Putin and Xi discussed 'rough edges' between G7 leaders at summit, Kremlin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed in a telephone call on Thursday what they saw as frictions between G7 leaders at this week's summit, the Kremlin said.
At the meeting in Canada, the bloc of wealthy nations struggled to find unity over the war in Ukraine after US President Donald Trump expressed support for Putin and left a day early to tackle the Israel-Iran conflict from Washington.
His departure deprived Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of a chance to meet him and press for more US weapons.
Putin and Xi 'discussed the results of the recent G7 meeting. In particular, they noted the rough edges that emerged in the relations between participants', Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
'It was mentioned that for Zelensky this was by no means the most successful trip abroad.'
In a call lasting about an hour, the Kremlin said Xi and Putin discussed the Israel-Iran crisis, bilateral ties and co-operation in the Brics group, set to hold a summit in Brazil next month, including an initiative for a new Brics investment platform for the Global South.

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Daily Maverick

2 hours ago

• Daily Maverick

Spare us from Big Men with big wallets, bigger lies and biggest egos

Ah, Chief Dwasaho. I was not going to write this letter today. I have exhausted my mental strength with human beings, the lies, deception, broken promises, rape, murder, genocide, missiles, bombs, drones, crime, corruption and obfuscation. There is not even a single statistic to confuse those with secondary education. While contemplating lying in bed and telling my editor I was unwell, I chanced upon the last letter from the founding Editor-in-Chief of this publication, Branko Brkic, who retired in 2024 after 15 years of service. Somehow, his resilience and sense of purpose made me rise from my slumber. I went to my family and told them I was despondent. With concern in her voice, my wife asked about what. I replied: 'Everything.' Thus, my leader, there is nothing intellectual about this week's letter, no links, no pleas for anything and no academic reflections, just despair and despondency. My readers should know that I aim to entertain as I inform. Not this week. The faces of despair I cannot unsee the images of Palestinian children's bodies I saw this week. Their faces already covered after meeting their fate at the hands of Israeli bombs, because Israel has a 'right to defend itself'. I saw aid seekers running frantically after the bombing rain, and yet when they spoke to journalists, there was no defiance in their faces. In their voices, there was no thirst for revenge, only despair. I witnessed a newsreader from the Iranian State broadcaster on Al Jazeera reading the news live while sirens wailed in advance of a missile attack; it all went black – no area is safe, not a media house, church, mosque, hospital, school, road or building. Just breathing alone is an invitation for untold suffering at the hands of Big Men with Bigger Lies, Biggest Egos and even the Thickest Wallets. At the receiving end are women and children, who have yet to start a single war in the history of Menkind – without humanity, but evil masked as the defence of sovereignty. Sadly, the children who watched the videos of Ukrainian women and children being bombed this week, like those of Gaza and Iran, are tomorrow's suicide bombers. The children who will survive the mayhem, which Al Jazeera calls by its first name, genocide, are tomorrow's members of Hamas, Isis, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda, Taliban, Hezbollah, the Lord's Resistance Army, among others. Arms or bread? But who arms these so-called extremist groups? Where do they acquire the mortars, the bombs, the deadly rifles, uniforms and the satellite phones? Who profits from the continuous flow of weapons into Israel, Gaza, Syria, the Sahel, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and beyond? How on Earth does a rebel group in Eastern DRC, such as M23, have the resources, the mortar bombs, to fight for decades on end while children starve and women perish? Who benefits from the minerals smuggled out, and who guarantees the weapons keep coming in? These are the questions that never get answered, as the cycle of violence creates only more despair. Men in occupied Gaza told Al Jazeera this week that 'all we want is flour to feed our children'. Flour to feed your children when you no longer have a house, a town, a friend or a neighbour, and you're stateless. I do not wish to overwhelm sensitive readers with the numbers of those killed in occupied Gaza and the