Latest news with #GlobalSituationRoom
RTÉ News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Pressure on EU countries over NATO spending
Brett Bruen, President of the Global Situation Room and a former U.S. diplomat with the Obama administration, analyses the significance of today's NATO Summit in The Hague.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The reason Trump is spending as little time as possible at the Nato summit
Donald Trump will spend as little time as possible on European soil next week when he heads to a crucial Nato summit for just 24 hours. He was set to arrive in The Hague on Monday evening before returning to Washington on Wednesday, but the White House says he will now arrive on Tuesday. A week after he left a meeting of the G7 in Canada early, apparently irritated at having to sit through a meeting on wildfires when his mind was on the Middle East, it will raise fears among allies that he has no time for the sorts of summits that underpin international diplomacy. Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, said the shortened trip was not a snub, but a reflection of how Nato has tightened the schedule. 'The president is a man of efficiency. He wants to get things done,' she said. 'More action, less talk.' Mr Trump has expressed his irritation with Nato in the past, even threatening to withdraw the US in protest at the way allies were shirking spending targets. But relations have improved in recent years as member states have accepted Mr Trump's arguments. His new schedule means he will still arrive in time for a leaders' dinner and will attend a session devoted to discussing allies' efforts to spend the equivalent of five percent of their gross domestic product on defence. 'He wants to see that happen,' said Ms Leavitt. At the same time, the tight turnaround reflects Mr Trump's impatience with big, multilateral groups. The president upended this week's G7 summit in Kananaski, Canada, hurrying home on Monday night to deal with the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. He had hinted at his frustration as he addressed the media beside Sir Keir Starmer during the afternoon. He was asked about the chances of reaching a deal with Iran and said: 'As soon as we leave here we are going to do something. But I have to leave here. I have, you know, this commitment. I have a lot of commitments.' With the Middle East in flames, he then had to sit through a session on tackling wildfires. A former White House official said: 'He already thinks these meetings are a waste of time. I think you can see the timeline of a wildfire meeting followed by the announcement that he was leaving and draw your own conclusions.' Nato had already accounted for Mr Trump's mercurial nature, condensing its format from three sessions to a single two-and-a-half-hour meeting. Ms Leavitt said the president's travel plans simply reflected that shift. 'Nato has shortened its schedule,' she said. 'The president is rolling with the schedule that Nato has given us.' Organisers have shortened the summit and drafted an abbreviated joint statement in part to avoid a repeat of Mr Trump's last Nato meeting. In 2019, he left early, abandoning a planned press conference after other leaders were caught on camera joking about him. Brett Bruen, a former Obama official and president of the Global Situation Room, said the shortened trips were 'becoming a pattern.' 'He may not want to sit through a session on wildfires but it is the prerogative of the host of any of these summits to decide the agenda,' he said. More to the point, side meetings and other interactions were the place where a lot of business got done. He said: 'If we are no longer to use summits for substance then I think it begs the question: Where else are leaders getting together?' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Voice of America brings back Farsi-speaking staff amid Israel-Iran conflict
Several dozen sidelined Voice of America staffers have suddenly been called back to work as the Israel-Iran conflict escalates. It is a dramatic turn of events for the American government-funded broadcasting system that was shut down by the Trump administration in March. Steve Herman, who has been VOA's chief national correspondent since 2022, said the broadcaster specifically brought back Farsi language speakers who have been on paid administrative leave. The move suggests that the US government wants to bolster its programming into Iran. Before the cutbacks were instituted in March, VOA said that it produced four-plus hours a day of 'Persian-language programming to Iran.' The VOA website said the content 'confronts the disinformation and censorship efforts of the Iranian regime and enhances U.S. efforts to speak directly to the Iranian people and the global Persian-speaking diaspora.' It is unclear how much content VOA has been beaming into Iran in recent weeks. The broadcaster's VOA Farsi channel on YouTube showed eight new videos since Israel struck inside Iran early Friday. Staffers from some other VOA language services have also been called back to work. Brett Bruen, president of the consulting firm Global Situation Room, reacted to Herman's X post about the news by tweeting to Kari Lake, the Trump loyalist who has been tasked with gutting VOA. 'Turns out not having a channel to communicate with the Iranian people was a pretty bad idea, @KariLake,' Bruen wrote. A spokesperson for Lake did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. Patsy Widakuswara, one of the sidelined journalists who is suing the Trump administration to salvage the broadcaster, told CNN on Friday that 'VOA's role in providing independent, factual and authoritative news has been proven throughout countless times of crisis. But after months off the air, we've already lost a lot of audience and credibility. They should bring us all back so we can respond to breaking news in all parts of the world.'
