Does Vladimir Putin know exactly how to play Donald Trump? The history of chummy phone calls, high-profile meetings and attempts to bring Russia in from the cold certainly suggests that Moscow’s thuggish ruler has a hold on this American president. If Mr Trump agrees to negotiate Ukraine’s future with Mr Putin and China’s Xi Jinping without Ukraine at the table, he will have handed the Russian leader a victory before talks begin. The message will be that strongmen are ruling the world and determining the fate of weaker nations. Ukraine has the right to…
Tag: Ukraine
Lethality and Testosterone Will Get Us Only So Far
Enemy drones over Romania. Wayward missiles in Poland. Sabotage in Germany. Every week brings some new Russian provocation as President Vladimir Putin steps up his efforts to divide Europe and undermine support for Ukraine. As Western militaries scramble to respond, the prospect of the war spilling over into NATO territory rises. The problem of escalating instability, unfortunately, is not confined to Europe’s eastern frontier. The danger of war between America’s autocratic adversaries and our democratic allies is rising around the world for one simple, troubling reason: The enemies of liberal…
‘It gave me a superpower – question everything’: as punk turns 50, bands from China to Greenland explain how it fires up their lives
Ukraine: ‘I was lucky not to die. I had guitars with me on the frontline’ Andriy Zholob, vocalist/guitarist, Beton: When MTV arrived in Ukraine, I heard Nirvana, the Offspring, Bad Brains, Social Distortion and thrash metal, and realised that all this started from punk rock. Our drummer and I were in a ska-punk band first, but when our vocalist became pregnant we started Beton in 2017 and played lots of festivals. Everything changed with the invasion. In 2022, I started military service as a surgeon on the frontline. We were…
Inside the Ukrainian military unit training fighters from China
On the makeshift workbench in the cramped front room of a cottage near the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war, there are all the accoutrements of a drone workshop. The walls are lined with pliers and rolls of duct tape; the table is cluttered with screwdrivers and piles of wire. Propped up against the wall are two kamikaze drones. Only one item looks out of place in this Ukrainian village house: a pot of Chinese longjing tea, the leaves wilted from repeated top-ups. Good tea is one of the many things…
Defiance, threats and a ‘rebirth’: five key points from day two of the UN’s big gathering
1. No bending the knee for Iran Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, balanced defiance against the US with an openness to dialogue, in an address that had been in doubt as it was unclear he would be issued a visa to enter the country. “We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” he said. “Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country.” Referring to the United States, Pezeshkian added: “Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.” The…
Trump greets Xi Jinping at airport in rare personal welcome ahead of high stakes US-China summit – live
From 50m ago Trump greets Xi at airport in rare personal welcome to US Xi Jinping has arrived in Washington and been greeted by Donald Trump at the airport instead of waiting for him to drive to the White House. The decision to greet the Chinese leader there has been reported as showing how far Trump is going to honour China’s leader as he makes his first state visit to the US capital in more than a decade. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and his wife Peng…
Europe frets about Trump. But soon he could be the least of our problems | Mujtaba Rahman
I addressed a group of more than 100 European ambassadors recently on the big challenges facing the continent this year and next. My main point to these senior diplomats was that, perhaps counterintuitively, Europe’s biggest external challenges over the next 12 months will come from Russia and China, rather than the US. Europe’s relationship with Trump’s America remains difficult. The US president has weakened confidence in Nato, raised new transatlantic trade tensions and introduced uncertainty into everything from US support for Ukraine to his territorial designs on Greenland. Yet paradoxically,…
Putin arrives in India for Brics summit set to be dominated by Iran and Ukraine wars
Vladimir Putin has arrived in India’s capital of Delhi ahead of an 11-member Brics summit set to be dominated by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as economic challenges. The Russian president and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, were due to hold talks with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, while Chinese leader Xi Jinping was also expected to attend the two-day meeting. Putin arrived at Palam air force Station in Delhi, where he was greeted by India’s minister of state for external affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, according…
Which countries have citizens killed or missing after Nepal-Tibet flash flood?
Hundreds of foreigners were in area to work, take guided treks or make pilgrimages when disaster struck Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates Flash floods at the Nepal-Tibet border have killed at least 543 people and more than 1,500 are missing. Hundreds were foreigners in the area to work, take guided treks or make pilgrimages. Thousands have been rescued, with some of the injured taken to hospitals in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. The number of missing may vary because of progress in the ongoing rescue efforts and differences in how data…
Has World War III Already Started?
Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, I wrote a column under the headline “This Is How World War III Begins.” More than four years on, I wonder how much I got right. My argument was based on the origins of World War II, which did not simply start with Germany’s invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. Instead, the war was an accumulation of regional wars and crises, beginning with Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931, which gradually gathered into a single global conflict. That gathering, abetted…