Netanyahu to visit White House amid Gaza ceasefire talks
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Spectator
22 minutes ago
- Spectator
Europe must prepare to support Ukraine without America
It is unquestionably the case that people who should have known better were blinded by the Capri-Sun King's glare when they reassured us that Donald Trump would not abandon Ukraine, that a second Trump administration would not really cut off military aid to Kyiv or effectively offer a free pass to Vladimir Putin. Yet that is what is happening. Last week the US Department of Defense halted a planned delivery of air defence missiles and precision munitions to Ukraine, the third time this year that such a stoppage has been put in place. The weaponry was part of a supply programme agreed under President Biden, but was halted as the Pentagon undertakes a 'capability review' to assess stockpiles currently held by the United States. A spokesman explained: We can't give weapons to everybody all around the world. Part of our job is to give the President a framework that he can use to evaluate how many munitions we have and where we're sending them. And that review process is happening right now and is ongoing. However, the motivation behind the sudden decision, reportedly taken personally by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and without coordination or consultation either within the administration or with Congress, is suspect. Democrat Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said his staff had 'seen the numbers' and 'we are not at any lower point, stockpile-wise, than we've been in the three-and-a-half years of the Ukraine conflict'. President Trump has made no secret of his attitude towards Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky or his scepticism of their cause. It is no surprise that a partisan as zealously loyal and conceptually unfit for office as Hegseth should mirror the commander-in-chief's instincts. For Ukraine, and for European security, this is serious. It is no coincidence that at the end of last week Russia launched its biggest air strikes on Kyiv since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, using more than 500 drones. Ukraine is believed to be running dangerously low on stocks of interceptor missiles for its US-supplied MIM-104 Patriot air defence systems, which made up part of the anticipated deliveries, as did FIM-92 Stinger man-portable surface-to-air missiles. There are reports that Ukrainian forces were reduced to using machine guns to try to bring down drones in the recent air strikes. It must now be clear to any observer – as it is certainly clear to a gleeful Kremlin – that the United States is not a reliable ally to Ukraine, unpredictable even in its reliability (some of the munitions to be transferred last week had already been loaded onto lorries in Poland before their delivery was stopped by the Pentagon). What is the solution? How do Ukraine's allies in Europe respond? Germany has already sent three of its own Patriot batteries to Ukraine, but last week it emerged that Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also discussed purchasing further missiles from the United States and sending them on to Ukraine. Merz and his SPD defence minister, Boris Pistorius, are keen for Germany to take a stronger leadership role on Ukraine. Major General Christian Freuding, who oversees the Special Staff for Ukraine at the Federal Defence Ministry in Berlin, noted that Nato's European members plus Canada had exceeded the estimated $20 billion (£14.7 billion) of military assistance from Washington last year. 'If the political will is there, then the means will also be there to largely compensate for the American support,' Freuding added. There are two parts to assistance to Ukraine. The first is the obvious support for defensive measures like Patriot missiles to protect the country from Russian air strikes. Germany's apparent intentions are welcome in that regard, and will make a real difference so long as President Trump does not also prove reluctant to countenance even the sale of weapons to third parties for shipment to Ukraine. The second part has to be assisting Ukraine in more active measures against Russia. If Ukrainian forces can take the fight to Russian bases and installations, and particularly if they can force Russia to pull forces further back from the border for safety, they will make themselves all the safer. We saw last November the effect that long-range strikes could have when the United States finally agreed to remove restrictions on the use of MGM-140 ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles and the UK followed suit on Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Olaf Scholz had vetoed the supply of Taurus long-range missiles when chancellor of Germany. Merz has shifted Berlin's position, saying such a supply is 'within the realms of possibility' and agreeing a deal to help manufacture new precision strike weapons in Ukraine. America has been the biggest bilateral donor to Ukraine but it is not irreplaceable. If supplies from the United States are beginning to falter, however, European nations need to act quickly and decisively. Germany is doing so, and the UK, especially after lifting restrictions on Storm Shadow, has been generally reliable. We should not see assistance to Ukraine as separate from each country's national security: the threat from Russia is here, now, and it is being unleashed on the cities and armies of Ukraine. The West cannot and should not wait to respond.
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Tuesday briefing: Is a ceasefire in Gaza on the table as Netanyahu and Trump meet in Washington?
