Protesters rally to demand closure of U.S. air base in Germany

Protesters from Germany, Austria, and France rallied in the southwestern German city of Kaiserslautern on Saturday, demanding the closure of the Ramstein Air Base of the U.S. Air Force nearby, and urging Western countries to pursue peaceful solutions to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Later in the day, nearly 1,000 protesters gathered at the downtown area of Kaiserslautern. Delivering speeches and singing peaceful songs, the protesters condemned the moves of the U.S. and other Western powers to escalate the war and impact regional stability and peace.

They said that since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine started in February 2022, the United States has been gradually upgrading its military support for Ukraine, leading to a prolonged and intensified situation. Besides, the protesters charged that the U.S. has been stirring up regional tensions in recent years, causing significant harm to European countries.

They called on all parties involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict to engage in negotiations and resolve the crisis by diplomatic means.

"The permission that NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance) states are giving Ukraine to attack Russian targets in Russia with NATO weapons, with weapons delivered from Germany, from the U.S., from NATO states. This permission is an escalation of this war. This is not an escalation that is coming from Russia, but it is an escalation that is coming from the West, from Western countries," said Mona Aranea, a protester.

"Major powers and the warring parties must now sit at the negotiating table and resolve this conflict through diplomacy. We have many diplomats in Europe, but they are not communicating with each other, which is a dangerous situation. [If this conflict is not resolved through negotiations,] it will continue to escalate and will not stop," said Pascal Luig, another protester.

Built in 1951, the Ramstein Air Base, located in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, is NATO's largest air base in Europe, and also, the base of the U.S. Air Force in Europe. Led by the U.S., the base plays a critical role in relaying all drone signals for the United States. From 2009 to 2015, the U.S. launched 473 attacks outside war zones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, mainly drone attacks, causing a great number of civilian deaths.

Protesters rally to demand closure of U.S. air base in Germany

Protesters rally to demand closure of U.S. air base in Germany

The agreement between the U.S. and China to mutually reduce additional tariffs has encouraged Brazil to defend its sovereignty and negotiate for reasonable tariffs, said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during his recent state visit to China.

Following a two-day high-level meeting on economic and trade affairs in Geneva, China and the United States announced Monday a series of tariff modification measures aimed at easing trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.

During a press conference on Wednesday in Beijing, Lula voiced his appreciation of the U.S.-China tariff cut, and vowed to pursue reasonable tariffs with the U.S. through negotiation and other means.

"Since the 1980s, globalization has been a keyword, and so is free trade. Suddenly some people believe they have the authority to impose taxes on everyone and everything without consent as if they control the world. However, the reality is that the world is not obligated to accept such actions," said Lula.

"Recently, we've seen a positive shift. The U.S. and China have reached an agreement, resulting in lighter taxes than before. This demonstrates the importance of defending our sovereignty. Brazilian officials know that we hope to negotiate with the U.S., and I urged them to utilize every term in our vocabulary related to 'negotiation'. But if we cannot reach an agreement, we will take reciprocal measures or appeal to the WTO to advocate for our rights. In this way, we will help create a more balanced world and ensure fairer trade among all nations," he said.

Lula paid a state visit to China on May 10-14 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Brazil encouraged by US-China tariff cut to seek fair tariff negotiations: president