Category Archives: US foreign policy

US designates Yemen’s Houthi group as foreign terrorist organization once again

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Designation comes after Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the start of Israel-Hamas war

The US state department has reinstated the “foreign terrorist organization” designation for Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group, fulfilling an order announced by Donald Trump shortly after he took office.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced on Tuesday the department had restored the designation, which carries with it sanctions and penalties for anyone providing “material support” for the group.

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Slim majority of Americans support Ukraine, poll finds

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Poll conducted before meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy says 52% of respondents ‘personally support’ Ukraine

A US poll taken before the diplomatic meltdown in the Oval Office on Friday between Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, found that only 4% of surveyed Americans are backing Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine – but a large minority of 44% said they do not support the invaded country either.

The CBS News/YouGov poll, conducted over three days beginning on 26 February, also found that a relatively slim majority – 52% – said they “personally support” Ukraine.

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Iran’s vice-president and most prominent reformist resigns

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Mohammad Javad Zarif implies move was endorsed by supreme leader, as his exit sends stock market into a tailspin

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s most prominent reformist, has resigned from the government, saying he had been instructed to do so by an unnamed senior official.

He implied the move was endorsed by the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, although he did not name him in his resignation letter as he stepped down as vice-president for strategic affairs.

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China likely to target US agriculture, state media reports, as Trump tariff deadline nears

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Global Times signals Beijing’s likely countermeasure after US president threatened a further 10% duty to come into force on Tuesday

China is preparing countermeasures against fresh US import tariffs that are set to take effect on Tuesday, China’s state-backed Global Times reported, with American agricultural exports likely to be targeted.

Donald Trump last week threatened China with an extra 10% duty, resulting in a cumulative 20% tariff, while accusing Beijing of not having done enough to halt the flow of fentanyl into America, something China said was tantamount to “blackmail”.

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The Oscars were silent on Trump, diverging from protests of past years

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No one uttered the US president’s name, and speeches bore few references to Gaza or Ukraine, focusing on the LA fires

The 97th Academy Awards had one of the longest run times for the annual show in recent history, yet the least mentions of the current political climate – with not a single person uttering the name “Donald Trump”.

While few people watch awards shows – least of all the Oscars – for political discussion, comments on world events have long been an expected part of the broadcasts. Trump himself has even weighed in on a show – at least once while it aired: last year, while campaigning for re-election, he posted on Truth Social and asked rhetorically whether there was ever a “worse host” than Jimmy Kimmel at the 2024 Oscars and criticized his opening monologue.

Anora takes home best picture Oscar

Adrien Brody and Mikey Madison win best acting prizes

Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña win supporting awards

Anora’s Sean Baker wins for directing, editing and screenplay

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Kremlin says US foreign policy pivot ‘largely coincides with our vision’

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Russia’s foreign minister also praises Donald Trump for his ‘commonsense’ aim to end the war in Ukraine

The Kremlin said on Sunday that the dramatic pivot in the foreign policy of the US “largely” coincides with its own vision, with Donald Trump described as having “common sense”.

The US president, who has often said he respects his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, has worked to build ties with Moscow since taking office in January, including twice siding with Russia in UN votes.

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How JD Vance emerged as the chief saboteur of the transatlantic alliance

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Vance snaked his way in first to the row between Trump and Zelenskyy, his second intrusion this month after Munich

JD Vance was supposed to be the inconsequential vice-president.

But his starring role in Friday’s blowup between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy – where he played a cross between Trump’s bulldog and tech bro Iago – may mark the moment that the postwar alliance between Europe and America finally collapsed.

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Starmer may have weaponised the Windsors, but soft power is the royals’ great asset

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Just as in the Oval Office this week, history shows the royals can be deployed to serve British interests – whether they like it or not

As Donald Trump waved his personal invitation from King Charles III to pay a second historic state visit in the Oval Office, there was no disguising his delight before the TV cameras.

Keir Starmer had retrieved the letter from his jacket pocket and handed it to the US president with the dramatic flourish of Neville Chamberlain’s “I have in my hand a piece of paper” moment.

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Zelenskyy admits Trump White House meeting ‘not good for both sides’

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Ukraine president expresses regret over contentious meeting but says relationship with Trump can be salvaged

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed regret that an Oval Office meeting with Donald Trump devolved into a shocking display of acrimony between the leaders of two historically allied nations, while insisting that their relationship could be salvaged.

Hours after the public confrontation in which Trump and Vice-President JD Vance berated Zelenskyy, accusing him of “gambling with world war three,” the Ukrainian leader defended himself during an in-studio interview on Fox News, while also agreeing that the dispute was “not good for both sides”.

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‘Rather fraught’: how Starmer’s team laid groundwork for positive Trump talks

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President’s warmth towards PM was apparent – but will No 10’s strategy prove successful longer-term?

“We’re feeling good, we’re very well prepared,” one senior UK official declared on the eve of Keir Starmer’s highly anticipated first meeting with Donald Trump at the White House. The prime minister had just landed in Washington DC and been driven straight to a glitzy reception at the UK ambassador’s opulent Edwin Lutyens-designed residence.