Good morning. The war in Gaza – which began with the horror of the Hamas slaughter and kidnapping of innocent Israelis on 7 October 2023, and has brought unimaginable death and destruction to the civilian population of Gaza almost every day since – has entered its 21st month. So far every attempt to end the conflict has failed. But the the fraying patience of the US president, Donald Trump, who has promised to deliver peace to Gaza, has seen Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatch a team of negotiators to Qatar for indirect talks with Hamas, with the Israeli leader expected to come under pressure on this week's trip to Washington DC to agree to a ceasefire. Yet despite Trump's desire to end the war, and Israel and Hamas making positive noises about the prospect of a ceasefire, the two sides are still far apart on a number of crucial negotiating points. Last night, just hours before Netanyahu told Trump at a White House dinner that he had nominated him for the Nobel peace prize, Israel laid out its vision for a post-war Gaza with a plan that would force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah, in a scheme that legal experts described as 'a blueprint for crimes against humanity'. For today's newsletter, I talked to the Guardian's Middle East correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison about the prospects for peace, and what is at stake for everyone involved. First, the headlines. Immigration | Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are expected to announce plans for French police to do more to block small boats crossing the Channel at a summit in London this week, but a wider deal on returning asylum seekers is still up in the air. Iran | The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said in an interview released on Monday that Israel, which last month fought a 12-day war with Iran, had attempted to assassinate him by bombarding an area in which he was holding a meeting. Poverty | Children in England are living in 'almost Dickensian levels of poverty' where deprivation has become normalised, the children's commissioner has said, as she insisted the two-child benefit limit must be scrapped. Environment | Millions of tonnes of treated sewage sludge is spread on farmland across the UK every year despite containing forever chemicals, microplastics and toxic waste. An investigation by the Guardian and Watershed has identified England's sludge-spreading hotspots and shown where the practice could be damaging rivers. US news | The Texas senator Ted Cruz ensured the Republican spending bill slashed funding for weather forecasting, only to then go on vacation to Greece while his state was hit by deadly flooding – a disaster that critics say was worsened by cuts to meteorology. A few hours before Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump met yesterday, the latest rounds of indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in Doha ended without a breakthrough. Despite this, Trump insisted at a dinner with Netanyahu last night that negotiations were 'going along very well'. If a new ceasefire is agreed and does come into effect, it will be the third during a war that has claimed the lives of at least 57,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians. The first ceasefire – in November 2023 – lasted just 10 days. The second, in February and March this year, collapsed after Israel reneged on its promise to move to a second phase that could have seen a definitive end to the conflict. In the months since, a new Israeli offensive has claimed the lives of thousands more Palestinians. Extreme hunger is everywhere after an 11-week siege and ongoing tight blockade, with only minimal food and aid allowed in. What are the terms of this new proposed ceasefire? The details of this new deal include the staggered release of 10 living hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas, and the return of the bodies of 18 more, in exchange for a number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. There would also be more aid entering the area and a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from some parts of the Gaza Strip. Like the previous ceasefires, it will last for 60 days, with Trump and regional allies guaranteeing Hamas that Israel will engage in 'meaningful' talks to bring about a permanent end to the war. The deal would leave 22 hostages, 10 of them believed to be alive, still held in Gaza. How strong is Netanyahu's position with Trump? Emma Graham-Harrison said that, on paper, Donald Trump has most of the leverage, which he is using to push a reluctant Netanyahu to the negotiating table. Two weeks ago, the world watched as Trump publicly eviscerated Israel for breaking a tentative ceasefire with Iran. He had already forced the Israeli prime minister to turn around fighter jets on their way to Iran – a display of raw power over Israel's leader that Emma said is 'unprecedented'. Since Trump's F-word outburst, the two allies have once again appeared in lockstep, with the US going on to launch a bombing run in support of Israel against Iran's nuclear programme, handing Netanyahu a huge political boost. Trump has also backed Netanyahu on a number of other key political issues, calling for corruption charges facing the Israeli prime minister to be dropped and continuing to back his policy for distributing food to Palestinians in Gaza through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), despite hundreds of Palestinians being shot and killed while trying to reach the distribution points. 