Rex Tillerson

Goethe’s Faust, an ever energetic, never satisfied individual, is the traditional symbol of a Western man. He refuses to stay in the moment and vows never to declare: “Verweile doch, du bist so schön” – “Stay a while, you are so beautiful.” Judging by its elites and by the stories it tells about itself, Modern West has turned into the very opposite of this Faustian man. For the current western leaders, the beautiful moment had already occurred, as was officially pronounced by Francis Fukuyama in his notorious treatise of the1990s, The End of History and the Last Man.

A protest against US military action in Syria during a rally in New York on Friday, April 7, 2017. (AP/Andres Kudacki)cki)

(ANTIMEDIA) — Trump administration officials have been making stunning admissions in the days following the recent military strike on the Syrian government.

President Trump’s hasty decision to attack Syria may have lightened political pressure at home but Russia’s retaliation – suspending a key “deconfliction agreement” – left Secretary of State Tillerson as supplicant at the Kremlin, reports Gilbert Doctorow. By Gilbert Doctorow The Russian media offered…Read more →

They say all is fair in love and war, but Russia and the US not at war. Diplomacy on the other hand, even in tense times is about respect, protocol and dignity. It seems that NBC’s Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrew Mitchell didn’t get the memo.
During the morning briefing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Mitchell shouted out a question as Lavrov was about to make his opening remarks.
Lavrov, the indelible picture of good humoured dignity did not take it well. He said to Mitchell,

Today was the day that the US thought it could break Russia’s partnership with Syria and also with Iran. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer laid out the goals clearly yesterday. It was America’s ‘duty’ to break Russia away from countries like Syria, Iran and allegedly North Korea. It didn’t happen.
First of all, Russia and Syria are close partners. Secondly, North Korea is not a partner of Russia, but nor does Russia want renewed conflict in the Korean peninsula.

The media is barely reporting the fact but the immediate effect of the US missiles strike on Syria’s Sharyat air base has been to reduce US air force flights over Syria as the US worries about Moscow’s reaction.
That this is so is confirmed by the New York Times which – presumably because its anti-Trump campaign overrides all other issues – has actually been doing some proper reporting about the Syrian conflict following the US missile strike.

Following a series of telephone conversations between the Foreign Ministers of Russia, Iran and Syria, the Russians have agreed to host in Moscow on Friday 14th April 2017 a meeting of the three countries’ foreign ministers.  Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is also due to hold bilateral talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Muallem the day before this tripartite meeting takes place.

By Gilbert Doctorow | Consortium News | April 11, 2017 Secretary of State Tillerson Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow was supposed to prepare the way for a Trump-Putin summit either as a self-standing event or on the sidelines of the next G-20 meeting in Germany. The hope was that the summit would […]

The unexpected meeting comes after Rex Tillerson’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, where Lavrov issued a stern warning to Tillerson — DO NOT strike Syria again. Most experts and commentators claimed this wouldn’t happen due to the escalated tensions between Russia and the US over Syria.