Pope Francis told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Thursday that the United States of America—and Russia, China, North Korea and Bashar al Assad's Syria—have “a distorted vision of the world"--("una visione distorta del mondo," as reportetd in Italian by La Repubblica).
The pope made the observation in an interview with La Repubblica reporter Eugenio Scalfari.
“Last Thursday, I got a call from Pope Francis,” Scalfari reported. “It was about noon, and I was at the newspaper when my phone rang.”
He said the pope wanted to see him at four that afternoon, according to a Google translation of the Italian report.
“Pope Francis told me to be very concerned about the meeting of the G20,” Scalfari wrote.
“I am afraid there are very dangerous alliances between powers who have a distorted view of the world: America and Russia, China and North Korea, Russia and Assad in the war in Syria,” the pope said.
As printed in Italian in La Repubblica, the pope said: "Temo che ci siano alleanze assai pericolose tra Potenze che hanno una visione distorta del mondo: America e Russia, Cina e Corea del Nord, Russia e Assad nella guerra di Siria."
As transclated into English by Agence France Presse, which picked up the story, Pope Francis told La Repubblica: “I worry about very dangerous alliances between powers which have a distorted vision of the world: America and Russia, China and North Korea, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Syria’s Bashar al-) Assad over the war in Syria.”
“The danger concerns immigration,” the pope continued to La Repubblica, as translated by AFP. “Our main and unfortunately growing problem in the world today is that of the poor, the weak, the excluded, which includes migrants.”
“This is why the G20 worries me: It mainly hits immigrants,” Pope Francis said, according to AFP.
In the same interview, according to La Repubblica, Pope Francis said that Europe must take on a "federal structure."
"I also thought many times to this problem and came to the conclusion that, not only but also for this reason, Europe must take as soon as possible a federal structure," the pope said, according to the Google translation of the La Repubblica article.
President Trump on Saturday did not clarify details regarding his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin the previous day, saying only that it was “tremendous.”
Although the highly-anticipated meeting on Friday lasted more than two hours - which was nearly two hours longer than it was scheduled - details about what the two world leaders discussed have been scant. Accounts shared by Russian and U.S. officials significantly differ.
Rex Tillerson said Trump repeatedly pressed Putin regarding possible Russian interference in the 2016 election, an issue currently under FBI and congressional investigation in the U.S.
“The two leaders agreed that this is a substantial hindrance on the ability of us to move Russian-U.S. relationships forward and agreed to exchange further work regarding commitments of noninterference in the affairs of the United States and our democratic process as well as those of other countries,” Tillerson said.
However, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov implied the topic was brief and not contentious.
"U.S. President Trump said that he heard firm assertions from Russian President Putin that it is not true and that Russian authorities have not meddled in the elections," Lavrov said. “[Trump] said that he accepts these assertions. That's it.”
Trump’s critics including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) slammed Trump following the meeting for taking a weak position with Putin by giving him the benefit of the doubt on Russian hacking. Putin has denied the Kremlin was involved in election interference.
“To give equal credence to the findings of the American Intelligence Community and the assertion by Mr. Putin is a grave dereliction of duty and will only encourage Russia to further interfere in our elections in the future,” Schumer said.
Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded Russia did attempt to interfere in the election, although officials have not found evidence that results were influenced.
The president has not described the meeting with Putin other than to call it “tremendous.” He made the comment during another meeting with a world leader, British Prime Minister Theresa May, during the ongoing Group of 20 talks in Germany.
The US sent two B-1B Lancer strategic bombers from Guam's Andersen Air Force Base base to the Korean Peninsula, to practice “attack capabilities” with South Korean jet fighters and hold live-fire drills on Saturday, Yonhap News reported, the latest show of force by the US military after North Korea’s first-ever ICBM test launch on July 4. The pair of US bombers flew conducted a simulated destruction of an enemy ballistic missile launcher and underground facilities, the South's air force said, sending a strong hint to its northern neighbor.
