Russia. The two breakaway republics of the Donbass have successfully withheld a full-scale Ukrainian onslaught for the seven years since the United States sponsored coup in Ukraine led to their declaration of quasi-independence from Ukrainian government control.

In the intervening years there has been effectively a military stalemate, with 100,000 Ukrainian troops bogged down on the dividing line with the two breakaway regions and Ukraine proper. Despite constant shelling of the Donbass positions, they have failed to make any military advance. If they looked like doing so, there is little doubt in this viewer’s mind that the Russian army would intervene to protect the position of the two breakaway regions.

The Ukrainian economy, let alone its military, are in no position to fight an actual war with Russia, the preposterous claims of the military and political leadership notwithstanding. In fact, there is good evidence to show that the two regions are increasingly being integrated with Russia’s economy. It should not be overlooked that a large proportion of the Donbass peoples already hold Russian passports, and speak Russian as their first language. Frankly, I would rate their prospects of ever being reinstated with Ukraine proper as zero.

What about the dire United States threats to Russia in the event of an actual war between Russia and Ukraine? Again, there is nothing new in these threats: they have been threatened for all of the time since the Ukrainian coup in 2014. Russia has in any case taken steps to protect itself against the consequences of a decision such as being cut off from the European payment system.

They have already set up their own payment system in the event of that cut off from the European payment system. One aspect of Russia’s defence is the growing strength of the multiple trading systems that have been established in recent years with their Eurasian partners. These feature in particular Russia’s Asian neighbours and remain relatively impervious to financial sanctions imposed by the West.

One should never lose sight of a major factor behind this blatant economic warfare, and that is the role of Russian gas. Nord Stream 2 has always been bitterly opposed by the Americans. They have dressed up their objections with allegations of Europe being held hostage to Russian energy supplies. They of course have ambitions to replace the Russian supply with their own, much more expensive, system of gas.

This argument, apart from its obvious self-serving nature, is flawed on a number of points. First, the United States alternative is much more expensive than the Russian supply. Secondly, it is doubtful if the Americans could in fact meet the European demand for gas, which is the main system of heating and cooking in Europe. It is extremely doubtful if the European public would be willing to allow themselves to freeze this winter in the name of teaching Russia some geo-political point beloved of anti-Russian politicians who are highly unlikely to join their compatriots in freezing this winter.

Russia is already supplying gas to a number of East and South European countries who are less interested in trying to score political points against the Russians. They place a higher priority in being able to keep themselves warm and fed in the coming winter.

To return to the Putin – Biden summit, the United States position afterwards was filled with dire threats against Russia if they should do anything drastic against Ukraine. As noted above, there is no evidence of any such Russian intention. On the contrary, the present situation, with the Donbass being progressively separated from Ukraine, suits them very well. Unless the Ukrainians do something stupid (which should never be discounted), the status quo actually suits the Russians quite well.

That could of course all change if the Ukrainians, emboldened by thoughts of United States/NATO help, were stupid enough to actually try to forcefully regain the Dombass into their territory. That would provoke a major Russian reaction. Notwithstanding the dire words of Bhadrakumar, that would be a very uneven fight. I agree with the assessment of the Russian commentator (and United States resident) Andrei Martyanov who predicts that any such war between Russia and Ukraine would be unfortunate to last even one week, with the crushing defeat of the latter.

The United States would huff and puff and impose more sanctions upon Russia, but their potential for doing real harm to Russia is decidedly limited. Russia has the invaluable support of China and the United States would be extremely foolish to try and take on both nations as part of its retaliation for Ukraine’s defeat.

There would undoubtably be much posturing on the United States side. A measure of the latter’s hubris was fully on show this week with its pretentious gathering of 100+ nations in support of its version of “democracy”. The world has had enough, and the major moves being made by Russia and his Chinese partner are part of the growing evidence for a new world order.

James O’Neill, an Australian-based former Barrister at Law, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

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https://journal-neo.org/2021/12/15/putin-biden-meeting-promises-no-change-to-us-hypocrisy/

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