World

Thursday

Owen Matthews

Putin’s trap: how Russia plans to split the western alliance

Though you wouldn’t know from the smiles around the table at the White House this week, a trap has been set by Vladimir Putin designed to split the United States from its European allies. In Washington on Monday, Europe’s leaders, plus Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelensky, agreed with Donald Trump that the killing in Ukraine should and can be ended as soon as possible. They lavished praise on Trump for reaching out to the Kremlin, despite having themselves treated Putin as a pariah for the past three years. And they even enthusiastically applauded the notion of security guarantees similar to Nato’s Article Five ‘all-for-one and one-for-all’ mutual defence clause

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

Why your weight loss jab is ballooning in price

‘A friend of mine who’s slightly overweight, to put it mildly, went to a drug store in London,’ Donald Trump said aboard Air Force One. Earlier he had told reporters: ‘He was able to get one of the fat shots. “I just paid $88 and in New York I paid $1,300. What the hell is going on? It’s the same box, made in the same plant, by the same company.”’ You can see why the dealmaker-in-chief was irked. And when Trump is irked, someone usually pays the price. In May, the President signed an executive order for ‘most-favoured-nation prescription drug pricing for American patients’. It was a warning to drug

Wednesday

Sergey Radchenko

Putin hasn’t made any real concessions yet

After the jaw-dropping spectacle of the Putin-Trump summit in Alaska, there was another full day of theatre on Monday as Trump hosted European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. Yet the results of this three-day diplomatic pageant are embarrassingly modest. In the absence of a breakthrough on this important question, Trump’s diplomacy is little more than a fireworks show One of Trump’s trumpeted achievements is Russia’s alleged agreement to western security guarantees for Ukraine. It was President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff who first announced this breakthrough, with some fanfare, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. ‘We sort of were able to… get an agreement,’ Witkoff

Eliot Wilson

Are British troops prepared to defend Ukraine?

The events of the last few days – the Trump/Putin summit in Anchorage, the visit of European leaders to the White House and the virtual conference of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ – have felt strangely detached and surreal. It has been almost like the anxiety dream of a stressed European diplomat: full of famous faces and sententious words, none of it making much sense. Even summing up the status quo is a challenge. Thanks to President Trump, we know that the idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine is now off the table and branded unnecessary. He has also said that the country will not be admitted to Nato, while

Terry Barnes

Australia’s relations with Israel are in tatters

Australia and Israel are – were – traditional allies. A former leader of Australia’s Labor party and then president of the United Nations General Assembly, Herbert Evatt, played a significant role in the establishment of Israel in 1948. In recent decades, Labor prime minister Bob Hawke was one of Israel’s staunchest international supporters, once observing ‘if the bell tolls for Israel, it tolls for all of us’. That was then. Now, Australia’s Labor government, headed by left-wing prime minister Anthony Albanese, and his factional ally, foreign minister Penny Wong, are clear that their sympathies are no longer with Israel almost two years after the 7 October atrocities. Last week’s decision

Henry Donovan

Can Friedrich Merz save Germany from becoming irrelevant?

Friedrich Merz arrived in Washington this week alongside Europe’s most senior leaders, ostensibly to coordinate the continent’s response to Trump’s Ukraine designs. Here was Germany’s moment to demonstrate the leadership it perpetually claims to seek – a chance to shape the conversation that will determine Europe’s security architecture for years to come. Instead, before the Chancellor could even present his case to the Americans, his own foreign minister Johann Wadephul delivered a masterclass in diplomatic self-sabotage from Berlin. Germany must play ‘an important role’ in any future peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, declared the CDU politician, before categorically ruling out German soldiers on Ukrainian soil. ‘That would presumably overwhelm us,’ he