CNN
14-06-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Voice of America brings back Farsi-speaking staff amid Israel-Iran conflict
Several dozen sidelined Voice of America staffers have suddenly been called back to work as the Israel-Iran conflict escalates. It is a dramatic turn of events for the American government-funded broadcasting system that was shut down by the Trump administration in March. Steve Herman, who has been VOA's chief national correspondent since 2022, said the broadcaster specifically brought back Farsi language speakers who have been on paid administrative leave. The move suggests that the US government wants to bolster its programming into Iran. Before the cutbacks were instituted in March, VOA said that it produced four-plus hours a day of 'Persian-language programming to Iran.' The VOA website said the content 'confronts the disinformation and censorship efforts of the Iranian regime and enhances U.S. efforts to speak directly to the Iranian people and the global Persian-speaking diaspora.' It is unclear how much content VOA has been beaming into Iran in recent weeks. The broadcaster's VOA Farsi channel on YouTube showed eight new videos since Israel struck inside Iran early Friday. Staffers from some other VOA language services have also been called back to work. Brett Bruen, president of the consulting firm Global Situation Room, reacted to Herman's X post about the news by tweeting to Kari Lake, the Trump loyalist who has been tasked with gutting VOA. 'Turns out not having a channel to communicate with the Iranian people was a pretty bad idea, @KariLake,' Bruen wrote. A spokesperson for Lake did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. Patsy Widakuswara, one of the sidelined journalists who is suing the Trump administration to salvage the broadcaster, told CNN on Friday that 'VOA's role in providing independent, factual and authoritative news has been proven throughout countless times of crisis. But after months off the air, we've already lost a lot of audience and credibility. They should bring us all back so we can respond to breaking news in all parts of the world.'
CNN
14-06-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Voice of America brings back Farsi-speaking staff amid Israel-Iran conflict
Several dozen sidelined Voice of America staffers have suddenly been called back to work as the Israel-Iran conflict escalates. It is a dramatic turn of events for the American government-funded broadcasting system that was shut down by the Trump administration in March. Steve Herman, who recently retired from VOA, said the broadcaster specifically brought back Farsi language speakers who have been on paid administrative leave. The move suggests that the US government wants to bolster its programming into Iran. Before the cutbacks were instituted in March, VOA said that it produced four-plus hours a day of 'Persian-language programming to Iran.' The VOA website said the content 'confronts the disinformation and censorship efforts of the Iranian regime and enhances U.S. efforts to speak directly to the Iranian people and the global Persian-speaking diaspora.' It is unclear how much content VOA has been beaming into Iran in recent weeks. The broadcaster's VOA Farsi channel on YouTube showed eight new videos since Israel struck inside Iran early Friday. Staffers from some other VOA language services have also been called back to work. Brett Bruen, president of the consulting firm Global Situation Room, reacted to Herman's X post about the news by tweeting to Kari Lake, the Trump loyalist who has been tasked with gutting VOA. 'Turns out not having a channel to communicate with the Iranian people was a pretty bad idea, @KariLake,' Bruen wrote. A spokesperson for Lake did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. Patsy Widakuswara, one of the sidelined journalists who is suing the Trump administration to salvage the broadcaster, told CNN on Friday that 'VOA's role in providing independent, factual and authoritative news has been proven throughout countless times of crisis. But after months off the air, we've already lost a lot of audience and credibility. They should bring us all back so we can respond to breaking news in all parts of the world.'
