The sheriff is not concerned about the problems of the Indians (Oleg Kazakov). The sheriff doesn't care about the Indians' problems. (1 photo)

As soon as Putin announced the defeat of ISIS (a structure banned in the Russian Federation - ed.) in Syria, Trump fussed with the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Do you think it’s out of great love for a small, long-suffering people? Not at all. Want to make history? Perhaps. But that's not all.

For clarity of understanding: Israel calls Jerusalem its “one and indivisible” capital, with special emphasis on eastern regions And historical center, recaptured from Jordan half a century ago and later annexed. Most states in the world do not recognize the annexation and consider the status of the city to be one of the core problems of the Middle East conflict, which should be resolved on the basis of an agreement with the Palestinians who claim the eastern part of Jerusalem. In this regard, all foreign embassies, including the American one, are located in Tel Aviv.

“I am directing the State Department to begin preparations to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” Trump said yesterday.

However…

The USA is not the only state on the planet. And Israel is not his state. This means that we will have to take into account the opinions of other interested countries. First of all, with Palestine, for which such an attack from the United States is a painful and extremely offensive slap in the face. The response to which will most likely be a new phase of aggravation of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

And here, probably, lies one of the points of the grandiose plan called “make America great again" The USA has at the moment not many wins. Diplomatic ones, including. Ukraine did not live up to expectations. Syria also became a painful scar for the rest of my life. Therefore, putting an end to the long-standing dispute between Palestine and Israel seems the most in a simple way loudly remind about their power and exclusive rights to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

However, in this case it was clearly not the point. And an ellipsis with an abundance of exclamation marks and angry emoticons. Because Europe is clearly not happy with such a single-handed and extremely imprudent decision. This has already been stated by May, Merkel, and Macron. Erdogan is generally furious.

“If Washington takes this step, Türkiye will convene an OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) summit in Istanbul within 5-10 days. In addition, as a consequence, Türkiye may break diplomatic relations with Israel... We learned with regret about Washington's plans to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Mr. Trump, Jerusalem is a red line for Muslims! While abuses and pressure against the Palestinians still continue, this kind of decision in support of Israel would not only be a violation international law, but also with a strong blow according to the conscience of humanity,” Erdogan said.

There was a distinct smell of confrontation in the air. And not only diplomatic.

However, I don’t remember something about Trump’s election promises of war over Israel.

And it could very well happen.

Although, if this happens, the scales public opinion will clearly not be on the side of the United States. Europe is already unhappy. King Abdullah of JordanIIcalled for an emergency meeting of the Arab League Council of Ministers to be held on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia condemned US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Russia also condemns. Decisively and unambiguously.

For reference: Russia’s official position is the possibility of recognizing West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel - a corresponding statement was made in April of this year. At the same time, Russia is considering East Jerusalem as the future capital of Palestine.

And Trump decided to take the plunge and wipe everyone’s noses, playing ahead of the curve. And he doesn’t even think about a false start.

So what is he counting on? To go to war with the whole world or to the notorious “they will stink and calm down”?

For now it is a mystery, shrouded in darkness.

One thing is certain: this will definitely provoke a new intifada - a Palestinian uprising against Israel.

What else is remarkable. Just yesterday, the United States and Saudi Arabia were friends against Iran. But after such an unfriendly step on the part of Trump, this “friendship” is under threat. Because the Saudis will not be able to sit on two chairs.

However, Trump is not so stupid as to make such decisions without enlisting the support of some influential and authoritative figures in the Middle East.

As many experts believe, “The key Arab countries - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar - are connected by such huge financial, economic and military ties with the United States that they are not able to go... to a sharp deterioration in relations with America. These connections are many years old, huge amount lobbyists on both sides who have a vested interest in this. Trump’s statement will not be able to undermine such deep ties.”

There is also an opinion that this decision by Trump will serve as a signal to the Palestinians, led by Mahmoud Abbas, that they must stop taking a categorical position of preconditions in negotiations with Israel, otherwise the Americans may make even more serious proposals in favor of Israel.

Those. obvious attempt at once again impose your own scenario for resolving someone else’s conflict through blackmail and without taking into account the interests of the other party.

The bonus and icing on the cake of this, at first glance, reckless and provocative decision, can be considered the diversion of the world community’s attention from the events in Syria. For perspective new war will relegate to the background both the issue of Assad, who never went away, and the inglorious outcome of US participation in the war against ISIS in this country.

