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Russian DM: “Today, the world begins to unite against the USA”

The media outlet for the Russian government, Pravda, reported this weekend that a Russian observer at the recent APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in Vladivostok came away convinced that the world is moving away from a U.S. dominated world. He noted that “everyone still plays by American rules, but the countries already demonstrate their independence in economic policy.”

This Member of the Duma, Yevgeny Fyodorov (who also serves as the head of the Duma’s Committee on Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship), said that China’s recent snubbing of Hillary Clinton reflected the United States’ loss of power and prestige: “I was there and saw how angry Mrs. Hillary Clinton was when she came from China, where several Chinese leaders – especially those who are to become top officials of China next year – did not even want to meet her.” He cited China’s refusal to allow Clinton “to take on mediator’s functions in resolving China’s territorial disputes with Asian countries” as further evidence of the US’s precipitous decline.

Observing that the U.S. “consumes a half the world’s GDP, despite the fact that there is only 4.5 percent of the population living there,” and that Americans “eat ten times as much as compared to the citizens of all other countries,” he argues that this excessive consumption occurs “at the expense of China, Russia, India, Brazil – all other countries.”

The Pravda interview concludes with DM Fyodorov stating that, “Today, the world begins to unite against the colonizer – USA.” He believes that the APEC conference is the start of a “national liberation movement to free the world from the U.S. occupation.”

There’s little doubt that the anti-American sentiment that erupted across the Middle East about this same time last week contributed to the atmosphere at the 21-nation APEC summit. And we can thank Obama’s love-fest with the Muslim Brotherhood for that.

Pacific Rim Nations: Food Security Mounting Problem

Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Photo & Video

Asia-Pacific leaders focused their attention on rising concern over food security on Sunday, as they prepared to wrap up their annual summit with an agreement to slash tariffs on trade in environmental goods and a call to keep markets open even in hard times.

Food security “is one of the most acute problems of our time,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in convening Sunday’s second and final “informal retreat” of the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum in this far eastern Russian seaport.

“Without ensuring food security, we cannot achieve our goal of enhancing the quality of life for our people,” he said before the closed door session got under way.

The explicit focus on food security by the leaders of the 21-member APEC reflects abiding concern over the potential for food prices to surge to politically volatile levels.

Current prices are high, though they remained flat in August and are below the levels that triggered rioting and unrest in parts of the developing world in 2007-2008. Another food crisis, in 2010-2011, also caused hardships for poorer consumers, especially in countries heavily dependent on food imports.

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