"This year’s joint statement -- released after Xi chaired a round table with participating leaders -- repeatedly called for “high-quality” projects and standards. The 2017 communique didn’t use the phrase. The document also encouraged developed nations to invest in “connectivity projects” in developing countries, and said cooperation “will be open, green and clean.” “'International lenders will not invest in a project that has not been de-risked or is not financially viable,' said Daniel Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy [...]

"'There’s a certain amount of domestic dismay and criticism of Abe for what is perceived in many quarters in Japan as shameless pandering to Donald Trump,' said Daniel Russel, who served as assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific in the Obama administration. 'I’ve certainly heard that from [legislative] Diet members in Abe’s own party. But my suspicion is that Abe feels justified based on the principle of, ‘whatever it takes’ — that Japan does not have the [...]

"Determining the motivations behind extremist acts can be challenging, experts say, and extremists are generally vague about their reasoning. 'Terrorist organizations are often opportunistic in the way that they claim justification or rationalization for their attacks,' Nicholas Rasmussen, a former senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council, told my colleagues this week..." Read the full article here: Full Article

Washington, DC – WestExec Advisors, a Washington, DC-based global strategic advisory firm, is pleased to welcome Ambassador Dennis Ross to the team.

“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize.” It is hard to imagine anyone other than Mr. Trump expressing that sentiment. But the quote is from his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, citing Mr. Trump’s work to engineer talks between the two Koreas and the tantalizing prospect of a long-sought peace and denuclearization on the peninsula.