Latest news with #LindsayGraham
Sky News AU
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Ireland's Parliament lashed by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee over moves to recognise Palestinian state
Ireland's Parliament looks set to formally recognize an independent Palestinian state in a move that would alienate Washington and Tel Aviv. The bill, which is currently in pre-legislative scrutiny, would also seek to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The move has angered the US, historically an ally of the Republic of Ireland. Reacting on X, Republican Senator Lindsay Graham accused Ireland of seeking to isolate Israel economically. He added 'I do not believe these efforts would be well received in the United States and they certainly would not go unnoticed.' The strongest criticism came from US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who posted: "Did the Irish fall into a vat of Guinness & propose something so stupid that it would be attributed to act of diplomatic intoxication? It will harm Arabs as much as Israelis. Sober up Ireland!' Chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland Maurice Cohen called the bill 'a performance of misguided effort' and declared 'it won't bring two states closer, but it might drive Jewish communities here in Ireland further into fear and isolation,' Cohen said. Irish prime minister Micheál Martin said the measure was aimed at forcing an end to the war. 'This is one element of the government's approach to the devastating violence and the appalling humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank,' Martin said in April. The comments come as many allies of Israel have ramped up their criticism of the nation's government. Several countries, including Australia ,sanctioned Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Scotsman
6 days ago
- Politics
- Scotsman
US military aid and trade tariffs might just get Putin to talk peace
Firefighters try to put out a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine on Monday, July 7 (Picture: Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) Last week Russia launched a massive aerial assault on Ukraine using 728 drones and 13 missiles in the attack as Vladimir Putin ramped up his attempt to subjugate Ukraine by demoralising its civilian population in the (mistaken) belief that it will sue for peace and accept Russian conditions for ending the war. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The latest attack prompted Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, to write on Telegram that: 'This is a demonstrative attack, and it comes at a time when there have been so many attempts to achieve peace and a ceasefire but Russia rejects everything. Our partners know how to apply pressure so that Russia will be forced to think about ending the war, not new strikes. Everyone who wants peace must act.' It would appear that his appeal has not fallen on deaf ears as US Senators Lindsay Graham (Republican) and Richard Blumenthal (Democrat) are demanding swift action by the USA, urging the passage of a bipartisan bill that they've introduced that would impose additional sanctions. This new legislation would permit President Trump to impose a 500 per cent levy on imports to the US from countries that purchase Russian uranium, gas and oil which is gaining support in the US Senate. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It would seem that some senators are at last beginning to 'wake up and smell the coffee' as Senator Lindsay Graham said. He added that: 'In the coming days you'll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves. In the coming days and weeks, there's going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.' German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also pledged to continue his country's support of Ukraine although he contended that the means of diplomacy for ending the war had been 'exhausted'. Backing this up, his defence minister, Boris Pistorius, landed in Washington on Monday to seek clarity on American arms supplies to Ukraine. Amongst other things they discussed Germany's offer to pay for American Patriot air defence systems for Ukraine, which given recent events, Kyiv is in need of. My Ukrainian relatives who moved here soon after the Russian invasion of their homeland are obviously getting increasingly anxious as Moscow escalates its aerial bombardment of Ukraine's major cities. Whilst they are grateful that they have been granted refuge in Edinburgh their thoughts inevitably stray back to their family members who have been sitting out the war for over three years. Although they are unscathed so far they are justifiably worried about what Putin might do next, particularly if it looks like the resumption of the supply of military equipment to Kyiv tips the balance of the conflict. Trying to second guess Putin is about as easy as trying to second guess Trump. Two power hungry, unpredictable individuals, whose egos regularly cloud their judgement. At least Trump has now realised that his brash statement that he would end the war within a day had about as much chance as a Tesco bag in hell and he has now seen fit to restore military aid to a more appropriate level. This, coupled with the imposition of punitive tariffs on countries that still trade with Russia might just do the trick!