'Netanyahu has made sure that he appears to be taking Trump's demands for an end to the war seriously; for example sending a team of negotiators to the ceasefire talks in Doha,' said Emma. At last night's dinner, Trump was upbeat about the prospect of a ceasefire. When the US president was asked about Israel's reported plans to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a new 'humanitarian city' built on the ruins of Rafah, Trump directed Netanyahu to answer the question. In response Netanyahu said he was working with the US on finding countries that will 'give Palestinians a better future'. Does Netanyahu really want to end the war? While Netanyahu is aware he needs to appease Trump's desire to present himself as a peacemaker by announcing a ceasefire, Emma said that Netanyahu's critics say he has multiple, compelling reasons not to want a lasting end to the war. He is still very much beholden to far-right parties within his coalition government who are vehemently opposed to a ceasefire. National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich have both threatened to leave the government if Netanyahu ends the war. 'There are very powerful voices in the Israeli government who are openly on a messianic mission to ethnically cleanse Gaza ,' said Emma. There is also the separate issue of that corruption trial which, even with Trump's support, he may not be able to avoid if he loses political office. A third reason Netanyahu might want to keep the war going, Emma said, is that it allows him to delay any official examination of how the 7 October attacks happened on his watch. She thinks one possible option is that Netanyahu could attempt a 'political fudge', accepting a ceasefire and appearing to agree to Trump's plan that it should lead to a permanent end to the war, while telling allies at home that Israel can return to fighting once the 10 hostages are home. What about Hamas? The hostages held by Hamas are the group's only significant leverage in the talks, said Emma. Militarily, Hamas has been crippled by Israel's relentless assault and obliteration of its senior leadership, (although Emma pointed out that Hamas is far from eliminated as a fighting force. 'Agreeing to give up more hostages in a situation that doesn't seem to be concretely leading to a permanent end to the war is arguably not that attractive an option for them,' says Emma. 'I think their key aim now will be to end the war in a way that preserves some kind of power and influence in Gaza and trying to making sure that some elements of their organisation are still functioning.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion What if the talks fail? The Israeli offensive has reduced most of Gaza to ruins since 2023, displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population, destroyed its healthcare system and killed more than 57,000 people, burying thousands of others under the rubble. The total siege imposed for 11 weeks after the collapse of the last ceasefire has only partly been lifted to allow a small amount of food aid and medical supplies into the territory. Aid workers are saying that fuel stocks are close to running out, which would lead to the 'complete collapse' of humanitarian operations, the health system and communications. Amid all the discussions about the ceasefire, the voices of Palestinian people themselves have seldom been heard, so I want to end this newsletter with Lama, a 12-year Palestinian girl who was interviewed by our Gaza correspondent Malak A Tantesh about what is really at stake if peace is not achieved. 'I was so happy during the last ceasefire. We felt a bit safe. When the war returned, I cried a lot because it meant going back to the suffering of tents, the summer heat and repeated displacement,' Lama said. When asked about what she was afraid of if the ceasefire talks failed, she told Malak that she was scared of being 'torn apart, killed, paralysed or losing a limb'. If you weren't tuned in to Australia's extraordinary 'mushroom murders' trial, in which Erin Patterson was found guilty on Monday of deliberately poisoning three relatives, Nino Bucci has a startling breakdown of every twist and turn in the unbelievable tale. Charlie Lindlar, acting deputy editor, newsletters Hugh Muir looks back on Ken Livingstone's speech of defiance and unity that followed the 7/7 London terrorist attacks through the prism of our increasingly divisive politics 20 years on. Annie One often hears that we can't raise taxes on the super-rich or they'll leave the UK and take their money with them … but is it really true? Lauren Almeida digs into the data in this fascinating piece. Charlie Amid the tsunami of Oasis coverage, I loved this piece by Lauren Cochrane on how the band's fans are having a fashion moment and dusting off their bucket hats and parkas for the reunion tour. Annie A compelling piece in the Atlantic (£) from a former New York precinct police chief, Brandon del Pozo, who argues that as ICE agents 'rack up arrests on the road to 1 million deportations', the ghoulish practice of dressing in masks and refusing to identify themselves must end. Charlie Tennis | Jannik Sinner was fortunate to advance to the Wimbledon quarter-finals as Grigor Dimitrov was forced to retire through injury when leading by two sets. Novak Djokovic lost the first set in 30 minutes before recovering to beat Alex de Minaur 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and advance. Iga Świątek had a 6-4, 6-1 win over Clara Tauson to set up a quarter-final against 19th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova. The 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva beat Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-3 while Belinda Bencic reached her first Wimbledon quarter-final. Cycling | Tim Merlier took stage three of the Tour de France in Dunkirk after the peloton's top sprinter and points leader Jasper Philipsen crashed out of the race 60km from the finish. Cricket | Jofra Archer is poised to make his long-awaited comeback in the third Test against India this week, with Brendon McCullum, the England head coach, calling for Lord's to deliver a pitch that has pace, bounce and sideways movement. The Guardian is reporting this morning that 'Bosses face ban on non-disclosure deals that silence victims of abuse'. The i paper has '50,000 children will be lifted out of poverty due to rebellion on welfare reforms'. 