39 h. ago America is over neoliberalism and neoconservatism. Trump is not | Samuel Moyn

Between his so-called ‘big, beautiful bill’ and his bombing of Iran, Trump has confirmed he is a man of a familiar pastThe convergence of the US Senate’s passage of Donald Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” in domestic policy with his strike on Iran in foreign policy has finally resolved the meaning of his presidency. His place in history is now clear. His rise, like that of a reawakened left, indicated that America is ready to move on from its long era of neoliberalism and neoconservatism. In office, Trump has blocked the exits by doubling down on both.The first of those slurs, neoliberalism, refers to the commitment across the political spectrum to use government to protect markets and their hierarchies, rather than to moderate or undo them. The second, neoconservatism, is epitomized by a belligerent and militaristic foreign policy. The domestic policy bill now making its way through Congress, with its payoff to the rich and punishment of the poor, is a monument to neoliberal...

Politics

45 h. ago Judge blocks Trump’s asylum ban at southern border saying he exceeded authority

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that an executive order by President Donald Trump suspending asylum access at the southern border is unlawful

Events

53 h. ago Judge blocks order barring asylum access at border and gives administration two weeks to appeal

A federal judge has ruled that an executive order by President Donald Trump suspending asylum access at the southern border is unlawful

Events

4 d. ago BBC response to Bob Vylan’s IDF chants at Glastonbury ‘not good enough’, says minister

Jacqui Smith says live broadcast should have been pulled, but rapper stands by performance calling for ‘change in foreign policy’UK politics live – latest updatesOn-screen warnings issued by the BBC about discriminatory language during Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set were “not good enough”, a minister has said.The BBC is facing questions after the musician Bobby Vylan – of the punk-rap duo Bob Vylan – led crowds at the festival’s West Holts stage in chants of “Free, free Palestine” and “Death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]” on Saturday. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Home discomforts send Trump rushing to project image of global patriarch

The tortured progress of the president’s tax-and-spend bill is likely to bring his supporters a big, ugly surprise – little wonder he was so keen to turn the focus to Iran and Nato“Daddy’s home.” So said a social media post from the White House, accompanied by a video featuring the song Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home) by Usher and images of Donald Trump at the Nato summit in The Hague.The US president’s fundraising allies were quick to market $35 T-shirts with his image and the word after Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, referred to Trump’s criticism of Israel and Iran over violations of a ceasefire by quipping: “And then Daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get [them to] stop.” Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago US attacks on Iran redraw calculus of use of force for allies and rivals around globe

Perceived readiness of US to employ force instead of negotiations could have knock-on effects around the worldUS politics live – latest updatesFor US allies and rivals around the world, Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran have redrawn the calculus of the White House’s readiness to use force in the kind of direct interventions that the president said he would make a thing of the past under his isolationist “America First” foreign policy.From Russia and China to Europe and across the global south, the president’s decision to launch the largest strategic bombing strike in US history indicates a White House that is ready to employ force abroad – but reluctantly and under the extremely temperamental and unpredictable leadership of the president. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago I’m glad we have rules. I just don’t expect people to follow them | Dave Schilling

On traffic safety or foreign policy, I get through life by assuming the worst – and occasionally being pleasantly surprisedRules are great. I think most of us over the age of five will agree that having them is preferable to not. Perhaps there are a few stragglers out there reading this who would love to cosplay a lesser sequel of The Purge, swinging baseball bats at strangers and urinating in the street, but I would imagine you are in the minority on that. Rules are the backbone of what we have left of society. I’m not happy about where we are, but I don’t make the rules. At least not yet. I just need to host a popular reality show – then my political career can really take off.A recent interaction has me reflecting on this. I was wandering over to my local coffee shop one morning, off a wide boulevard where motorists scream through intersections like the car from Ghostbusters late for a particularly aggressive haunting. A crosswalk, with accompanying yellow yield light, was recent...

Politics

1 week ago Labour law chief says international law 'at heart of UK foreign policy under Starmer' amid row over tepid support for US attack on Iran's nukes

Lord Hermer said ministers were 'united' on the need to comply with 'with all forms of law', saying it was vital to revitalising the UK on the world stage.

Events

1 week ago With Andrew Cuomo, Democrats are doing a disastrous imitation of Trump | Moira Donegan

The former governor, now a New York City mayoral candidate, marks the party’s drift into boorishness and crueltyAs the far right has gained ascendancy, and the 2024 election is historicized as a blowout victory for Donald Trump rather than the relatively close contest that it actually was, members of the Democratic establishment and party leadership seem to be settling on the lesson that they will take into the second decade of the Trump era: if you can’t beat him, imitate him.It’s long been the impulse of the party to move right, chasing Republican victories by replicating Republican policy positions, and since their loss last November many Democrats have followed in this decades-old tradition, shifting their rhetoric still further rightward on border policy, crypto, foreign policy, trans rights and DEI. They respond to polling and to a vague sense of the cultural zeitgeist, aiming less to persuade than to imitate. Often, Democrats seem as if they are not offering a different polic...

Politics

1 week ago ROBERT HARDMAN: I was in the midst of a mob of deluded conspiracy theorists united by a loathing of Israel, Trump and UK foreign policy

At one end of Whitehall, the Government was solemnly announcing plans to add the direct action group Palestine Action to the UK's current list of 81 proscribed terrorist organisations.