Edward Howell

Trump must not give Kim Jong-un the recognition he craves

When dealing with rogue states, being pessimistic often means being realistic. The much-anticipated summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin last week allowed the Russian leader to relish the bright Alaskan lights of summitry with Trump, buy the precious commodity of time, all while maintaining his ambition to defeat Ukraine. Amidst this week’s numerous meetings between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a resolution to the Ukraine war remains elusive. But we must not forget that hours before Trump and Putin met in Alaska, another high-level meeting took place in Pyongyang between Kim Jong-un and the Chairman of Russia’s state Duma. It was a stark reminder that ending the Ukraine war on

Tuesday

Madeline Grant

The joy of Giorgia Meloni

There are not, as far as I know, any Italian top-flight poker players. Italians are hardly renowned for their ability to suppress their facial expressions or conceal what they’re really thinking. In this regard they are unusually well-represented by their Premier, Giorgia Meloni. Her visible hatred of Emmanuel Macron is often conveyed through withering stares Upon becoming Italy’s prime minister in 2022, Ms Meloni was written off by the bien-pensant Anglophone press as a far-right extremist, destined for her rag tag coalition to crash like so many Italian governments before. Contra this narrative, she took her seat beside president Trump at the leaders’ round table in Washington DC yesterday. He even

Matthew Lynn

Trump may regret investing in Intel microchips

When President Trump unveils a massive investment in the microchip manufacturer Intel on behalf of the American people it will no doubt be accompanied by all the usual hyperbole. No doubt we will hear all about how it will be the ‘deal of the century’, delivered personally by the ‘investor in chief’. But hold on. Sure, we can understand why the President wants to help one of the US’s most strategic companies. But the blunt truth is that Intel is well past its peak – and it will prove to be a terrible deal.  It will be one of the largest industrial investments the White House has ever made. According

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Hamas’s hostage deal is a catch-22 for Netanyahu

The fragile negotiations between Israel and Hamas have once again entered a decisive phase, marked by the unveiling of a new ceasefire-hostage release proposal brokered by Egypt and Qatar. This proposal, which Hamas has reportedly accepted, includes notable shifts in its previous demands. Yet the core dilemma confronting the Israeli leadership remains unchanged: whether to accept a partial agreement that could save lives in the short term but risks undermining its broader strategic aims. According to multiple sources, Hamas has moderated two of its key positions that previously stalled talks. It is now seeking the release of 140 prisoners serving life sentences instead of 200, and has agreed to a

Jimmy Nicholls

Childfree zealots are anti-humanity

Few things in life are more French than a dispute animée about holidays. While the Spanish enjoy an easy relationship with mañana and the Italians savour il dolce far niente (sweet idleness), the French will incite a riot over any threat to their leisure time faster than you can say faire une pause. It’s therefore little surprise to witness the ardourof government officials in condemning childfree resorts, a rare but growing feature of French holidaymaking. Saint-Delis in Normandy is but one hotel offering an ‘ever more exclusive and peaceful experience’ with ‘absolute relaxation’ for only €334 a night. Much of this comes downstream of intellectual attempts to paint child-rearing as a

Owen Matthews

The Ukraine summit ignored the difficult questions

What a lovely meeting Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies had with Donald Trump. The US President complimented Zelensky on his outfit, German Chancellor Merz on his ‘great tan’, and said that Finnish President Alexander Stubb was ‘looking better than I’ve ever seen you look!’ Everyone – especially Zelensky – laughed uproariously at all Trump’s jokes. And all eight leaders present were at great pains to pretend that they were on the same page when it came to achieving peace in Ukraine.  But there was one small thing missing from this White House festival of bonhomie and mutual flattery, and that was a substantive discussion of the actual nuts and

Monday

Madeline Grant

Trump-Zelensky II went off without a hitch

Not since Barack Obama held a press conference dressed as the Man from Del Monte has a suit played such a critical role in US politics. But there it was, after the spring press conference incident, President Zelensky arrived in Washington DC wearing a suit. The YMCA-loving Trump administration is hardly batting off the accusations of campery given its fixation with menswear. Still, Zelensky came, as did all of Europe.  All the handshakes went off without a hitch, although the size difference meant that the visuals were slightly more redolent of panto than high diplomatic drama. Zelensky handed a letter from his wife to the First Lady, thanking her for

Nicholas Farrell

Is Italy really doing better than Britain?

