1. The Coalition Government's of the UK wants to reset Britain's relationship with the Russian leaders after it was damaged by the 2006 poisoning of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London. The British officials agree that the Litvinenko case is an impediment to improving Russian-British relations.
2. The British prime ministers visit to Moscow could not be expected to bring about any positive breakthrough in bilateral relations. Its most important result seems to have been the confirmation of the readiness of both sides to develop economic co-operation regardless of the existing political differences. The visit did not settle the existing disputes between the United Kingdom and Russia. For example, both parties confirmed in public their respective firm stances on the extradition of Lugovoy.
3. And while the governments may be at loggerheads, the business communities of Russia and the U.K. are closely entwined. Regardless of problems in bilateral relations on the political level, Russian-British relations in the area of trade and economy have been quite good over the past few years.
4. Experts who study the Korean peninsula agreed that a gas pipeline running through the North to the South could help to defuse tension in the region. Russia might be able to cut the Gordian knot that has long bedeviled the outside worlds relations with the secretive, one-party state.
5. The two sides remain in a stalemate over the U.S. pursuit of a missile-defense system in Europe. U.S. leaders have expressed hope of getting Russian cooperation on missile defense. But both sides have also shown signs of hardening their positions ahead of the summit. Iranian officials have said the American-led missile-defense initiative will increase tensions and destabilize the region.
6. Though Washington says it prefers a diplomatic resolution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear activity, the U.S. and Israel have not ruled out a military option. Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, such as energy production.
7. Some Western diplomats have said Irans offer to negotiate on the nuclear issue is part of a stalling process to enable it to enrich more uranium while talks are under way. They have also said Iran may be encouraged by the position of Russia, which has always opposed the sanctions on Iran and is even more opposed to military action. Russias foreign minister reiterated Russias position on Wednesday at a news conference in Moscow, saying a military strike would be a disaster.
8. The US yesterday imposed economic sanctions on Burma, banning new investments by American companies in the military-ruled southeast Asian country. The sanctions allow existing agreements to remain in place. The US is the fourth largest foreign investor in Burma. The White House has been under pressure from Congress to impose the sanctions and called for a ban on new investment.
9. The most negative assessment of the impasse on missile defense issues came from the Russian Defense Minister, who said, In principle our positions have not changed. The two sides also failed to reach a deal - but agreed to continue talks on what sort of pact might set limits on their nuclear arsenals after current treaties expire.
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10. Shared values and requirements of globalization will smooth differences between Russia and the West, making them more accommodating in regards to each other as well as in international affairs in general. Efforts will be made to overcome differences with the West and work closer with it. The Asia-Pacific region will also remain a focus of the Kremlin's attention.
11. The President of France, eager to realize his vision for harmony and prosperity around the Mediterranean, has reached out to Syria, a nation often accused of sponsoring terrorism and undermining regional unity.
12. After a more than three hour session at the Group of 8 summit meeting here, leaders of African countries and industrialized nations could not reach a consensus on how to move forward. The American President and other Western leaders urged the international community to condemn Mugabe and back strong sanctions against Zimbabwe, but the leaders of the seven African nations who were also in attendance resisted growing pressure to adopt a tougher stance.
13. North Korea rejected a proposal to resume stalled reconciliation talks with South Korea, while Seoul denounced the communist regime for the shooting death of a tourist that heightened tension between the divided nations.
14. Chancellor Angela Merkel broke off talks with the opposition in the early hours of Wednesday after the two sides failed to reach a compromise over how to increase basic social welfare benefits for the unemployed. The failure to break the impasse represents a double blow for Mrs. Merkels coalition of conservatives and Free Democrats.
15. The Caucasus has already suffered a lot from ethnic tension and frozen conflicts.The restoration of diplomatic ties with Armenia would also improve Turkeys chances of gaining European Union membership although Ankara still faces hurdles on that front and bring stability to a volatile region.
16. The relations between Venezuela and Colombia sank to their lowest point in decades in March after Colombia attacked a rebel camp in Ecuador. Chavez responded by briefly dispatching troops to Venezuela's border with Colombia, pulling his ambassador and threatening to freeze trade. He later restored relations, something Ecuador's leftist government hasn't done.
17. Tensions between Britain and France over the future of the EU intensified after Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly accused David Cameron of behaving like an obstinate kid when he wielded the British veto at the European summit last week.
18. The European Unions internal directives should not impede Russian-European energy cooperation, the Russian President said Thursday after talks with the Dutch Prime Minister in Moscow. In the energy field, everything is good and will be good, if certain directives within the EU do not interfere with the development of a full scale cooperation, Medvedev said, RIA Novosti reported.
19. Turkey and Armenia will sign a landmark deal to establish diplomatic ties in Switzerland in an effort to end decades of hostility over World War I massacres, Turkish officials said Sunday. The Swiss Foreign Minister, whose country acted as a mediator in reconciliation talks between the two neighbours, is also likely to attend the ceremony.Turkey and Armenia announced in August the talks resulted in two agreements calling for the establishment of diplomatic ties and re-opening their border.The agreements, however, will not come into effect immediately.
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20. Turkey has frozen relations with France, recalling its ambassador and suspending all economic, political and military meetings in response to French MPs' approval of a law that would make it a crime to deny that the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks was genocide. But the NATO allies had been working together on key issues such as the Syria uprising. A Turkish official indicated the freeze would not affect the country's membership of NATO, and that the withdrawal of military co-operation would be at a bilateral level.
21. China, North Korea's closest ally,has urged Pyongyang to improve its strained ties with the United States and South Korea. Beijing wants to revive the stalled six-nation disarmament negotiations. North Korea walked out of the talks in 2009 and exploded a second nuclear-test device but now wants to re-engage. Last year, Pyongyang also was blamed for two military attacks on South Korea that heightened tensions on the peninsula.
22. As the White House prepares for a Washington visit by the man who is expected to run China for the coming decade, trade tensions between the United States and Beijing are on the rise. Last month China imposed the tariffs on American vehicles. Hoping to reduce the trade tensions just before Mr. Xis visit, Chinese officials are preparing to send at least six business delegations on buying trips to the United States.
23. The White House moved to enforce tightened sanctions against Iran on Monday because of the countrys suspect nuclear program, freezing all property of the Central Bank of Iran, other Iranian financial institutions and the Iranian government in the United States. The US Senate has proposed additional stiff sanctions that could cripple Irans financial system by severing Iranian banks access to a global communications system that virtually all banks use to transmit data.
24. Tensions have been rising between Iran and the West over Tehrans nuclear energy program, which Iran says is peaceful and Western nations say is a cover for efforts to achieve the ability to make a nuclear weapon. Irans government has denounced the sanctions as an effort to bully Iranians into surrendering their legal right to pursue nuclear energy peacefully. It has threatened to retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil route, and by cutting off European buyers of Irans oil.
25. Probably the only serious obstacle t o a full link-up between Russia and Britain on the way to mutually beneficial co-operation is the impasse caused by the well-documented extradition disputes. Perhaps the two countries diplomats will be able to set a new precedent of openness that will take us down a straight path to mutual prosperity.