Telegraph
14-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
The Russian ‘sledgehammer' sanctions that were too strong for Biden
When Donald Trump's Ukraine point man formulated a strategy to end the war, he envisaged a series of sanctions against Moscow if Vladimir Putin refused to enter into a ceasefire. And now, after months of failed wrangling between the White House and Kremlin, the restrictions could finally be on the table. The US president is preparing to announce an 'aggressive' plan in support of Ukraine. It could include economic penalties for Putin that were too strong even for Joe Biden to put in place. The sanctions are laid out in the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, a bill drawn up by Lindsay Graham, an influential US senator, that has widespread support in Congress. The measure would impose a 500 per cent tariffs on goods from nations that buy Russian energy. China, India, Turkey and Brazil would be forced to find alternative sources to retain access to the US market. The extension of sanctions on Russia's central bank could further complicate trade. In effect, the move would mimic the 'maximum-pressure' sanctions imposed on Iran's oil industry – and torpedo Moscow's prime revenue source. Mr Graham told CBS on Sunday that 88 senators have signed up for the sanctions package that would hand Mr Trump 'a sledgehammer ... to go after Putin's economy and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine'. Mr Graham, a Republican, was recently in Rome with Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat senator, for talks with Mr Zelensky. Mr Trump has yet to publicly endorse the sanctions bill, and has only stated his administration is 'looking at it'. Asked whether he would announce sanctions late on Sunday night, he said: 'We will see you tomorrow.' Technically, the US president does not have to endorse the legislation, and could even move to sanction Moscow without it. Either way, it would be a step further than Joe Biden ever went. The former president, a much stronger backer of Kyiv, was unwilling to crack down against Russian energy exports, fearful of the impact on pump prices and his chance of re-election. In 2022, the US oversaw the creation of a price cap on purchases of Russian oil, set at $60 (£44) a barrel. The price cap was meant to trim down Moscow's export earnings, rising and falling in line with the benchmark crude price, which slumped from $124 to $66 over the course of Mr Biden's term. However, it mostly prompted Russia to create a so-called 'shadow-fleet' of tankers to carry its oil to India, China and other nations, obscuring the origin of the fuel via foreign-flagged vessels. Russia's war effort is funded by fossil fuel exports. Since the war began, Moscow has earned £760 billion from oil, gas and coal sales, according to the Centre for Energy and Clean Air (Crea), a Helsinki-based think tank. That is more than double the £300 billion given and promised to Ukraine so far across Europe and the United States. It is seven times what Russia spent on its military last year. Western efforts to cut off this source of funding have had an impact at the fringes, though Russia has adapted with comparative ease. Moscow has forgone £106 billion in oil revenue thanks to existing sanctions, according to data up to January 2025 from the KSE Institute, a branch of the Kyiv School of Economics. Supporters of the new sanctions hope they will be the stick of the carrot-and-stick plan initially devised by Lt Gen Keith Kellogg, Mr Trump's Ukraine envoy, to finally force Putin to the negotiating table. Measures to that would have rewarded Russia for reaching a ceasefire, such as denying Ukraine membership of Nato and ceding 20 per cent of its territory to Russia, were deployed to no avail by US negotiators. Denying Ukraine membership of Nato and ceding 20 per cent of its territory to Russia, which were supposed to serve as carrots for Russia, were deployed to no avail by US negotiators. Mr Trump will be meeting Mark Rutte, Nato's secretary-general, in the White House on Monday while Lt Gen Kellogg is in Kyiv meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president. Defence, strengthening security, weapons, sanctions, protecting our people, strengthening co-operation between Ukraine and the United States – there are many topics to discuss,' Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelensky's chief of staff, said ahead of the visit on Monday. Mr Zelensky used his address to the nation on Sunday to say he wants to hear more from Washington's plan to 'compel Russia to make peace'.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Johnson voted for the Trump bill he called immoral. His choice will devastate WI.
Stunning. Absolutely less than eight weeks, Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has completed the most consequential flip-flop in recent Wisconsin political history. Sadly, it's a flip-flop that will have devastating consequences on the fiscal future of our state and the House of Representatives was preparing to pass its budget bill for fiscal year 2025 in May, Johnson got on his high horse and complained loudly about how much it would increase the nation's debt. In an opinion piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal, he said he could not support the bill 'in its current form' because it increased annual deficits. He scolded and berated. He had a point. The House version would have increased the nations debt by $2.7 trillion according to the non partisan Congressional Budget Office. That's a huge was so adamant in his criticism that Sen. Lindsay Graham, Republican of South Carolina, described him as 'Mr. Smith goes to Washington very mad.' To put that $2.7 trillion increase into perspective, note that the 2017 tax cut under President Trump increased the debt by $1 to 2 trillion, according to budget estimates. The 2019 COVID-19 relief bill passed under President Trump increased the debt by $1.9 trillion, according to nonpartisan estimates. But here's the punchline. After stating he could not support the House bill because it increased the debt too much, he cast a deciding vote for the Senate bill that increases the debt by $3.4 trillion: that's $700 billion more than the House bill that he so loudly criticized! Letters: Johnson has odd view on what saving the country means. He will cave to Trump. In fact, the increase in the debt created by the Senate version of the budget is roughly equal to the increase in the debt from the 2017 tax bill and the 2019 Covid relief bill combined. But who cares? We all should care. As a result of the exploding debt, we have to pay more interest on that debt. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, in fiscal year 2024, the U.S. spent $882 billion on interest payments to service its borrowing. In comparison, the total national defense discretionary spending for the same year was $874 billion, plus billions more in other important national security areas. Our exploding debt will force our children to pay more for interest on that debt and squeeze out investments in defense, health care and education. So what made Johnson so dramatically abandon the crusade he has waged against our debt for the past fifteen years? How did he go from the senator who said we cannot mortgage our children's future to the senator who cast the vote allowing the bill to pass after Vice President Vance's tie-breaking vote?Sadly, he switched his focus from our children's future to his own political future. He saw what happened when other Republican members of Congress crossed the president. And so the senator who had referred to Trump's bill as 'immoral' decided to turn down the rhetoric and stand with the Trump the end, it was all about politics — swamp politics. Sen. Johnson has now completed his transformation from 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' to a full-fledged member of the swamp. And our children will have to pay more in the future as a direct result of his actions. Tom Barrett is the former U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg, mayor of Milwaukee and Congressman. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Johnson supported Trump's bill to Wisconsin's detriment | Opinion
CBC
24-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
The MAGA civil war over Iran
Over the last week, as the exchange of missiles between Israel and Iran intensified, Donald Trump's supporters have found themselves in two camps: the hawks, like Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruz who support America joining Israel in its fight against Iran. And the isolationists, like Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson, who urge the president not to plunge the U.S. into yet another protracted war in the Middle East. Now that the U.S. air strikes on Iran have been met with a retaliatory strike on a U.S. military base in Qatar, are the MAGA factions digging in their heels or falling in line with the White House? Adam Wren, senior Politics correspondent at Politico and a contributing author to POLITICO Playbook, breaks it all down.
