Category Archives: US foreign policy

Durham disclosures further undermine Gabbard’s claims of plot against Trump

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Declassified document contains deflating conclusion for DNI director that Russian spies were behind key 2016 emails

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of US national intelligence, hoped to uncover evidence that Barack Obama and his national security team conspired to undermine Donald Trump in a slow-motion coup.

But if her crusade was aimed at proving that Obama embarked on a “treasonous conspiracy” to falsely show that Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump, Gabbard made a mistake. A previously classified annexe to a report by another special counsel, John Durham – appointed towards the end of Trump’s first presidency – has further undermined Gabbard’s case.

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Durham disclosures further undermine Gabbard’s claims of plot against Trump

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Declassified document contains deflating conclusion for DNI director that Russian spies were behind key 2016 emails

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of US national intelligence, hoped to uncover evidence that Barack Obama and his national security team conspired to undermine Donald Trump in a slow-motion coup.

But if her crusade was aimed at proving that Obama embarked on a “treasonous conspiracy” to falsely show that Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump, Gabbard made a mistake. A previously classified annexe to a report by another special counsel, John Durham – appointed towards the end of Trump’s first presidency – has further undermined Gabbard’s case.

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Putin offers no hint of concessions as he says he wants ‘stable’ peace in Ukraine

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Russian president’s remarks come as Kyiv rescuers find more than a dozen dead in apartment block after strikes

Vladimir Putin has said he wants a “lasting and stable peace” in Ukraine but given no indication that he is willing to make any concessions to achieve it, after a week in which Russian missiles and drones again caused death and destruction across Ukraine.

“We need a lasting and stable peace on solid foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and would ensure the security of both countries,” said Putin, speaking to journalists on Friday, a week before a new deadline imposed by Donald Trump for hostilities to cease.

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‘Classic tinpot dictator’: Trump exports his assault on democracy to Brazil

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US president seems to be weaponizing tariffs to punish Brazil for its coup trial against his ally Bolsonaro

Over the past six months, Donald Trump has been accused of rapidly dragging the largest democracy in the Americas towards authoritarianism. Now, the US president seems bent on undermining the region’s second largest democracy too.

Since early July, Trump has launched an extraordinary attack on Brazil’s institutions, slapping 50% tariffs on imports from the South American country and sanctions on a supreme court judge – partly in retribution for what he called the political persecution of his ally, Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly masterminding a failed coup.

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Taiwan president scraps Latin America trip amid reports the US opposed stopover in New York

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The Taiwanese government insists Lai Ching-te’s visit was delayed due to domestic issues, including natural disasters and tariff negotiations

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te will delay an expected trip to his country’s remaining allies in Latin America, amid conflicting accounts of the reason for the postponement.

Lai was expected to travel to the Americas next month, as his government seeks to shore up support in a region where many countries have cut diplomatic ties in favour of relations with China, which claims Taiwan as its territory.

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Overnight strikes on Ukraine kill 25 as Trump sets Russia new truce deadline

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Missile attack on prison in frontline region of Zaporizhzhia kills 16 as Kyiv hopes for US action against Moscow

Russia launched one of its deadliest night assaults on Ukraine for months in the early hours of Tuesday, the day after Donald Trump said he was setting a new deadline of “10 or 12 days” for Russia to make progress towards ending the war or face new sanctions.

A series of Russian strikes across the country killed at least 25 people, Ukrainian officials said, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman and more than a dozen prison inmates. About 100 people were injured across the country.

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Trump ‘caught off guard’ by Israeli strikes on Syria last week

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The White House confirmed that Trump called Netanyahu to ‘rectify’ the situation after ongoing clashes in the city of Sweida

Donald Trump was “caught off guard” by Israeli strikes on Syria last week, the White House has said, adding that the US president called Benjamin Netanyahu to “rectify” the situation.

Israel launched strikes on the capital Damascus and the southern Druze-majority city of Sweida last week, saying it aimed to put pressure on the Syrian government to withdraw its troops from the region amid ongoing clashes there.

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Zelenskyy accuses Russia of ‘assault on humanity’ after latest drone barrage

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Germany vows to expedite delivery of Patriot systems as drone strikes Kyiv metro station sheltering civilians

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of “an assault on humanity” after a barrage of drones and missiles hit Ukraine, as Germany promised to supply five Patriot air-defence systems to help an under-pressure Kyiv.

Ukraine’s president said Moscow had launched more than 420 drones and more than 20 missiles in its latest overnight attack, killing at least two people and targeting a metro station in the capital where people were sheltering.

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Israeli airstrike hits Sweida city in Syria as Bedouin tribes clash with Druze

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Conflict restarts in southern province as Druze groups reportedly target Bedouin villages in ‘revenge’ attacks

The Israeli military has carried out an airstrike on the outskirts of Sweida city as clashes between Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters intensified on Thursday night.

The clashes started a wave of tit-for-tat retaliatory violence earlier on in the day after Syrian government forces withdrew from Sweida.

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‘An insult’: Malaysians slam nomination of ‘alpha-male’ Nick Adams as US ambassador

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Adams’ comments about Israel have provoked particular concern in Malaysia, a staunch supporter of Palestine

Former government ministers and youth politicians in Muslim-majority Malaysia have slammed a decision to nominate right-wing influencer Nick Adams as US ambassador to the country, calling it an insult to the nation.

Donald Trump announced last week that Nick Adams, a self-proclaimed “alpha male”, had been announced as ambassador to Malaysia, praising him as a “incredible patriot”.

