Israel and Ukraine fighting proxy wars for the West UK Tory leader
Israel's military operation against Hamas is a "proxy war" being waged on behalf of the UK, British Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed.
In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, Badenoch commented on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent claim that the UK, France, and Canada are on "the wrong side of humanity" for trying to pressure his country to end its campaign in the Palestinian enclave.
She dismissed the widely held belief that Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide, arguing that the brutal military campaign, initially against Hamas, that has killed at least 60,000 Palestinians, is both justified and serves the interests of the UK.
"Who funds Hamas? Iran - an enemy of this country. Israel is fighting a proxy war on behalf of the UK," Badenoch claimed.
The Ukraine conflict is similarly a proxy war against Russia, being waged on behalf of Western Europe, she added.
The Russian Embassy in London later reposted a clip of Badenoch's interview, saying the Conservative leader has "finally called a spade a spade."
"Ukraine is indeed fighting a proxy-war against Russia on behalf of Western interests. The illegitimate Kiev regime, created, financed and armed by the West, has been at it since 2014," the embassy wrote on Facebook.
Badenoch's own party was responsible for telling the Ukrainians to "keep fighting" when a potential peace settlement was on the verge of being signed in 2022, the statement noted. "The result has been an unmitigated disaster for Ukraine and its people, as well as an unprecedented security crisis in Europe."
READ MORE: Ukraine will have to pay for new Patriots WaPo
In March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a similar admission when he said the Ukraine conflict is in fact a "proxy war between nuclear powers - the United States, helping Ukraine - and Russia."
Moscow has repeatedly described the hostilities as a Western-led proxy war against Russia in which Ukrainians are being used as "cannon fodder."
Russian officials have argued that the US and other Western powers intentionally escalated tensions in the region by disregarding Russia's national security concerns over NATO expansion in Eastern Europe and Ukraine's potential admission into the military bloc.
Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is currently standing alone against the Collective West and is locked in an "existential war."
(RT.com)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
2 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Released Israeli-Argentinian hostage fights for brother still held by Hamas
KFAR SABA, Israel (AP) — As Israel has announced steps to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza, a former Israeli-Argentinian hostage knows first-hand what that could mean for captives of the Hamas militant group. Iair Horn, who spent a year and a half in captivity, said hostages could tell when more aid was available because they would receive more food. 'When there's less food, then there's also less for the hostages. When there's aid, there's a possibility you might get a cucumber,' said Horn, 46. Hamas militants kidnapped Horn from his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with 250 other people, during the group's cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023. He was released Feb. 15 after 498 days in captivity. For most of that time, he was held in an underground cell in a tunnel with several other hostages, including his younger brother Eitan Horn, 38. Since his release, Iair Horn has deferred his own recovery to fight for the release of his brother and the other 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, 20 of whom are still believed to be alive. Negotiations collapse again Hearing that negotiations between Israel and Hamas were once again frozen over the weekend was devastating for his family, Horn said. Since his release, he has made four trips to the U.S., where he has met with President Donald Trump and other American leaders to plead for the hostages. He wasn't sure what to make of a comment Thursday by Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, who said the U.S. would consider 'alternative options' after recalling its negotiating team from Qatar. 'I'm not a politician, and I'm not getting into those things because I don't understand them. What I understand is very simple: I want my brother back,' Horn said. 'My life is frozen right now. I live in a nightmare that every day they are kidnapping me anew,' he said. Horn, who is single, is currently living with family in Kfar Saba, a city near Tel Aviv. Previously, he worked a variety of jobs in Kibbutz Nir Oz, including in education, maintenance and the kitchen. He also ran the kibbutz pub. Every morning when he opens his eyes, he must think for a few moments to remember where he is, to remember he is no longer a hostage, Horn said. He's gained back some of the weight he lost in captivity, but his list of physical and psychological ailments is long. He does not know where he will live, what he will do in the future, or if he will go back to Nir Oz. The only thing he concentrates on is advocating for his brother's release. 'I never imagined that another half year would pass without seeing my little brother,' he said. Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 59,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The agency's count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The U.N. and other international organizations see the ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Brothers were held together Iair Horn is the oldest of three brothers who grew up in Argentina. He moved to Israel at age 20, followed by his middle brother, Amos. Eitan and their parents, long divorced, joined later. On Oct. 7, 2023, Eitan was visiting Iair at his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz when the sirens started, warning of incoming missiles. Soon they received text messages alerting them to the fact that militants had infiltrated the kibbutz. Militants entered Iair's home, where he was hiding in the reinforced safe room with Eitan. Iair attempted to hold the door shut until they began shooting through the door. Then he decided to surrender, worried they might use grenades or stronger weapons. Iair, who was immediately taken into Gaza, didn't know what had happened to his brother until around the 50th day of his captivity, when the militants placed the two brothers together, and Iair realized Eitan had also been kidnapped. Being together, even in their small, barred room, was a stroke of luck, Iair said. 