West Bank since 1948. In Syria, Chechnya, Iran, Iraq, Ukraine, Egypt, Lebanon, Kosovo, Crimea and Donbas, as well as Kuwait, blood has flowed. The West's weaponry is always deployed, and bodies (what bodies? Body parts) were not even buried; they perished in the rubble. Tomorrow, it will be us. And no one will be left to defend us. The fate of rebels and the cost of proxy wars My leader, for how long are men, yes, men, going to feed their egos using taxpayers' money and substituting evidence with bogeymen like 'Iraq' with 'weapons of mass destruction'. The next minute, it's Iran with 'atomic bombs'. Not so long ago it was in Libya where the UN was used as a ruse for regime change. A man with an ego, according to my daughter, the size of Russia, who had been propped up for years by the West, outlived his usefulness. He was killed like a dog on live television. Proxy governments and puppet regimes fare no better. Their end is written in tears, betrayal and exile. Yet, while these games of power play out, women and children never know peace. Big Men with swollen bellies and even bigger egos crisscross the globe, claiming to end wars but only deepening the wounds. They demand 'unconditional surrender' from those under fire, or worse, urge besieged nations to cede territory to aggressors in exchange for foreign powers expropriating their minerals under the guise of protection. What word describes these Big Men? Extortionists? Bloody thieves. Heartless murderers, heavily disguised as human beings, their hands dripping with the blood of children and women from Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, there's always Gaza, and who knows who is next? Not to mention the giants of Africa's independence struggle: Patrice Lumumba (Congo) and Thomas Sankara (Burkina Faso), all assassinated, and Samora Machel of Mozambique, allegedly dying innocently in an air crash on our soil. How convenient? But the list of African leaders assassinated since independence is longer and more tragic. Félix-Roland Moumié (Cameroon), Sylvanus Olympio (Togo), Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique), Amílcar Cabral (Guinea-Bissau), Marien Ngouabi (Congo-Brazzaville), Anwar Sadat (Egypt), Melchior Ndadaye (Burundi), Juvénal Habyarimana (Rwanda) Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara (Niger)… the list is endless. The assassinations delayed Africa's freedom and plunged the continent into endless civil wars. Coincidence? Today, despair is all that remains, if not puppets. The machinery of suffering Sadly, it is those with melanin-rich skin who bear the brunt of modern warfare, even though we can hardly assemble a hand grenade, let alone manufacture the weapons that rain down upon us. Our former colonisers control the global armaments industry, producing everything from atomic bombs to mortar shells, and now, the latest horrors: kamikaze drones – loitering munitions designed to explode on impact, acting as the weapon itself – and reusable combat or surveillance drones, which drop bombs or fire missiles before returning to base. The world's leading arms exporters, nations that once carved up Africa and Asia, continue to profit from the endless cycle of violence, flooding conflict zones with weapons while preaching peace from raised podiums. Yet, my leader, for every so-called 'success' in these remote wars, a drone operator or pilot sits in a distant room, pressing a button that ends 100 lives here, a dozen there and 300 somewhere else. Somehow, in between the killing, they pause, give each other high-fives, and their countries honour them with medals dripping with blood. Careers are built and the orgy of rape, murder and mayhem continues. I wonder what these men tell their children when the end comes. Do they speak of honour, dignity and duty to country, or do they whisper of nightmares, regret and blood-soaked hands? Who will answer for the suffering of women and children in Lebanon, Gaza, Iran, Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria and the next place marked for destruction? The world's top five arms exporters by value The five largest arms exporters in the world by value between 2020 and 2024 are the US, France, Russia, China and Germany. The US leads by a wide margin, accounting for 43% of global arms exports, followed by France (9.6%), Russia (7.8%), China (5.9%) and Germany (5.6%). Except for Germany, the world's leading exporters of deadly weaponry that kill and maim people mostly with melanin-rich skin, crude oil reserves and critical group minerals, so happened by accident of 'history' to own nuclear weapons. Coincidence? Till next week, my man – send me nowhere near Big Men with Biggest Lies, Egos and Thickest Wallets. DM

