On the first leg of a trip abroad, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new mutual assistance agreement with the DPRK. Moscow and Pyongyang’s ties have surged after the US attempted to isolate Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement and several other important documents.” The outlet said the deal goes beyond the military sphere and includes trade and other forms of cooperation between the two neighbors.
While the details of the agreement are not public, Putin explained that it “provides, among other things, for the provision of mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this document.” Kim labeled the deal a “very robust treaty.”
Washington has lashed out against Pyongyang over the past several years, alleging North Korea has supplied munitions to Russia for use in Ukraine. It is unclear if the DPRK will interpret the war in Ukraine as “aggression” that would trigger some form of “mutual assistance.”
North Korea often defines US and South Korean war games on the Korean Peninsula as acts of aggression. Washington and its NATO allies conducted similar drills in Eastern Europe prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ahead of his arrival in Pyongyang on Tuesday, Putin published an article in a North Korean newspaper thanking the country for its “strong support” for the Russian war effort in Ukraine.
“We are also ready for close cooperation to make international relations more democratic and stable,” he wrote. “To do this, we will develop alternative mechanisms of trade and mutual settlements that are not controlled by the West, and jointly resist illegitimate unilateral restrictions. And at the same time – to build an architecture of equal and indivisible security in Eurasia.”
Putin will wrap up his visit in North Korea on Wednesday and head for Vietnam. His international travel is in defiance of Washington’s goal to isolate Moscow on the global stage.
Prior to his arrival in Hanoi, Putin also published an op-ed in Vietnamese media praising the government for its “balanced” and “pragmatic” stance on Ukraine. The Russian president is expected to meet with Vietnamese leaders on Thursday.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
"The Russian president is expected to meet with Vietnamese leaders on Thursday." US condemned the Russia-Vietnam meeting citing "Russian atrocities!" Are you kidding!? Are you lecturing Vietnam on "atrocities!?"
BOOM! You hit the bullseye!!!! Our "leaders" are so pathetic.
Do you think these US diplomatic miracleworkers would even get the burning irony there if you sit them down and very slowly explain it to them in simplified English using lots of pictures?
Nope
Canary in a coal mine?
Japan's Century-Old Bank Sends Warning to World on Higher-for-Longer Rates
The agricultural bank surprised the market this week by saying it would sell $63 billion of low-yielding US and European government bonds that had become unprofitable to hold after the firm’s shorter-term funding costs jumped. The unlisted firm warned that losses this fiscal year may swell to 1.5 trillion yen ($9.5 billion), triple an estimate made less than a month ago.
While Norinchukin and the Japanese government have expressed confidence in the bank’s ability to weather the losses, the episode is a reminder of the dangers still lurking in the financial system 15 months after the collapse of SVB Financial Group’s Silicon Valley Bank. Signals from the Federal Reserve and other central banks that they are in no rush to cut rates have caught out many investors betting on more aggressive moves.
That’s creating a tricky landscape for institutions like Norinchukin, which piled into US and European sovereign bonds on the expectation that falling rates would spark a debt rally after two years of declines. The bank is now overhauling its portfolio, selling off a third of its sovereign holdings and shifting to other types of assets, including collateralized loan obligations and domestic and overseas bonds.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/norinchukin-sends-warning-world-higher-002537089.html
Although I doubt it, but I wish the Japanese Politicians learn from this bank.
I meant also the value of US assets, the dollar.
I know what you meant. The bank is looking for its best interest. Japan should also.
US assets, the dollar.… AKA rolling paper.
Party up!
Putin’s next stop may well be Tokyo.
Just wait until China gets in on the action. What would be do, nuke our ally and China?
North Korean special operations troops will soon be hunting NATO and Ukrainian troops in Ukraine.
Russia and North Korea now have an article 5 relationship between each other. An attack on one is an attack on both!!
Joey Biden did that!
Why I refer Joey's last name to be Bidette. It is all he is worth to me.
Moscow and Pyongyang’s ties have surged after the US attempted to isolate Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The gift that keeps on giving.
That's one step on diminishing US hegemony…!
Putin now suggests that Russia will directly supply long-range missiles to North Korea.
Martyanov covers what this means:
But, Of Course…
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2024/06/but-of-course.html