And this is probably the main reason that prompted Trump to make such a resonant decision. He needs to restore the status quo. Through a small victorious diplomatic war. And it doesn’t matter that this could become the spark that will provoke new victims and destabilize the already turbulent situation in the region.

The sheriff doesn't care about the Indians' problems.

Especially when they are separated by an ocean.

Yulia Vityazeva

Yesterday and today, the media are actively discussing the visit of Secretary of State Carrie to Russia and his negotiations with Lavrov and Putin. As always, there is a lot of reasoning, speculation and declarations. From a historic victory in the opinion of patriots to the traditional #Putinsleak in the mouths of liberals. Some argue that Russia’s historic victory lies in the fact that for the first time in two years Carrie deigned to come, which means he caved in. Others argue just as ardently that the United States has once again given strict instructions, pressure and threats. The imagination of some authors is worth envying. From Carrie's wish to Poroshenko to think before shooting, the conclusion is drawn that Carrie called Poroshenko an idiot. And from the abstractly hypothetical promise to lift sanctions in the indefinite future, the conclusion is that the United States has spat on its satellites in Ukraine and the Baltic states for the sake of relations with Russia. There are a lot of assumptions about the proposed US trade such as Syria (or Iran) in exchange for Ukraine. And only some of the most balanced commentators note that, apparently, the negotiations ended in nothing.

Despite all this, almost no one gives the most obvious assessment of the negotiations, which is directly indicated by some scraps of available information. Everyone noted Lavrov’s arrival at the negotiations at the wheel of a Pobeda, but no one went further than mentioning trolling at an exorbitant level. Gifts in the form of tomatoes, potatoes and a T-shirt in exchange for a quote book from Russian media and a briefcase were greeted with laughter, but again they did not notice the obvious. Just as they did not notice Putin’s key phrase, leaked from the negotiations, that Russia cannot discuss the conditions for lifting sanctions, since it did not impose them. There is also no clear understanding of why, after the official part of the negotiations, Putin proposed informal communication in a larger format. If you put everything together and evaluate it, the picture turns out to be completely different from what the vast majority of authors saw it.

Let's take a break from high politics for a second and just imagine a situation with important commercial negotiations between two firms. One partner (from a company that he considers the largest and strongest on the market) prepared for the discussion, developed a position, and came up with a bunch of arguments in its favor. I put myself in the place of my opponent and came up with an argument for him, as well as my own counterarguments to it. And so, fully armed, he arrives at the epic battle, and instead of an equally serious and thoughtful opponent, he meets a cheerful character who literally with all his appearance shows “well, screw these negotiations, let me tell you what kind of fish I recently caught. And look at the pumpkin my wife recently grew in the garden.” The visiting partner, whose multimillion-dollar contract is on fire, listens to this nonsense in complete amazement. Then he begins to think that his opponent is simply stalling for time while the most important negotiator builds his line of behavior. But then the most important one joins the meeting and even begins to listen to the newcomer with all his arguments. And after listening, suddenly instead of opposing and punching for yourself better conditions, declares. “No, this is not suitable, but I’m too lazy to waste time on discussion. You yourself somehow think about what to change so that everything suits us. In the meantime, God bless them with negotiations, we’re tired, let’s go and chat in an informal setting. Let's drink wine or tea." Doesn't it really look like complete nonsense? But this is roughly what happened yesterday.

Since ancient pre-Soviet imperial times, we have become accustomed to the fact that our main partners and opponents live in the West. We could feel weaker or stronger, we could look for friends among them or be at enmity. They could trade or fight. But for several centuries, our entire policy revolved around relations with European countries, and later with the United States. All our policies in other parts of the world, when they happened, still only served to strengthen our own positions in constant disputes with the West. Never during these centuries have we stopped thinking that Russia is Europe, and our entire policy is a struggle for a worthy place in this very Europe. Even in those days when Russia was called the gendarme of Europe, and even Britain did not dare to argue with it. Even during the times of the USSR, when the country consisted of dozens of allied or friendly states on all continents, it was still a struggle for leadership with the USA and Western Europe. Dozens of generations of Russian politicians and oppositionists grew up on this psychology. The confrontation between Slavophilism and Russophobia has always occupied a central place in our not only politics, but also culture.