IOL News

3 hours ago

• IOL News

Beyond Missiles and Sanctions: The Currency War Behind the Iran Assault

As tensions escalate in the Middle East following Israel's recent actions, the underlying struggle for the US dollar's dominance in global trade becomes increasingly apparent. Image: IOL / Ron AI By Masibongwe Sihlahla As the world grapples with renewed conflict in the Middle East after Israel's cowardly and unprovoked attack on Friday 13 June last week, the framing of recent escalations with Iran as a nuclear non-proliferation issue is be missing the big picture. Beneath the diplomatic soundbites and military maneuvers lies a quieter but more existential struggle: the fight to preserve the US dollar's supremacy in global trade and contain China. For decades, the dollar has enjoyed near-monopoly status as the global reserve currency, granting the United States what French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing once called an "exorbitant privilege". This privilege enables the US to borrow at lower interest rates, print money to finance deficits, and weaponise the global financial system through sanctions and trade controls. This economic order faces its greatest threat yet and that is the rise of BRICS and the mounting wave of dedollarisation. Iran and the Strategic Pivot Iran, a long-standing critic of US foreign policy, has deepened trade relations with BRICS members, particularly China and Russia. By pricing its oil in yuan and diversifying its currency reserves, Tehran is actively undercutting the petrodollar framework that has undergirded American economic influence since the 1970s. Iran has also a few weeks back received the first direct train from China which can deliver goods from Iran especially oil in 18 days instead of 36 days via ship going through the heavily patrolled (by America's Seventh Fleet) Strait of Malacca. It goes without saying that saving 50%-60% transport time also translates into huge cost savings. It facilitates faster delivery of Chinese goods to Iran and onward to Europe, boosting trade efficiency and regional connectivity — this is where the rub lies as it bypasses any attempt by the USA Seventh or Fifth fleet for that matter to intimidate China and thus BRICS. So an attack on Iran by Israel must not be seen in isolation but with a geopolitical eye on the attempt to contain China. The potential consequences are monumental. If oil can be bought and sold in non-dollar denominations, a cornerstone of global dollar demand weakens. With less demand for U.S. Treasury securities, Washington could face higher borrowing costs and diminished leverage in international institutions like the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ The Realignment Accelerates The war in Ukraine backfired on America and entrenched Russia further into the BRICS orbit, bolstered by China's growing clout and Brazil's pragmatic economic diplomacy. Western sanctions may have isolated Russia from some markets, but they also catalysed alternative systems—cross-border payment platforms, bilateral trade in national currencies, and talk of a BRICS common settlement unit. Iran's alignment with this axis isn't just a matter of political solidarity; it represents a pivot away from dollar-dependence. From India's use of rupees in oil trades to South Africa's backing of a multipolar financial system, the shift is gaining traction across the Global South. The last thing Biden did before exiting in December 2024 was to launch the Lobido Corridor as a countermeasure to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. The Lobito Corridor is part of a broader Western-backed counter-BRICS initiative, including a $1.3 billion US-Angola infrastructure deal, to strengthen infrastructure and private investment in Africa, supported through programs like the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII). The aim was to undermine Chinese dominance of the critical metals supply chain such as Copper, Cobalt, Lithium, Tantalum(Coltan) especially as the highest priority. With the increased use of eDrones Americas military need a secure source of these minerals. Some of these minerals reach China via the railway corridor from Iran and thus it is essential that those those infrastructure benefitting China be destroyed, hence it is in this light that the devious attack on Iran by American proxy Israel can be explained. This infrastructure push by America aims to provide alternatives to China-led projects and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), countering China's growing influence through BRICS and related economic corridors. South Africa, as a founding BRICS member and a key regional power, is a crucial leverage point for expanding BRICS influence into Africa. The Lobito Corridor and related infrastructure projects signal efforts by the US and allies to offer competing development models and maintain influence in the region and it is clear the current Angola government has been bought lock, stock and barrel by the Americans and its allies. The recent diplomatic tensions and perceived 'insult' to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the White House can be seen as part of this broader geopolitical contest, reflecting friction over South Africa's leading role in BRICS and its strategic positioning between Western and Chinese spheres of influence. America's Geoeconomic Dilemma The US faces a dilemma: preserve dollar dominance through diplomatic engagement, or use hard power—military or financial—to deter alternatives. History suggests Washington is willing to project power to defend its economic architecture. But as dedollarisation efforts become decentralized and digitally nimble, the old levers lose some of their Iran, whether militarily or economically, may not just be about regime machinations but is intended to be a strategic strike on a key pillar of the dedollarisation front. A Global Rebalance in MotionWe are living through the slow dismantling of a unipolar order and as Prof Richard Wolff describes the decline of American Empire. The question is not whether dedollarisation will happen, but how—and at what cost to the current architects of global trade. For BRICS and its partners, this is a path toward sovereignty and away from American hegemony For Washington, it's the potential unraveling of its financial superpower status. And for the rest of the world, it could mean a future where no single currency holds the world hostage. * Masibongwe Sihlahla, Independent Writer, Political Commentator and Social Justice Activist. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.