The joint exercise included US F-16 fighters jets as well as fighter planes from the South Korean and Japanese air forces, and came a day after Trump said in Warsaw on Thursday that he was considering “some pretty severe things” in response to North Korea’s latest actions
Friday’s flyover followed a joint missile-defense drill by the US and South Korean armies on Korea’s east coast Wednesday, and as the US Pacific Air Forces said in a statement late on Friday, the 10-hour flight drill was conducted “in response to a series of increasingly escalatory actions by North Korea."
The US message was clear enough: "North Korea’s actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland,” Gen. Terrence O’ Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander, said in a statement. “Let me be clear, if called upon we are trained, equipped and ready to unleash the full lethal capability of our allied air forces."
Confirming that the US military is just waiting for a green light, in its statement following Friday’s air force exercise, the U.S. said that it “maintains flexible bomber and jet fighter capabilities” in the region and could “quickly respond to any regional threat.”
The U.S. bombers and South Korean fighters “are just two of many lethal military options at our disposal,” said Lt. Gen. Thomas Bergeson, deputy commander of the U.S. military in South Korea. “This mission clearly demonstrates the U.S.-ROK alliance remains prepared to use the full range of capabilities to defend and to preserve the security of the Korean Peninsula and region,” Lt. Gen. Bergeson added, using the acronym for South Korea’s formal name, the Republic of Korea.
When President Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit, the Russian President asked for the one thing that President Trump could not provide after President Trump pressed him on the issue of election interference, (something CNN once again claimed he would not do according to their "sources") the same thing that millions of Americans have been asking for since the first report was issued by the DNI saying that three intelligence agencies had "concluded" the Russians interference in the 2016 presidential election by hacking into the DNC servers and in turn handing over to Wikileaks to publish the DNC and Podesta emails for public dissemination.
"Proof and evidence" of that claim, something that the intelligence report never offered Americans that have been asking for the same things, simply expecting everyone to "trust them."
Moving along, reports indicate that not only did President Trump speak to President Putin about election interference, but he pressed the issue more than once, but the Russian President finally asked for the one thing that many Americans have been asking for... proof and evidence," which is something no one has ever produced regarding Russian "meddling" in the 2016 election.
Hamburg, Germany Soros funded Protesters at the G20 summit in Germany set a series of bonfires in the streets, looted shops, and stacked up blocks of pavement to use as projectiles as tension between demonstrators and police ratcheted up Friday night.
At first police stayed back while the protesters took a hit-and-run approach, groups of them running up the road, throwing rocks and bottles, and quickly retreating.
But about 30 minutes before midnight, police moved forward, firing teargas, water cannons and setting off flash-bang grenades.
Protesters hurled bottles of looted champagne into the fires, Hamburg police said, causing popping noises that sounded like fireworks. At one store, residents of the area tried to stop people from stealing from the shop windows.
From where a witness was positioned, the mass of protesters appeared to stretch for at least 1 mile. Reporters saw people who were injured but police tweeted there were no totals available for how many people were hurt.
It was a much more aggressive atmosphere than earlier when police sought to prevent small groups of mostly anti-capitalist protesters Friday from disrupting the summit world leaders including President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met for talks.
Police said 197 officers have been injured since Thursday and reinforcements from outside Hamburg have been requested. At least 83 people were arrested and 17 have been detained since the protests began, police said on Twitter.
Earlier, officers dressed in riot gear intervened as protesters tried to enter the red zone — a blocked-off area close to the summit venue — while other small groups staged sit-ins across the city.
Members of the SOROS “Color the Red Zone” protest said they were trying to make it difficult for G20 participants to travel to the talks.
“We are living in a democracy, and the red zone is not a democracy,” said Karl S, a student protester from Dusseldorf who declined to give his full name.
“I’m sure we can’t stop all these leaders from meeting, but if we can stop them from getting their food or catering shortly, we’ve achieved something.”
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