And suddenly, for the first time in centuries, everything changed. It didn’t change suddenly, but so quickly that no one had time to notice. But there were signals. Russia has long tried to warn both Europe and the United States that they need to do business with us honestly and openly; it won’t work any other way. But no one took these warnings seriously. I’m almost sure that Merkel’s words about Putin’s loss of a sense of reality about a year ago directly related to the warning that Russia could simply spit on Europe and its plans for integration with it. They didn’t listen, they didn’t take it seriously. Merkel’s harsh tone in Moscow on May 10, almost openly erupting irritation, which is in principle unacceptable for a politician of this rank, best indicator the one who ended up in better relations with reality, and who are lost in their own illusions.

Strange as it may seem at first glance, a paradoxical situation suddenly arose. Russia, in the opinion of the West, languishing under the burden of sanctions, suddenly had neither serious problems nor important tasks that it must solve in relation to Europe or the United States. There is no current agenda. And hence the amazing feeling of inner freedom, which instantly caused panic among all our “partners”. From Western politicians to domestic Russophobes. They don’t even really try to cover up this panic; it comes through in every speech or text. What's here, what's there. After all, unlike Russia, the West has an oversaturation of the current agenda. And in principle, not a single problem can be solved without Russia.

Ukraine, gradually plunging deeper into chaos, has hung like a heavy burden on Europe and the United States. Both morally and materially. Russia has no urgent tasks there; freezing the conflict in Donbass plays into our hands. However, intensifying confrontation will not hurt much; it will only push Kyiv into the abyss faster. It is enough for Russia to simply do nothing and wait for the complete collapse of Western policy in this country.

The picture is approximately the same in Syria. Everything is bad there, but viscous. There are no quick solutions and cannot be. ISIS, with all the help it has received, is not powerful enough to destroy the Assad regime, and time is working against both it and its sponsors. Already today, the idiotic US policy in the Middle East is pushing the same, seemingly already completely conquered Iraq towards Russia.

The situation with Iran is even clearer. After years of unprecedented pressure, Iran has persevered and is now closer than ever to a diplomatic victory over the United States over its nuclear program. The renewal of the contract for the supply of S-300 only emphasizes the results of the long-term confrontation.

And the situation in Europe is very interesting. For so many years, everyone shouted in unison, both here and there, that the most important task for the United States was to tear Europe away from Russia, that the latter felt like an enviable bride with a rich dowry. And the loudmouths themselves, both here and there, endlessly believed that this was exactly the case. And the United States, having used all its power resources in recent years literally raped the whole of Europe, forcing them to take an exclusively pro-American position, even to the detriment of themselves. And suddenly it turns out that Russia doesn’t care about it. Europe feels robbed and fooled. The United States, having already prepared to fight with Russia for Europe until the latter is completely disintegrated, suddenly realizes that it almost killed its only ally with its own hands. Everything is out.

In general, the situation is such that the United States, having scattered a bunch of problems in different points planet, got stuck in all of them without clear prospects for a successful way out of the situation. At least without Russian help. And the clock is already actively ticking, measuring the time until the start of uncontrollable processes of collapse of the overseas empire. And resources are running out.

And Russia suddenly, quite unexpectedly, finds itself in a position where “Europe will wait while the Russian Tsar fishes.” Unusual, but invigorating. There haven't been times like this for a long time.

Of course, in such a situation the merit is not only Russia. China contributed to it to an equal, if not greater, extent. And most likely he is not alone.

Nevertheless, this is exactly the situation. Yesterday, neither Lavrov nor Putin needed anything from Carrie. A man wanted to come and talk, for God’s sake. We'll meet you, greet you, feed you, give you something to drink. We are truly open to everyone. But this does not mean that we will continue, as everyone is accustomed to, to solve other people’s problems at our own expense.

Some argue that Russia’s historic victory lies in the fact that for the first time in two years, Carrie deigned to come, which means he caved in. Others argue just as ardently that the United States has once again given strict instructions, pressure and threats. The imagination of some authors is worth envying. From Carrie's wish to Poroshenko to think before shooting, the conclusion is drawn that Carrie called Poroshenko an idiot.

And from the abstractly hypothetical promise to lift sanctions in the indefinite future, the conclusion is that the United States has spat on its satellites in Ukraine and the Baltic states for the sake of relations with Russia. There are a lot of assumptions about the proposed US trade such as Syria (or Iran) in exchange for Ukraine. And only some of the most balanced commentators note that, apparently, the negotiations ended in nothing.