'There's a lot of time with nothing to do, and we talked a lot about our childhoods, about elementary school, about the youth movement, about soccer,' he said. 'We tried to keep our sense of humor. He would ask me, did you brush your teeth? And I'd ask him, did you wash your bellybutton?' 'It was silly things, silly things between siblings that I don't have right now. Many times it happens now that something happens to me on the street that I have to tell him. And I can't, and I'm so sorry,' he said, starting to cry. Captors tell hostages that two will be released For most of the time, the Horn brothers were held with three other hostages. In early February, their captors came to the group of five and said that two would be released. 'For four days, we're looking at each other and wondering if we can decide or influence the decision,' he said. After four days, the captors arrived with a small plate of snacks and a video camera. They announced that Iair and another hostage would be leaving and filmed the emotional interaction between Iair and Eitan. Hamas later released the video on its social media channels, as it has with other videos of the hostages filmed under duress. Their last night together, Eitan and Iair laid side by side in silence. 'There was no conversation because in your head you don't want to have a conversation as if it's your last conversation,' Iair Horn said. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. When their mother, Ruty Chmiel Strum, learned that Iair was coming out but not Eitan, she said to anyone who would listen, 'Why are you doing this to my sons? They are together and you're separating them?' No one gave her an answer, but Strum clung to hope that Eitan would be released soon. Now she mostly ignores news about the negotiations, tuning out the information to protect herself. She said she raised her three boys 'as a single body,' and their support for each other is unshakable. She clasps Iair's hand as they sit together on the couch in her home and looks forward to the day Eitan returns. 'I will feel the hug of my three sons, enjoying life, each supporting each other,' she said. 'It will happen.'
Winnipeg Free Press
32 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Can his golf course ‘further' US-UK relations? Trump will use meeting with prime minister to try
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — President Donald Trump once suggested his golf course in Scotland 'furthers' the U.S.-U.K. relationship. Now he's getting the chance to prove it. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Monday with Trump at a golf property owned by the president's family near Turnberry in southwestern Scotland — then later traveling to Abderdeen, on the country's northeast coast, where there's another Trump golf course and a third is opening soon. During his first term in 2019, Trump posted of his Turnberry property, 'Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!' Starmer is not a golfer, but toggling between Trump's Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the president puts on properties bearing his name — and on golf's ability to shape geopolitics. While China initially responded to Trump's tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on U.S. goods but has since begun negotiating easing trade tensions, Starmer and his country have taken a far softer approach. He's gone out of his way to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House, and teaming up to announce a joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in May. Starmer and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit in Canada that freed the U.K.'s aerospace sector from U.S. tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25% to 10% while increasing the amount of U.S. beef it pledged to import. The prime minister's office says Monday's meeting will also touch on Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, and that it hopes to welcome the Trump administration working with officials in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire. Starmer plans to stress the urgent need to cease the fighting and work to end starvation and other suffering occurring amid increasingly desperate circumstances in Gaza. Also on the agenda, according to Starmer's office, are efforts to promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine — particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in the next 50 days. Protesters, meanwhile, have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump's existing course, after demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to decry the president's visit. Discussions with Starmer follow Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They announced a trade framework that will put 15% tariffs on most goods from both countries — though many major details remain pending. On Tuesday, Trump will be at the site of his new course near Aberdeen for an official ribbon cutting. It opens to the public on Aug. 13 and tee times are already for sale — with the course betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales. There are still lingering U.S.-Britain trade issues that need fine-tuning after the previous agreements, including the tariff rates Washington imposes on steel imported from the U.K. Even as some trade details linger and both leaders grapple with increasingly difficult choices in Gaza and Ukraine, however, Starmer's attempts to stay on Trump's good side appears to be working. 'The U.K. is very well-protected. You know why? Because I like them — that's their ultimate protection,' Trump said during the G7. Also likely to improve Trump's mood is the fact that the U.S. ran an $11.4 billion trade surplus with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the U.K. than it imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could grow. The president has for months railed against yawning U.S. trade deficits with key allies and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in hurry. Trump is set to return to Britain in September for an unprecedented second state visit. Trump will be hosted then by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.
