Some blacks feel fatigued after barrage of racial incidents

Nine people who had gathered to pray in one of the main sanctuaries of black life — the church — were slain.

This, following a string of black men killed after coming into contact with police officers in cities across America and racist actions on campuses. Even though African-Americans are long accustomed to dealing with difficulty where their race is concerned, the confluence of events appeared to be taking a toll.

"We really are a people who are suffering from racial battle fatigue," political essayist and commentator Chauncey DeVega said Thursday.

Authorities say Dylann Storm Roof sat with members of Emanuel for an hour during Bible study Wednesday night before gunning them down. The Charleston police chief wouldn't discuss a motive, but a friend of the 21-year-old white man told The Associated Press that Roof had complained about black people "taking over the world."

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the first black woman to serve as the nation's top prosecutor, opened a hate crimes investigation.

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Jackie Pillow wipes a tear from her eye during a vigil to mourn the lives lost at the shooting in Ch …

The Rev. Anthony Evans of the National Black Church Initiative said he planned to travel to Charleston to help churches learn to defend themselves. He said the attack evoked "a point of deep moral frustration that cannot be explained."

"At the same time, they want individuals such as myself as clergy to preach peace and coming together," he said. "They only want us to not let the people get out of hand, and I'm not willing to stand in front of that angry crowd anymore and tell them that their anger is the wrong emotion to feel."

President Barack Obama, too, sounded weary.

"I've had to make statements like this too many times," the nation's first black president said Thursday. "Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times."

The Charleston slayings followed nearly a year of heightened racial tensions that began with the death of Michael Brown, 18, who was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. It flared up in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, in Cleveland after the death of Tamir Rice, in Staten Island, New York, after the death of Eric Garner.

Threats came, too, on U.S. campuses. At Duke University, a noose was found hanging from a tree. Spray-painted swastikas and nooses were found at dorms on the State University of New York's Purchase campus. Just Thursday, a man pleaded guilty in federal court to threatening African-American students and employees at the University of Mississippi by helping place a rope around the neck of the statue of James Meredith, the school's first African-American student.

Those events unfolded against a backdrop of above-average black unemployment, crime-stricken communities, criticism of the state of the black family, black culture and education, and even debate over the meaning of blackness itself. In the days before the Charleston shooting, the nation had been riveted by the saga of Rachel Dolezal, who resigned as head of the NAACP's Spokane, Washington, chapter after her parents outed her as a white woman pretending to be black.

To Marc Morial, the president of the National Urban League, the Charleston attack serves as yet another reminder that there's "racial tension, racial conflict and, in some places, racial hatred in this nation."

"It just underscores the fact that we have a lot of work to do," Morial said.

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Jesse J. Holland covers race, ethnicity and demographics for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jessejholland.

Russia says willing to consider loans to Greece, as countries' leaders prepare to meet

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- Russia is willing to consider giving financial aid to Greece, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said Friday ahead of talks between the leaders of the two countries.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras traveled to Russia as his country struggles to reach a deal with its creditors for new loans it needs to avoid defaulting on debt payments at the end of the month. Without the bailout, Greece could be headed for bankruptcy or an exit from the euro.

Tsipras's visit has given rise to speculation that the Greeks may be seeking Russian loans.

"If the Greeks ask for a loan then we will consider it, but they have not yet asked," Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told The Associated Press. "We would do this because they are our partners and this is a normal practice between countries who are partners."

The talks between Putin and Tsipras began after both men addressed investors and Russian government officials at Russia's biggest annual economic forum.

Putin made no mention of Greece's predicament in his remarks, while Tsipras said his country strove to be a "bridge of cooperation" with "traditional friends like Russia" and others.

"As you all know, we are now in the middle of a great storm," the Greek leader said. "But we are a seafaring nation that knows how to navigate through storms and is not afraid of heading to new seas and reaching new harbors."

Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich also said Russia would consider a loan.

"The most important things for us are investment projects and trade with Greece. If financial support is needed, we will consider this question," he said in an interview on RT television, the Tass news agency reported.

On the sidelines of the investment forum, Russia and Greece signed a deal Friday to build an extension of a prospective gas pipeline that would carry Russian gas to Europe through Turkey.

Russia promised Greece hundreds of millions of dollars in transit payments yearly if it agreed to build the pipeline. Construction of the pipeline is expected to start next year and be completed in 2019.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Russia and Greece would be equal partners in the project, with Russia's half owned by the state bank VEB.

Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said during a forum session that Russia has no plans to buy Greek bonds, but is ready support the Greek economy by stimulating investment by Russian companies. He pointed to the gas pipeline as an example.

Tsipras started his day by speaking to Russians of Greek ancestry at a memorial to Ioannis Kapodistrias, the founder of the modern Greek state who lived and worked in Russia as a Greek envoy from 1809 to 1822.