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Europe urged to raise plight of Iran’s political prisoners in any future talks

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Rights activists say Tehran’s crackdown must be on agenda in any talks on future relations between Europe and Iran

Iranian human rights groups are urging MEPs and European governments to escalate the issue of Tehran’s mistreatment of political prisoners, arguing that the crackdown on internal dissent must be on the agenda in any talks about future relations between Europe and Iran.

The Iranian foreign ministry appears to be in no rush to stage further talks with the west without clear US assurances that it will not be attacked again.

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Kyiv hails US weapons deal as Moscow dismisses Trump’s sanctions threat

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US president says he will send Ukraine Patriot anti-aircraft batteries and interceptor missiles paid for by EU allies

Politicians in Kyiv have welcomed Donald Trump’s announcement that billions of dollars worth of US military equipment will be sent to Ukraine, while officials in Moscow dismissed his threat of sanctions against Russia as hot air.

In a meeting with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, at the White House, Trump said the US would send Patriot anti-aircraft batteries and interceptor missiles, paid for by European allies.

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Trump’s hazy Ukraine arms announcement marks a tonal U-turn

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EU will buy some US weapons for Kyiv as president credits Melania Trump for his disenchantment with Putin

For those looking for details, Donald Trump’s rambling half-hour press conference in the Oval Office with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, offered only a handful of clues. The US will sell weapons to Ukraine, the president said, with other Nato countries paying the bill – but otherwise specifics were scant.

No sums of money were mentioned – making it hard to calibrate how much of a difference the proposed weapon supply would make to Kyiv. Details were light on what munitions would be supplied though Trump mentioned complete Patriot missile systems and Rutte added there would be “missiles and ammunition” too.

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Netanyahu flies home without a Gaza peace deal but still keeps Trump onside

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Israeli PM manages to avoid breach with US president through high-profile assurances he is seeking end to war

Benjamin Netanyahu arrived back in Israel on Friday without a ceasefire in the Gaza war despite heady predictions from US and Israeli officials that this week could provide a breakthrough in negotiations. But he did not come home completely empty-handed.

The Israeli PM’s visit was his third since Donald Trump’s inauguration, with several high-profile meetings at the White House, a nomination for Trump to receive the Nobel peace prize, and suggestions from Trump and the special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, that peace could be achieved in a week.

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Zelenskyy urges west to hit Russia with sanctions after huge attack on Kyiv

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Ukrainian president wants allies to speed up action against Putin after two killed in second night of major strikes

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Ukraine’s allies to speed up imposing new sanctions on Russia after another huge wave of strikes on his country’s capital killed two people and left more wounded.

“Sanctions must be imposed faster, and pressure on Russia must be strong enough that they truly feel the consequences of their terror,” the Ukrainian president said on social media. Ukraine’s air defence force said Moscow sent 400 drones and 18 missiles across the country in the early hours.

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Lobbyists linked to Donald Trump paid millions by world’s poorest countries

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Somalia, DR Congo and Yemen among states forced to sign deals and barter their minerals for aid or military support

Some of the world’s poorest countries have started paying millions to lobbyists linked to Donald Trump to try to offset US cuts to foreign aid, an investigation reveals.

Somalia, Haiti and Yemen are among 11 countries to sign significant lobbying deals with figures tied directly to the US president after he slashed US foreign humanitarian assistance.

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US issues sanctions against Francesca Albanese, UN official investigating abuses in Gaza

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Trump administration targets special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, in latest action against critics of Israel’s war

The Trump administration announced on Wednesday it was issuing sanctions against an independent official tasked with investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza.

The state department’s decision to sanction Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, comes after a recent US pressure campaign to force the international body to remove her from her post failed.

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Has the Trump-Putin bromance finally run its course?

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US president appears to have run out of patience with his Russian counterpart – but how that transmits into practical support for Kyiv remains to be seen

“I’m not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now,” Trump said, expressing his frustration with the Russian leader over the war in Ukraine. “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin … He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

It may not have been Churchillian in oratorical flourish, and with Trump everything is capable of being reversed in hours, but possibly, just possibly, the rupture between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump has happened. If so it is a transformatory moment, and a vindication for both Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he arrives in Rome for the annual Ukraine reconstruction conference and for those others, notably the British and the French governments, who have patiently helped the scales to fall from Trump’s eyes about Putin’s true intentions. At long last and after many false starts, the US president seems to have accepted he is unpersuadable on ending the war.

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Netanyahu nominates Trump for Nobel peace prize at White House meeting

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US leader upbeat on Gaza ceasefire prospects but does not share any additional details on preparations

Benjamin Netanyahu told Donald Trump that he would nominate him for the Nobel peace prize on Monday, as the two leaders met for the first time since the US launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear program as part of a short-lived war between Israel and Iran.

Trump was expected to press Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire in Israel’s 21-month-old war against Hamas in Gaza amid an outcry over the humanitarian cost of an offensive that has led to nearly 60,000 deaths, most of them Palestinian.

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Middle East crisis: Trump calls for Gaza hostages release ahead of Netanyahu meeting at the White House – as it happened

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US president will host Israeli prime minister following joint strikes against Iran

A US envoy met Lebanese officials in Beirut on Monday to discuss a proposed plan to disarm Hezbollah, hours after Israel launched new air strikes and a cross-border ground assault.

The Israeli escalation was seen by Lebanese officials and diplomats as an attempt to ratchet up pressure on Hezbollah, whose leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech on Sunday that the group still needed arms to defend Lebanon from Israel.

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