Tag: Donald Trump

Trump slams ‘inflammatory’ Obama

by Andrew BEATTY Agence France-Presse PALM BEACH, United States (AFP) – US President-elect Donald Trump poured kerosene on a simmering dispute with Barack Obama Wednesday, accusing him of derailing a smooth transition with “inflammatory” statements and “roadblocks.” Ever since the November 8 election, Trump and Obama have tried to bury political differences in favor of a united public front that would smooth the transfer of power on January 20. But the Republican president-in-waiting unceremoniously cast any bonhomie […]

Kremlin says Russia will never initiate an arms race – RIA

  MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has never initiated an arms race and never will, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, the RIA news agency reported. President Vladimir Putin said earlier on Friday he was unfazed by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to boost the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Trump, asked to clarify his comments about expanding U.S. nuclear weapons capability, said, “Let it be an arms race,” and that the United States would win it, […]

Putin warms to Trump, flexes muscles on Syria

by Maria ANTONOVA and Gabrielle TETRAULT-FARBER Agence France Presse MOSCOW, United States (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday appeared to cosy up to US President-elect Donald Trump while asserting his authority as the key power broker in Syria. At his annual end-of-year press conference, the confident Kremlin strongman praised Trump for tapping into the public mood in the US to claim his surprise win in November. “He went to the end, though nobody believed […]

Trump releases Putin letter urging better US-Russia ties

PALM BEACH, United States (AFP) — US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday released what he said was a “very nice” letter from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin calling for a thaw in ties between the rival powers. Relations between Washington and Moscow are at their worst since the end of the Cold War, and President Barack Obama has imposed sanctions over Russia’s interventions in Syria and Ukraine. But Trump, who takes office on January 20, called […]

China reiterates stance on nuclear ban after Trump calls for more US nuclear capabilities

BEIJING, China (Reuters) — China said on Friday (December 23) its government was paying attention to President-elect Donald Trump’s Twitter post where he called for an expansion of the United States’ nuclear capabilities. BEIJING, China (Reuters) — On Thursday (December 22) Trump tweeted that “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” but gave no further details. It was not […]

Putin: Nobody believed Trump would win ‘except us’

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Friday that US President-elect Donald Trump accurately read the popular mood in the United States to win the election, although “nobody except us” believed in his success. The US president-elect “precisely felt the mood of the society and worked in that precise paradigm, he went to the end, though nobody believed that he would win except us,” Putin said while answering a state media journalist at […]

Putin says ‘nothing unusual’ about Trump’s nuclear call

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said there was “nothing unusual” about US President-elect Donald Trump’s call to boost America’s nuclear capability. “As concerns the new president-elect of the United States Mr Trump, there is nothing new here. During his election campaign he spoke about the necessity of strengthening the nuclear component of the United States, to strengthen the armed forces. There is nothing unusual here,” Putin said at his annual press […]

Trump Whisperer’ Conway named White House counselor

by Stephanie Griffith Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — More than just a trusted adviser, Kellyanne Conway earned the nickname “Trump Whisperer” on the US presidential campaign trail for an uncanny ability to soothe and soften the brash real estate magnate. Conway on Thursday was rewarded for her gifts — and her political acumen as driver of Donald Trump’s successful campaign strategy — with an influential White House post as counselor to the […]

Trump calls on Boeing to offer quote for F-35 rival

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday said he had asked Boeing to provide a price estimate for a new F-18 fighter jet, after bemoaning the soaring costs of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter. “Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!” Trump tweeted. His message came the day after he met with some of the […]

Trump calls for increased US nuclear capabilities

by Thomas Watkins Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — America must massively boost its nuclear capability until the “world comes to its senses,” President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday, hours after a similar vow by Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Trump made the statement on Twitter, without providing details or context, a day after meeting a group of Pentagon top brass, and shortly after Putin called for Russia to reinforce its own nuclear capabilities. “The United […]

Trump names critics of China, regulation for economic posts

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named billionaire Carl Icahn, a vocal critic of what he calls government over regulation, to serve as a special adviser to overhaul “strangling regulations.” He also tapped Peter Navarro, an outspoken China critic, to head the White House National Trade Council, a new office that will oversee trade and industrial policy, in the latest sign he is moving ahead with plans to overhaul US economic […]

Trump calls Berlin assault an ‘attack on humanity’

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday condemned the Holiday market attack in Berlin as an “attack on humanity.” Trump emerged from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to speak briefly with reporters, who asked him to elaborate on a statement made just after the attack in which he described it as an Islamist attack on Christianity. “It’s an attack on humanity. That’s what it is,” he replied. “An attack on humanity and […]