"We are starting a new era in Greek-Russian relations and we consider you who live here to be playing a very important part in this effort," Tsipras said. "Greece has been waging a brave fight in these past few weeks and months. You are well aware of these types of difficulties and you are now standing on your feet. This is the key characteristic of the Greek people, to be able to overcome difficulties when right is on their side. The effort is one made not by the government but by the entire Greek people."

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Berry reported from Moscow. Kate dePury in St. Petersburg and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed reporting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (RIA Novosti / Alexey Danichev)

Moscow will take reciprocal action in response to the seizure of its foreign assets, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned.

“Our response would be in kind. This is inevitable. This is the only way of acting in international affairs,” he told RBK-TV in an intervew.

READ MORE: Moscow summons Belgian envoy over seizure of state assets, threatens retaliation

Lavrov was commenting on the seizure in Belgium and France of Russian state-owned assets. The arrest were made on request of beneficiaries of the now-defunct oil giant Yukos, who were awarded damages from Russia by an arbitration court in The Hague. Russia is in the process of challenging the ruling.

Read moreFrance freezes Russian state assets, Moscow plans to appeal

The minister added that his priority in this situation now is to unfreeze the accounts of the Russian Embassy in Belgium.

The freezing of diplomats' accounts “absolutely goes against the Vienna accords on foreign relations that guarantee the immunity of diplomatic assets, real estate and corresponding things. Belgian foreign ministry officials are indicating to us that they were not aware of it,” Lavrov said. “We don't accept these explanations.”

The threat of seizure of Russian assets in Europe came to light as the country hosts an international business forum in St. Peterburg. The attack may have been timed to coincide with the high-profile event, Lavrov said.

Lavrov's comments came a day after Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave his initial reaction to the asset freeze. Then, Peskov said he did not think the timing of the seizure was linked to the 2015 St Petersburg Economic Forum currently taking place.

(RT)

BEIJING (AP) — Often the target of U.S. human rights accusations, China wasted little time returning such charges following the shooting at a historic black church in South Carolina that left nine people dead. Elsewhere around the world, the attack renewed perceptions that Americans have too many guns and have yet to overcome racial tensions.

Some said the attack reinforced their reservations about personal security in the U.S. — particularly as a non-white foreigner — while others said they'd still feel safe if they were to visit.

Especially in Australia and northeast Asia, where firearms are strictly controlled and gun violence almost unheard of, many were baffled by the determination among many Americans to own guns despite repeated mass shootings, such as the 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults.

"We don't understand America's need for guns," said Philip Alpers, director of the University of Sydney's GunPolicy.org project that compares gun laws across the world. "It is very puzzling for non-Americans."

A frontier nation like the U.S., Australia had a similar attitude toward firearms prior to a 1996 mass shooting that killed 35. Soon after, tight restrictions on gun ownership were imposed and no such incidents have been reported since.

A similar effect has been seen elsewhere.

"The USA is completely out of step with the rest of the world. We've tightened our gun laws and have seen a reduction," said Claire Taylor, the director of media and public relations at Gun Free South Africa.

Ahmad Syafi'i Maarif, a prominent Indonesian intellectual and former leader of Muhammadiyah, one of the country's largest Muslim organizations, said the church shooting shocked many.

"People all over the world believed that racism had gone from the U.S. when Barack Obama was elected to lead the superpower, twice," he said. "But the Charleston shooting has reminded us that in fact, the seeds of racism still remain and were embedded in the hearts of small communities there, and can explode at any time, like a terrorist act by an individual."

A 21-year-old white man, Dylann Storm Roof, now faces nine counts of murder for the South Carolina shooting. An acquaintance said Roof had complained that "blacks were taking over the world."

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Police lead suspected shooter Dylann Roof, 21, into the courthouse in Shelby, North Carolina, June 1 …

Many places around the world struggle with racism and prejudice against outsiders, but mass shootings in the U.S., where the Constitution's second amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms, often receive widespread global attention.

"Guns are in their constitution," said Joanna Leung, a 34-year-old Toronto resident. "I'm pretty sure no one else has anything similar. I never understand why they think gun violence is going to solve anything."

In Britain, the attack reinforced the view that America has too many guns and too many racists. The front-page headline of The Independent newspaper said simply, "America's shame."

The newspaper said in an editorial that America seems to have moved backward in racial relations since Obama's election, and that the "obscene proliferation of guns only magnifies tragedies" like the church shooting.

The leftist Mexico City newspaper La Jornada said the U.S. has become a "structurally violent state" where force is frequently used domestically and internationally to resolve differences.

"In this context, the unchecked and even paranoid citizen armament is no coincidence: Such a phenomenon reflects the feeling of extensive sectors about the supposed legitimacy of violent methods," it said.

In China, the official Xinhua News Agency said the violence in South Carolina "mirrors the U.S. government's inaction on rampant gun violence as well as the growing racial hatred in the country."

"Unless U.S. President Barack Obama's government really reflects on his country's deep-rooted issues like racial discrimination and social inequality and takes concrete actions on gun control, such tragedy will hardly be prevented from happening again," Xinhua said in an editorial.

