International panorama: names for Putin's weapons, duties from Trump, and indefinite leader of China

Lexical competitions and Russian armament

The big news in the first week of March came from Moscow. World media highlighted the unique types of nuclear missile and laser weapons, about which our President Vladimir Putin spoke in his address to the Federal Assembly, demonstrating the presence of modern technological capabilities of Russia. At the same time, the presence of new weapons in Russia does not violate international treaties, in particular those concluded between Washington and Moscow on nuclear arms restrictions. Along with that, it is a manifestation of our success in the development of technologies and fundamental scientific achievements.

Curiously, now they are choosing names for these weapons. For example, there are no specific names for two types of strategic weapons of Russia — a cruise missile of global range and an unmanned underwater vehicle. The military called the missile flying at hypersonic speeds Kinzhal ('dagger' in translation from Russian – editor's note). The other type of strategic weapon has already been called Avangard. The linguistic competitions continue.

''World media highlighted the unique types of nuclear missile and laser weapons, about which our President Vladimir Putin spoke in his address to the Federal Assembly.'' Photo: kremlin.ru

As noted by deputy editor-in-chief of Nezavisimaya Gazeta Andrey Vaganov, perhaps, the new combat laser system should have been called Crimea to make it clear to Western countries that Crimea is part of Russia, and at the same time, it will be protected by the latest weapons in case of threats.

We live in an age when a third of the key words used in the Russian language comes from English. We need to integrate Russian words, the image of our technologies into the minds and vocabulary of Americans, if possible.

Trump's duties on metal

US President Donald Trump has recently made the proposals to protect the US market from an influx of various large goods. We are talking about significant duties on import of ferrous and non-ferrous metals to the United States: on steel — 25%, aluminium — 10%, which will hit the exporters of metals.

This statement has stirred up almost all the leading countries of the world — the European Union, the East (China, Japan and South Korea supply steel and aluminum to the domestic markets of the United States, where the consumption of these goods is high). Some are considering to take reciprocal measures. Leading representatives of the EU, China and Canada have warned that they are not going to put up with the behaviour of Washington. They have warned: the alleged measures of the White House will be met by a reciprocal response.

''Justin Trudeau noted that such Trump's proposals will hit the Canadian economy, which will damage the bilateral relations in the long term.'' Photo: frontnews.eu

One of the leaders of China Iron and Steel Association called the US initiative stupid, noting that the winner will be a narrow circle of American companies. Trump's decision will not benefit anyone but a few American steel-producing companies, he said.

The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, made a rather interesting statement. According to him, such a measure will hit the Canadian economy, which will damage the bilateral relations in the long term. Let us remind that 90% of Canadian steel is exported to the United States. The same statement was made by Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission. He said that the list of products that may fall under the restrictions of the European Union had also been prepared. It will be introduced the same import duties on American jeans, motorcycles.

The attempt of Trump, the US president and a big businessman, to manage the situation manually on these issues – it is quite a big challenge to the trade policy of all countries of the world.

The indefinite president of China

The parliamentary session — National People's Congress – started in Beijing last week. As reported by the world media, including Chinese one, the key point was the adoption of amendments to the Constitution that strengthen the leadership of the Communist Party (CPC) and, at the same time, abolish restrictions on tenure of president of the People's Republic of China. The last forty years it was limited to a decade (two terms of five years). Now this question is supposed to be removed.

''The key point was the adoption of amendments to the Constitution that strengthen the leadership of the Communist Party (CPC) and, at the same time, abolish restrictions on tenure of president of the People's Republic of China.'' Photo: Damir Sagolj / Reuters (russian.rt.com)

In this regard, the Chinese newspaper Global Times, which is published in English, reports that the amendments to the Constitution do not assume that the president of the PRC can rule until the end of his days. In Hong Kong, they add that the successful economic recovery, which is based on authoritarian system of government and called socialism with Chinese characteristics, is occurring at a time when Western democracies are being in retreat and autocracies are being on the rise.

The New York Times wonders: what distinguishes China from other countries with authoritarian regimes? For decades, these regimes have failed or proved unviable. But China flourished. The current China is not the China of the 50-60s of the period of Mao Zedong. Now it is the second world economy, which can become the first in 10 years with a completely different information environment.

These unprecedented challenges should be taken into account by the United States as well. Some American publications (in particular CNN, which Trump criticizes for fake news) say that Trump reacted in a peculiar way to the message about a lifetime presidency of Xi Jinping. He supposedly said, ''Maybe we'll give that a shot some day.''

Anyway, the press is closely watching what is happening in Moscow, Washington and Beijing.