'Trump grants three-week reprieve on return of 'reciprocal' trade tariffs' – that's the Financial Times while the Express takes aim at ''Hypocrisy' of Labour's homes plan'. The Telegraph heralds the French president's state visit with 'No borders between us, King to tell Macron'. 'Hand back our £771 million, Mr Macron' says the Daily Mail, tacking 's'il vous plait' on the end in mock courtesy. (A Tory says we've paid that money to France without it stopping the boats.) The Times sound more realistic with 'PM set to press Macron for 'one in, one out' deal'. 'Victims' fury as Epstein probe shut down' – by the 'Trump team', says the Mirror. Top story in the Metro today is 'Mushroom murderer targeted me four times'. Trump's big beautiful betrayal Ed Pilkington explains the president's 'Big Beautiful Bill' and what it will mean for millions of poorer Americans who voted for him last November. A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad Sometimes it's the simple things that make all of the difference. Nikki Allen (above) was conditioned to say yes to requests – from a colleague at work, from the PTA, from a friend. But she discovered one night, after distractions kept her from responding to a request for help right away, that urgent queries were not always pressing. 'It was the start of a new habit: to stop saying yes on the spot. To pause and think about whether I really want to first,' writes Allen for The one change that worked. 'Now, since that night a few years ago, whenever someone asks me to do something … I tell them: 'Let me check and get back to you.'' It's a subtle change that has given her more time, energy and autonomy to focus on the things each day that matter much more than other people's approval. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Asian shares rise after Wall Street falls as Trump pressures trading partners with new tariffs
Asian shares rose Tuesday after stocks on Wall Street closed broadly lower as the White House stepped up pressure on major trading partners to make deals before punishing tariffs imposed by the U.S. take effect. Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.4% to 39,734.62 while South Korea's Kospi rose 1.2% to 3,096.29. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 0.2% to 23,941.58 while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.6% to 3,492.41. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower to 8,583.50. On Wall Street on Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.8% for its biggest loss since mid-June. The benchmark index remains near its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 0.9% while the Nasdaq composite also finished 0.9% lower, not too far from its own record high. The losses were widespread. Decliners outnumbered gainers by nearly 4-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Tesla tumbled 6.8% for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks as the feud between CEO Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump reignited over the weekend. Musk, once a top donor and ally of Trump, said he would form a third political party in protest over the Republican spending bill that passed last week. The selling accelerated after the Trump administration released letters informing Japan and South Korea that their goods will be taxed at 25% starting on Aug. 1, citing persistent trade imbalances with the two crucial U.S. allies in Asia. Trump also announced new tariff rates on Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos and Myanmar. Just before hefty U.S. tariffs on goods imported from nearly every country around the globe were to take effect in April, Trump postponed the levies for 90 days in hopes that foreign governments would be more willing to strike new trade deals. That 90-day negotiating period was set to expire before Wednesday. This latest phase in the trade war heightens the threat of potentially more severe tariffs hanging over the global economy. Higher taxes on imported goods could hinder economic growth, if not increase recession risks. 'With the August 1 deadline serving as a negotiation buffer, the current tape suggests that markets are hedging, not fleeing. The mood? Edgy but not panicked—a poker table where the joker just hit the felt, but no one's shoved their stack,' Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, wrote in a commentary. Mizuho Bank Ltd, in a commentary, said the three-week extension in the tariff deadline 'is a distraction from festering, and possibly widening, tariff risks.' In other dealings on Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 30 cents to $67.63 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 30 cents to $69.28. The dollar was trading at 146.05 to the Japanese yen, slightly up from 146.01 yen. The euro rose to $1.1746 from $1.1714. ___ AP Business Writer Alex Veiga contributed