Dante’s Beach, Ravenna News that Italians now enjoy a higher standard of living than the British made me think: my God, life must be truly awful in Britain. Yes, the Italians do have much to feel good about in terms of the quality of their lives thanks to the beauty of their country, the splendour of their history, culture and cuisine, and their impressive defence of the traditional family and way of life from the threats to them of the modern world. When I’m drinking, I buy a superb local Sangiovese for €2.60 a litre dispensed into plastic mineral water bottles from a huge cask in a wine shop in

Tatyana Kekic

Serbia is descending into violence

Belgrade There are two kinds of Balkan crises: the ones that actually happen, and the ones that feel inevitable until they fizzle out. Serbia’s current descent into street violence and political dysfunction is somewhere in between. Whether it ends in fresh elections, implosion, or continued chaos depends on one man. Sit-ins and marches have given way to nightly clashes between anti-government protesters on one side and pro-regime thugs and riot police on the other. In the past week, long-running student protests against the government of President Aleksandar Vucic have turned into something far less orderly. Sit-ins and marches have given way to nightly clashes between anti-government protesters on one side

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Why Putin wants Donetsk

Will Ukraine’s fate depend on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka? These may not be household names, but they are the four key ‘fortress cities’ in the remaining portions of Donetsk region that Vladimir Putin is reportedly demanding as the price for peace. Although the details are still unclear, it seems that the framework for a peace deal agreed in outline between Putin and Trump would see the Russians agreeing to freeze the current front line. They could maybe even hand back some small sections of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions they have conquered in return for Kyiv surrendering the much larger portion of Donetsk region it still holds. Territorial

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Has France got what it takes to stand up to the Islamists?

In the early 1990s, an underground organisation was launched called the Barbie Liberation Movement (BLM). Its mission statement was a ‘commitment to challenging malign systems’, by which it meant the patriarchy. The BLM was inspired by a talking Barbie doll, launched in 1992, who had 270 platitudes, one of which was ‘math class is tough’. Outraged feminist groups forced Mattel Inc, the makers of Barbie, to remove what they described as a sexist slur. Now, though, may be the hour for the Barbie Liberation Movement to reform and once more fight the patriarchy. This time, however, the patriarchy is different. It no longer consists of ageing white men with their

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Hamas is using Israel’s protests as a weapon of war

Israel is caught in a tragic paradox: the finest qualities that define its national character – its compassion, solidarity, and moral responsibility – are exploited by adversaries who recognise in these virtues not strength, but vulnerability. As over half a million Israelis joined a nationwide strike yesterday, demanding a ceasefire and the return of hostages from Gaza, it was impossible not to be moved by the depth of feeling, the urgency of the appeals, and the sheer moral weight of the demand. Yet what moves one side to tears hardens the heart of the other, moving them to ruthless calculation. The protests are genuine, justified, and born of unbearable grief, but

Eliot Wilson

Starmer’s coalition of the willing has been saved from itself

It is commonplace to accuse politicians of being out of touch. There is often some truth in the charge, and our elected representatives take it on the chin. One of the least likely politicians to face this charge has always been John Healey: the defence secretary has been one of the most sensible and pragmatic ministers in Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet – not a high bar, admittedly. And yet there are signs that he has succumbed to the Ministry of Defence’s corrosive habit of dealing with the world as it wants it to be, not as it is. Our armed forces are in no position to deploy significant numbers of

Sunday

Patrick Gibbons

The uncomfortable history of Narva

The Alaska talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin might have happened on American territory, but the symbolism of their location is a win for the Russian President. Alaska is considerably closer to Russia than it is to the rest of mainland America, and it was once a Russian territory. Putin was returning to a land previously conquered by his people. On Russia’s opposite border, to the west, it is Russia’s imperial past, and Putin’s twisted view of shared history, that worries Europeans. Narva, Estonia’s third largest city, is a strange place, and seems even stranger since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Narva river – from which the city