Just as they did not notice Putin’s key phrase, leaked from the negotiations, that Russia cannot discuss the conditions for lifting sanctions, since it did not impose them. There is also no clear understanding of why, after the official part of the negotiations, Putin proposed informal communication in a larger format. If you put everything together and evaluate it, the picture turns out to be completely different from what the vast majority of authors saw it.

And so, fully armed, he arrives at the epic battle, and instead of an equally serious and thoughtful opponent, he meets a cheerful character who literally with all his appearance shows “well, screw these negotiations, let me tell you what kind of fish I recently caught. And look at the pumpkin my wife recently grew in the garden.” The visiting partner, whose multimillion-dollar contract is on fire, listens to this nonsense in complete stupor. Then he begins to think that his opponent is simply stalling for time while the most important negotiator builds his line of behavior.

But then the most important one joins the meeting and even begins to listen to the newcomer with all his arguments. And after listening, suddenly, instead of opposing and trying to get better conditions for himself, he declares. “No, this is not suitable, but I’m too lazy to waste time on discussion. You yourself somehow think about what to change so that everything suits us. In the meantime, God be with them, we’re tired of negotiations, let’s go and chat in an informal setting. Let’s drink wine or tea.”

Doesn't it really look like complete nonsense? But this is roughly what happened yesterday.

Never during these centuries have we stopped thinking that Russia is Europe, and our entire policy is a struggle for a worthy place in this very Europe. Even in those days when Russia was called the gendarme of Europe, and even Britain did not dare to argue with it. Even during the times of the USSR, when the country had dozens of allied or friendly states on all continents, it was still a struggle for leadership with the USA and Western Europe. Dozens of generations of Russian politicians and oppositionists grew up on this psychology. The confrontation between Slavophilism and Russophobia has always occupied a central place in our not only politics, but also culture.

Merkel’s harsh tone in Moscow on May 10, almost openly erupting irritation, which is basically unacceptable for a politician of this rank, is the best indicator of who ended up on better terms with reality and who got lost in their own illusions.

They don’t even really try to cover up this panic; it comes through in every speech or text. What's here, what's there. After all, unlike Russia, the West has an oversaturation of the current agenda. And in principle, not a single problem can be solved without Russia.

And the situation in Europe is very interesting. For so many years, everyone has been shouting in unison, both here and there, that the most important task for the United States is to tear Europe away from Russia, so that the latter feels like an enviable bride with a rich dowry. And the loudmouths themselves, both here and there, endlessly believed that this was exactly the case. And the United States, using all its power resources in recent years, has literally raped the whole of Europe, forcing it to take an exclusively pro-American position, even to its own detriment.

And suddenly it turns out that Russia doesn’t care about it. Europe feels robbed and duped. The United States, having already prepared to fight with Russia for Europe until the latter is completely disintegrated, suddenly realizes that it almost killed its only ally with its own hands. Everything is out.

In general, the situation is such that the United States, having scattered a bunch of problems in different parts of the planet, is stuck in all of them without clear prospects for a successful way out of the situation. At least without Russian help. And the clock is already actively ticking, measuring the time until the start of uncontrollable processes of disintegration of the overseas empire. And resources are running out.

Of course, in such a situation the merit is not only Russia. China contributed to it to no less, if not greater, extent. And most likely, he is not alone.

Yesterday and today, the media are actively discussing the visit of Secretary of State Carrie to Russia and his negotiations with Lavrov and Putin. As always, there is a lot of reasoning, speculation and declarations. From a historic victory in the opinion of patriots to the traditional #Putinsleak in the mouths of liberals. Some argue that Russia’s historic victory lies in the fact that for the first time in two years, Carrie deigned to come, which means he caved in. Others argue just as ardently that the United States has once again given strict instructions, pressure and threats. The imagination of some authors is worth envying. From Carrie's wish to Poroshenko to think before shooting, the conclusion is drawn that Carrie called Poroshenko an idiot. And from the abstractly hypothetical promise to lift sanctions in the indefinite future, the conclusion is that the United States has spat on its satellites in Ukraine and the Baltic states for the sake of relations with Russia. There are a lot of assumptions about the proposed US trade such as Syria (or Iran) in exchange for Ukraine. And only some of the most balanced commentators note that, apparently, the negotiations ended in nothing.