The South African

4 hours ago

• The South African

Paul Mashatile highlights South Africa's role as chair of the G20

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has highlighted the importance of solidarity and collaboration in today's rapidly evolving global landscape. Delivering a public lecture at St. Petersburg State University, the Deputy President explained that South Africa's Presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) comes at a time characterised by geopolitical tensions and economic disparities. 'As we gather here today, amidst the tumultuous global crises characterised by rising geopolitical tensions, trade wars, unemployment, inequality, poverty, armed conflicts, and climate catastrophe, it has become very clear that the world needs solidarity now more than ever,' the Deputy President said on Thursday. Deputy President Mashatile arrived in Russia this week for a working visit aimed at strengthening economic and trade ties between the two nations. The visit focuses on enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries in sectors such as agriculture, automotive, energy, and mining industries, as well as cooperation in science and technology. Deputy President Mashatile's speech highlighted South Africa's role as the current chair of the G20 and its commitment to addressing pressing global challenges. South Africa's G20 Presidency theme: 'Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability' articulates the necessary principles of fostering a more inclusive global community. 'Only through exercising solidarity and identifying with each other's struggles can we do justice to the notion of international community or 'Ubuntu'.' Deputy President Mashatile reiterated the importance of global solidarity, urging those present to work together to create a more equitable world. 'We aim to capitalise on the prospects of globalisation while limiting its risks and ensuring that the benefits of economic progress and technological advancement are shared by all,' he said. He called for unity, adding that 'we must build upon that legacy and strengthen our cooperation in science, technology, research, and innovation'. Universities like St. Petersburg State University can play a pivotal role in bridging the priorities of BRICS, the African Union, and the G20. 'Our future lies in knowledge economies, and your institution is a natural partner in this effort,' Mashatile added. The country's second-in-command praised the university's Faculty of International Relations and the Institute for African Studies for their engagement with scholars across Africa. He extended an invitation for deeper collaborations with leading South African institutions, emphasising the mutual benefits that such partnerships could foster. The Deputy President highlighted the university's impressive legacy, noting that it has produced numerous renowned figures, including President Vladimir Putin and the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. 'The presence of so many renowned scholars, leaders, and diplomats here today is a testament to the university's continued relevance in shaping discourse on global affairs.' The Deputy President reflected on the historical ties between South Africa and Russia, expressing gratitude for the support received during the anti-apartheid struggle. Despite the prevailing geopolitical environment, he said South Africa is steadfast in its commitment to this course. '… And with our G20 Presidency, we possess a unique opportunity to influence the global discourse on critical issues.' The G20 has a significant role to play in fostering global cooperation, collaboration and partnership to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. He announced the country's G20 Presidency will, through its four overarching priorities, seek to address challenges that stifle the ability of the Global South to achieve desired levels of growth and development. In addition, South Africa will take steps to enhance disaster resilience and response. The country also aims to ensure debt sustainability for low-income nations, mobilise financing for a Just Energy Transition, and seek to leverage critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.