Canada News.Net
2 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Columbia agrees to pay $220 million to US administration over protests
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Columbia University has agreed to pay more than US$220 million to the U.S. government to regain federal research funding that had been cut earlier this year. The Trump administration had canceled the funding due to what it said was the university's failure to adequately address antisemitism on campus, especially during student protests linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict. The settlement includes two parts: $200 million will be paid over the next three years as a general settlement. $21 million will go to resolve claims that Jewish employees faced discrimination after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. Claire Shipman, Columbia's acting president, said the agreement helps the university move forward after months of federal pressure and uncertainty. Earlier this year, the government had already canceled over $400 million in grants and had threatened to take away more federal money. To restore its funding, Columbia agreed to make significant changes, including: Revising its student discipline process. Applying a federal definition of antisemitism in both classroom teaching and student investigations. Reviewing its Middle East studies to ensure they are balanced. Hiring new faculty for its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. Ending any programs that aim for race-based goals, quotas, or "unlawful" diversity targets. Reporting to a federal monitor to prove its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs don't break the law. Although Columbia did not admit to any wrongdoing, it agreed to these changes as part of the settlement. Shipman said the university's independence would be maintained despite the reforms. Education Secretary Linda McMahon praised the deal, calling it a significant turning point in how universities that accept federal money are held accountable. She added that Columbia's changes could be a model for other elite colleges that want to show they support fairness and open debate. President Trump also commented, saying Columbia had agreed to stop "ridiculous DEI policies" and to admit students based only on merit. He warned that other colleges may soon face similar action if they misused federal funds or failed to protect student rights. Columbia's agreement follows months of controversy. The university became one of the first targets of the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests and rising campus tensions. Some Jewish students said they faced insults, social exclusion, and embarrassment in class during the demonstrations. However, other Jewish students joined the protests, saying they were criticizing Israel's policies — not Judaism or Jews. The university has had three interim presidents in the past year. Its leadership admits the campus atmosphere must change. As part of the deal, Columbia will now ask international applicants why they want to study in the U.S. and will promote respectful discussion on campus. Columbia also agreed to share information with the government — if asked — about foreign students on visas who are suspended or expelled due to protests. This could make it easier for the Trump administration to deport certain student activists. Just a day before the deal was announced, Columbia said it would expel, suspend, or revoke degrees from more than 70 students who joined a pro-Palestinian protest inside the main library and a previous demonstration held during alumni weekend. The government pressure began with cuts in funding. A former student protester, Mahmoud Khalil, became the first non-citizen arrested as part of Trump's push to deport pro-Palestinian activists. Later, the Justice Department searched dorm rooms to see if the university was hiding people in the country illegally. Columbia responded that it would follow the law. Columbia was the first significant test case in Trump's efforts to reshape higher education, but attention later shifted to Harvard, which decided to challenge the administration in court. Trump's administration has used federal funding to force colleges to change. So far, over $2 billion has been withheld from top schools including Cornell, Brown, Northwestern, and Princeton. In one case, the University of Pennsylvania lost $175 million over a dispute involving transgender athlete Lia Thomas, which was returned after the school changed its policies. The administration is also pressuring public universities. The University of Virginia president resigned in June after a federal probe into DEI practices, and a similar investigation just began at George Mason University. This settlement at Columbia marks a turning point in how federal money is used to shape what happens on U.S. college campuses.
