■ According to the latest news from AFP, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) announced during the Hiroshima Summit on the 19th local time that they agreed to impose new sanctions on Russia. As early as the end of April, foreign media revealed that G7 was planning to "almost completely ban exports to Russia". At that time, Russia warned that this move would only aggravate the risk of global economic crisis.
■ According to a recent report on the US CNBC website, the Group of Seven is discussing the imposition of sanctions on Russian diamond exports. Once the measures take effect, the global price of natural diamonds may be pushed up.
■ US President Biden arrived in Japan on 18th to attend the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, and met with Japanese Prime Minister kishida fumio before the summit officially started. According to the report, among the briefcases carried by Biden’s aides, there is a suitcase used by the President of the United States to order the authorization to use nuclear weapons.
A new sanction
Restrict the export of goods that are "vital to Russia on the battlefield"
Crack down on entities that help Russia deliver goods to the front.
Agence France-Presse reported that G7 leaders said that the new sanctions would "prevent Russia from obtaining G7 countries’ technology, industrial equipment and services to support its war machine". Sanctions include restricting the export of goods that are "vital to Russia on the battlefield" and cracking down on entities accused of helping Russia deliver goods to the front.
Bloomberg, Kyodo News and other media reported on April 21 this year that western countries headed by the United States are considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia. According to these reports, G7 officials will discuss the proposal to increase Russia’s overall weight before the Hiroshima Summit on May 19th and 21st, with the aim of wooing all EU member states and weakening Russia’s economic and military strength together. In this regard, Russia quickly responded. Russian newspaper Izvestia reported at that time that Russian Presidential Press Secretary peskov said: "We know that both the United States and the European Union are actively considering new sanctions. We believe that these new and additional measures will definitely hit the global economy. This will only aggravate the risk of global economic crisis. "
At present, the Group of Seven is discussing specific measures for Russian diamond exports, especially how to use technology to trace the original source of diamonds and confirm that diamonds come from Russia. In 2021, Russian diamond export revenue reached 4.7 billion US dollars (about 33 billion yuan). Among them, Russia’s Alrosa Company is one of the largest diamond mining and processing enterprises in the world, and its proven reserves in Russia are 650 million carats. According to industry data, Alrosa’s diamond mining capacity accounts for 90% of the total diamond mining in Russia.
It is reported that since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out in February last year, Russia’s diamond exports have basically not been subject to large-scale sanctions internationally. According to Eurostat data, the EU imported about 1.4 billion euros (about 10.6 billion yuan) of Russian diamonds last year. Earlier last year, the United States listed Alrosa on the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Ministry of Finance. According to the requirements, all customers and other counterparties must stop trading with Alrosa as soon as possible. Some diamond dealers in Europe are worried that sanctions may lead to higher purchase costs and push up the global price of natural diamonds.
A dramatic scene
Nuclear briefcase and "cookies" appeared in Hiroshima.
Biden is not going to apologize for dropping an atomic bomb in World War II.
According to a report by the Effie news agency Hiroshima on May 19th, US President Biden arrived in Japan on the 18th to attend the G7 Summit and took a briefcase with him to Hiroshima, which attracted media attention.
According to the report, this briefcase, known as the "nuclear button", weighs about 20 kilograms and is made of black leather. It has always accompanied the President of the United States to visit home and abroad. On the 18th, when the US presidential plane "Air Force One" arrived in Japan, a military assistant of Biden was seen disembarking with this famous briefcase, which contained the necessary agreement to launch a nuclear attack.
It is reported that the nuclear briefcase is always carried by a member of the armed forces in the president’s entourage. It was designed by former US President John F. Kennedy after the Cuban missile crisis. Details about how this device works have not been announced, but some nuclear weapons experts have been revealing information about its working principle in recent years. For example, expert Stephen Schwartz revealed in a podcast program of the US Arms Control and Non-proliferation Center in 2021 that there is not only one "nuclear button", but at least three.
According to him, the nuclear briefcase contains not the complex military technology depicted in Hollywood movies, but a large number of documents, including the instructions of the broadcasting system that allow the president of the United States to speak to the public in the event of an attack. The briefcase also contains a list of locations on land, at sea and in the air, and the president can take refuge in the event of an attack. There is also a document that records all the attack options. According to Schwartz, it is similar to a menu with food icons to show the possibility and destructiveness of different attacks.
Schwartz said that the most important thing to launch a nuclear attack is not a nuclear briefcase, but a small card called "biscuit" or "golden code" to verify the identity of the president.
Contrary to what many movies imagine, the head of state has no red button to launch missiles, and "cookies" do not contain secret nuclear codes.
According to the report, these codes are locked in the Pentagon, so if the US president wants to launch a nuclear attack, the first thing he has to do is to use a special phone carried by his military assistant to contact the officials of the Missile Command. Then the president of the United States must use the alphanumeric code on the "biscuit" to verify his identity, and then he can start the attack process.
However, the report pointed out that the appearance of nuclear briefcases and "biscuits" in Hiroshima was very dramatic. Because the United States dropped an atomic bomb named "Little Boy" on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, it immediately killed about 80,000 people, accounting for about 30% of Hiroshima’s population at that time. By the end of 1945, the death toll had risen to about 140,000. In the following years, the number of victims of radiation effects more than doubled.
It is reported that Japanese Prime Minister kishida fumio, whose hometown is Hiroshima, hopes that the G7 summit starting on 19th will help promote nuclear disarmament, but this task is not easy, and Washington has shown little willingness. Jack Sullivan, assistant to the president of the United States for national security affairs, told the media this week that Biden did not intend to apologize for the destruction of Hiroshima by the atomic bomb. Former US President Barack Obama did not apologize when he visited Hiroshima in 2016.
Slip of the tongue again
Biden mistakenly called kishida fumio "the president."
Japanese netizens are sarcastic, but fortunately they are not "governors"
According to Kyodo News, US President Biden, who is visiting Japan, made another slip of the tongue when meeting with Japanese Prime Minister kishida fumio on the 18th, and mistakenly called Kishida "the president".
Kyodo News said that Biden used his speech when he spoke at the talks with Kishida on the 18th, and when he greeted Kishida impromptu at the beginning of the talks, Biden made the above slip of the tongue. Biden, who is 80 years old, is the oldest American president in history. His slip of the tongue is not uncommon, but the Japanese media did not forget to help Biden find reasons when reporting. Kyodo News specifically mentioned that "Biden has just experienced a long-distance trip across the Pacific Ocean".
The report that Biden called Kishida "president" by mistake also attracted the attention of Japanese netizens. Some people think that Biden "should retire". On the other hand, some Japanese netizens sarcastically said, "Fortunately, he was called ‘ President ’ , not ‘ Governor ’ " .
Comprehensive CCTV Finance, China Net and CCTV Net.