On China's Twitter-like Weibo microblogging service, some users compared the United States to lawless Somalia and said racial discrimination was fueling violence and high crime rates. Many reflected the official view that gun ownership and violent crime are byproducts of Western-style democratic freedoms that are not only unsuited to China but potentially disastrous.

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Women comfort each other as they mourn in front of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church af …

Recalling the recent killings of Chinese and other foreign students in the U.S., office worker Xie Yan said he was still eager to visit the U.S., but would be "extremely careful" there.

Xie said he had heard much about racism in the U.S., but was uncertain about the underlying dynamics.

"We tend to see the U.S. as a violent place, but I don't think we understand a lot about racism there. Chinese are free to study, visit and live there so it doesn't feel like we're discriminated against," Xu said while waiting for a train on Beijing's busy subway line 1.

Like Australia, China has had its problems with racial and ethnic discrimination. China is overwhelmingly dominated by one ethnic group, the Han, and activists decry the lack of awareness about discrimination in jobs and housing faced by minorities such as Tibetans and Turkic Muslim Uighurs from the northwest.

Chinese police have been accused of heavy-handed tactics against those labeled separatists or terrorists, although such measures appear to be supported by most Chinese.

In Japan, discrimination tends to be based less on skin color than on national origin, resulting in biases against Chinese and Koreans, said Hiroko Takimoto, 41, a patent attorney in Tokyo.

Racially motivated killings are "simply something Japanese as a people cannot understand," she said.

Yukari Kato, vice president of the company Ryugaku Journal that assists Japanese students on overseas programs, including about 2,000 in the U.S., said violence there was nothing new and most of the country remained perfectly safe.

"It's no different from Japan. There are places where you can become a victim of crime. You just have to be prepared to defend yourself," she said.

However, Yuka Christine Koshino, 21, a political science student at Tokyo's Keio University, said she was devastated by the shootings, particularly after having participated in racism awareness campaigns while studying at the University of California, Berkeley. Those interactions had given her hope that the situation was improving. The shootings "shocked me," said Koshino.

Chairman of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates Max de Mesa shared the sentiment of civil rights activists in South Carolina who pointed out that the Confederate battle flag, the symbol of the pro-slavery South during the Civil War, continued to fly over the state even as it mourned.

"Some of the (old) structures and some of the attitudes remain and they were even nurtured, at least that is being shown now," de Mesa said.

"That would be no different from a suicide bomber," he said. "For a jihadist, 'I will be with Allah if I do that.' The other says, 'I am proving white supremacy here.'"

Indonesian intellectual Syafi'i Maarif said he hoped the incident would help Americans stop equating terrorism with Islam.

"Terrorism and radicalism can appear in every strata of society under various guises and in the name of ethnicity, religion and race," he said.

One week ago, we were stunned to learn just how low the political organization that is the mostly US-taxpayer funded IMF has stooped when, a day after its negotiators demonstratively stormed out of the Greek negotiations with "creditors", Hermes' ambassador-at-large Christone Lagarde said that the IMF "could lend to Ukraine even if Ukraine determines it cannot service its debt."

In other words, as Greece struggles to avoid a default to the IMF on debt which was incurred just so German banks can remain solvent and dump trillions in non-performing loans to US hedge funds and Greek exposure, and which would result in the collapse in the living standards of an entire nation (only for a few years before an Iceland-recovery takes place, one which Greece would already be enjoying had it defaulted in 2010 as we said it should), and as the "criminal" IMF does everything in its power to subjugate an entire nation, or else let it founder, the IMF told Soros' BFFs over in Kiev, that no matter if they default to its private creditors (in fact please do since Russia is among them), the IMF would keep the debt spigot flowing.

Courtesy of the US taxpayer of course.

Fast forward one week when, with Greece one step closer to a full-blown financial collapse, the IMF comes out and tell Ukraine - which already passed a law allowing it to impose a debt moratorium at any moment - not to worry, that even in a default it will keep providing unlimited funds. From Reuters:

Ukraine's efforts to strike a debt restructuring deal with its creditors will allow the International Monetary Fund to continue to support the country even if the talks are not successful, the head of the IMF said on Friday.

"I ... welcome the government's continued efforts to reach a collaborative agreement with all creditors," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement. "This is important since this means that the Fund will be able to continue to support Ukraine through its Lending-into-Arrears Policy even in the event that a negotiated agreement with creditors in line with the program cannot be reached in a timely manner."

We will pass comment on this latest grand IMF hypocrisy and ask if Greece would rather be in Kiev's place which at the behest of "Western" leaders, it sold, liquidated, and otherwise "lost" all of its gold. Or, like Ukraine, Athens is willing to part with its $4 billion in gold just to appease the Troika as it sells all of its 112.5 tons of official gold to unknown buyers. A transaction which would buy Greece about 3-6 months of can kicking and a few stray smiles from Chrstine Lagarde.

(ZERO HEDGE)