Under the sparkling crystal chandeliers and among the grand marble columns, his euphoric host, Peter Mandelson, introduced Starmer to guests including the new FBI director, Kush Patel. The Republican senator Lindsey Graham and the New York-based editor Tina Brown were also present.

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Trump administration retreats in fight against Russian cyber threats

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Recent incidents indicate US is no longer characterizing Russia as a cyber security threat, marking a radical departure: ‘Putin is on the inside now’

The Trump administration has publicly and privately signaled that it does not believe Russia represents a cyber threat against US national security or critical infrastructure, marking a radical departure from longstanding intelligence assessments.

The shift in policy could make the US vulnerable to hacking attacks by Russia, experts warned, and appeared to reflect the warming of relations between Donald Trump and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.

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Russia to appoint new US ambassador as diplomatic relations thaw

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Moscow says Alexander Darchiyev will take up Washington post that has been unfilled since October last year

Russia has announced it will appoint a new ambassador to Washington, signalling a further diplomatic thaw in relations just a day after Russian and American officials met in Istanbul to discuss strengthening ties.

Moscow said Alexander Darchiyev, a career diplomat who is currently the head of the foreign ministry’s North America department, will soon leave for the role in Washington.

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Five unknowns about any possible deal to end Ukraine-Russia war

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As Volodymyr Zelenskyy heads to Washington to meet Donald Trump, a number of questions remain unanswered

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy heads to Washington to meet Donald Trump, questions remain over the future of Ukraine and the country’s war with Russia. Here are five things we don’t know about a possible deal to end the conflict.

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US shutdown of HIV/Aids funding ‘could lead to 500,000 deaths in South Africa’

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USAid cuts to clinics dispensing antiretroviral drugs will be ‘death sentence for mothers and children’, expert warns

Sweeping notices of termination of funding have been received by organisations working with HIV and Aids across Africa, with dire predictions of a huge rise in deaths as a result.

After the US announced a permanent end to funding for HIV projects, services across the board have been affected, say doctors and programme managers, from projects helping orphans and pregnant women to those reaching transgender individuals and sex workers.

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Donald Trump suggests he will back UK in Chagos Islands deal

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‘I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country,’ president says of plan to hand sovereignty to Mauritius

Donald Trump has strongly hinted that he will back a deal in which the UK hands sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, including the Diego Garcia military base, which is jointly used by the US.

“I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country,” the US president told reporters during an impromptu press conference in the Oval Office with Keir Starmer, who is visiting Washington. He added: “I have a feeling it’s going to work out very well.”

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Top Democrat says Trump may seek mineral deal with both Russia and Ukraine

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Jeanne Shaheen discusses Trump’s demand that Kyiv grant US firms access to rare-earth reserves for helping end war

Donald Trump may be pursuing a mineral rights deal with Vladimir Putin and Russia as well as with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine, a top Senate Democrat has warned, discussing the US president’s demand that Kyiv grant US firms access to 50% of its rare-earth reserves, as a price for helping end the war three years after Russia invaded.

“I think anything that helps position Ukraine for any peace negotiations is a positive move,” said Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations and armed services committee, who recently visited Ukraine.

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Trump signs executive order expanding power of Elon Musk’s Doge agency

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Order calls for ‘transformation’ in US spending on contracts, grants and loans by requiring centralized payment system

Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order meant to expand the power of Elon Musk’s governmental cost-cutting program, the so-called “department of government efficiency”, or Doge.

The new order calls for a “transformation” in federal spending on contracts, grants and loans by requiring agencies to create a centralized system to record and justify payments, which may be made public for transparency – an initiative that would be monitored by Musk’s team.

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Trump says Zelenskyy set to visit White House on Friday to sign minerals deal

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President says ‘I hear he’s coming on Friday’ amid reports that terms of US-Ukraine aid exchange have been reached

Donald Trump has said that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is likely to visit the White House on Friday to sign a rare earth minerals deal to pay for US military aid to defend against Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The announcement followed days of tense negotiations between the US and Ukraine in which Zelenskyy alleged the US was pressuring him to sign a deal worth more than $500bn that would force “10 generations” of Ukrainians to pay it back.

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Donald Trump orders new tariff investigation into US copper imports

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President opens new front in assault on global trade norms as advisers claim China moving to dominate copper market

Donald Trump on Tuesday opened yet another front in his assault on global trade norms, ordering a new investigation into possible tariffs on copper imports to rebuild US production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, semiconductors and a wide range of consumer goods.

Trump, looking to thwart what his advisers see as a move by China to dominate the global copper market, signed an order directing commerce secretary Howard Lutnick to start a new national security investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the same law that Trump used in his first term to impose 25% global tariffs on steel and aluminum.

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Starmer slashes aid to fund major increase in defence spending

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Announcement prompts concerns that PM is pandering to US president and warnings over consequences of aid cuts

Keir Starmer has announced that Britain will “fight for peace in Europe” with a generational increase in defence spending paid for by slashing the foreign aid budget.

The move, just two days before the prime minister is due to meet Donald Trump, raised immediate concerns that he was pandering to the US president, and fury from aid groups that say it could cost lives in countries that rely on UK support.

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