Despite all this, almost no one gives the most obvious assessment of the negotiations, which is directly indicated by some scraps of available information. Everyone noted Lavrov’s arrival at the negotiations at the wheel of a Pobeda, but no one went further than mentioning the prohibitive level of trolling. Gifts in the form of tomatoes, potatoes and a T-shirt in exchange for a quote book from Russian media and a briefcase were greeted with laughter, but again they did not notice the obvious. Just as they did not notice Putin’s key phrase, leaked from the negotiations, that Russia cannot discuss the conditions for lifting sanctions, since it did not impose them. There is also no clear understanding of why, after the official part of the negotiations, Putin proposed informal communication in a larger format. If you put everything together and evaluate it, the picture turns out to be completely different from what the vast majority of authors saw it.

Let's take a break from high politics for a second and just imagine a situation with important commercial negotiations between two firms. One partner (from a company that he considers the largest and strongest on the market) prepared for the discussion, developed a position, and came up with a bunch of arguments in its favor. I put myself in the place of my opponent and came up with an argument for him, as well as my own counterarguments to it. And so, fully armed, he arrives at the epic battle, and instead of an equally serious and thoughtful opponent, he meets a cheerful character who literally with all his appearance shows “well, screw these negotiations, let me tell you what kind of fish I recently caught. And look at the pumpkin my wife recently grew in the garden.” The visiting partner, whose multimillion-dollar contract is on fire, listens to this nonsense in complete amazement. Then he begins to think that his opponent is simply stalling for time while the most important negotiator builds his line of behavior. But then the most important one joins the meeting and even begins to listen to the newcomer with all his arguments. And after listening, suddenly, instead of opposing and trying to get better conditions for himself, he declares. “No, this is not suitable, but I’m too lazy to waste time on discussion. You yourself somehow think about what to change so that everything suits us. In the meantime, God bless them with negotiations, we’re tired, let’s go and chat in an informal setting. Let's drink wine or tea." Doesn't it really look like complete nonsense? But this is roughly what happened yesterday.

Since ancient, pre-Soviet imperial times, we have become accustomed to the fact that our main partners and opponents live in the West. We could feel weaker or stronger, we could look for friends among them or be at enmity. They could trade or fight. But for several centuries, our entire policy revolved around relations with European countries, and later with the United States. All our policies in other parts of the world, when they happened, still served only to strengthen our own positions in constant disputes with the West. Never during these centuries have we stopped thinking that Russia is Europe, and our entire policy is a struggle for a worthy place in this very Europe. Even in those days when Russia was called the gendarme of Europe, and even Britain did not dare to argue with it. Even during the times of the USSR, when the country consisted of dozens of allied or friendly states on all continents, it was still a struggle for leadership with the USA and Western Europe. Dozens of generations of Russian politicians and oppositionists grew up on this psychology. The confrontation between Slavophilism and Russophobia has always occupied a central place in our not only politics, but also culture.

And suddenly, for the first time in centuries, everything changed. It didn’t change suddenly, but so quickly that no one had time to notice. But there were signals. Russia has long tried to warn both Europe and the United States that they need to do business with us honestly and openly; it won’t work any other way. But no one took these warnings seriously. I’m almost sure that Merkel’s words about Putin’s loss of a sense of reality about a year ago directly related to the warning that Russia could simply spit on Europe and its plans for integration with it. They didn’t listen, they didn’t take it seriously. Merkel's harsh tone in Moscow on May 10, almost openly erupting irritation, which is basically unacceptable for a politician of this rank, is the best indicator of who ended up on better terms with reality and who got lost in their own illusions.

And the situation in Europe is very interesting. For so many years, everyone shouted in unison, both here and there, that the most important task for the United States was to tear Europe away from Russia, that the latter felt like an enviable bride with a rich dowry. And the loudmouths themselves, both here and there, endlessly believed that this was exactly the case. And the United States, using all its power resources in recent years, has literally raped the whole of Europe, forcing it to take an exclusively pro-American position, even to its own detriment. And suddenly it turns out that Russia doesn’t care about this. Europe feels robbed and fooled. The United States, having already prepared to fight with Russia for Europe until the latter is completely disintegrated, suddenly realizes that it almost killed its only ally with its own hands. Everything is out.

Of course, in such a situation the merit is not only Russia. China contributed to it to an equal, if not greater, extent. And most likely he is not alone.