Politics

1 week ago EU may take action against Israel if conditions in Gaza do not improve

Bloc’s foreign affairs chief warns of a response unless action is taken to ‘stop the suffering’ in Gaza Strip The EU may take action to increase pressure on Israel unless there are “concrete” improvements for the inhabitants of Gaza, its foreign policy chief has said.After meeting the bloc’s foreign ministers in Brussels, Kaja Kallas said it was “very clear” that Israel had breached its human rights commitments in Gaza and the West Bank. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Iran says US ‘must receive a response’ after Trump’s strikes on nuclear sites

Pentagon claims major damage inflicted, world leaders call for restraint and Israel continues to strike Iranian targetsMiddle East crisis – latest updatesIran has warned the US to brace for retaliation after Donald Trump’s administration joined Israel in its war against Tehran, tearing up his isolationist foreign policy and launching the most consequential intervention in a conflict in a generation.Almost a day after US strikes targeting three key Iranian nuclear sites, Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, told France’s Emmanuel Macron: “The Americans must receive a response to their aggression,” signalling a potential Iranian reprisal that could drag the US into a new, protracted conflict in the Middle East. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago EU cites ‘indications’ Israel is breaching human rights obligations over conduct in Gaza

Leaked document marks significant moment in relations with ally but stops short of calling for immediate sanctionsMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe EU has said “there are indications” that Israel is in breach of human rights obligations over its conduct in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for immediate sanctions.“There are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations under article 2 of the EU-Israel association agreement,” states a leaked document from the EU’s foreign policy service, seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Judge rules Trump administration can't require states to help on immigration to get transport money

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from withholding billions of dollars in transportation funds from states that don’t agree to participate in some immigration enforcement actions

Politics

2 w. ago Europeans may as well start learning Russian if Ukraine does not get more support, Kaja Kallas warns – Europe live

EU foreign policy chief says Russia is a direct threat to Europe and has plan for long term aggressionMeanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin is set to take questions from international journalists on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Associated Press reported.Putin scheduled a roundtable session with senior news leaders of international news agencies, including the Associated Press.On Ukraine, the European Union is doing its part here too, not least because Ukraine is Europe’s first line of defence. We know that Russia responds to strength and nothing else.We have to do more for Ukraine, for our own security too.To quote my friend Nato secretary general Mark Rutte: if we don’t help Ukraine further, we should all start learning Russian. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Trump cannot avoid the question much longer – is he going to join Israel’s war or not? | Rajan Menon

If he does nothing, the US president may alienate Israel’s fervent American allies. If he intervenes, he’ll undermine his own foreign policyDuring his three presidential campaigns, Donald Trump ran as an opponent of serial military interventions and wars of “regime change” à la Iraq and Libya, which neoconservatives and liberal internationalists alike had embraced after the end of the cold war. He correctly sensed that many Americans had tired of “forever wars”.Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Iran is a watershed moment for Trump. It will force him to reveal whether he truly represents a clean break with the foreign policy establishment, often referred to as “the blob”, or is in fact a continuation of it. It all depends on whether he decides to join Israel’s attacks on Iran.Rajan Menon is a professor emeritus of international relations at the City College of New York and a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Netanyahu outplayed Trump on Iran. Now the US risks being mired in another war | Mohamad Bazzi

If Trump wants to be the peacemaker he claims to be, he must negotiate a new deal with TehranBefore dawn on Friday, Israel unleashed a wave of air strikes against more than 100 targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and air defense systems. The surprise Israeli attack also killed some of Iran’s most senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. The Iranian regime called it a “declaration of war” – and western powers raced to prevent a wider regional conflict that could draw in the US along with other countries in the Middle East.While the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, claims that he’s trying to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the attack is as much intended to blow up ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Donald Trump’s administration. While Trump’s overall foreign policy has been a disaster, for months he had resisted Netanyahu’s pleas to give Israel a green light to attack Iran, with US assistance. Trump insiste...

Events

3 w. ago Donald Trump is losing control of American foreign policy | Christopher S Chivvis

After Israel’s attacks on Iran and Ukraine’s on Russia, it is time the administration finds discipline and focus to regain authority of its foreign policyIran and the US have stood at a crossroads in recent weeks. Down one path lay negotiations that, while difficult, promised benefits to the citizens of both countries. Down the other path, a protracted war that promised little more than destruction.Back in 2018, Donald Trump had blocked the diplomatic path by tearing up the existing nuclear agreement with Iran – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. But since beginning his second term in January he has been surprisingly open to negotiations with Tehran. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, seemed ready to go along. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago MIKEY SMITH: 6 wild and unexpected Donald Trump moments as judge rules he acted illegally

Trump plans to meet with top security officials in the Situation Room at around 4pm UK time. Which means it will have been 15 hours before he responds to Israel's attack on Iran

Events

3 w. ago Putin mocking Trump with attacks on Ukraine, Poland says, as European foreign ministers meet for defence talks – Europe live

Ministers to discuss Weimar+ model joined by Nato secretary general and EU foreign policy chief ahead of Nato summit later this monthEuropean foreign ministers are now arriving in Rome for their Weimar+ meeting on security and Ukraine.Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said his country needs “at least 10 years” to raise defence spending and comply with new targets to be agreed by Nato, adding that a deal on them could soon be reached, Reuters reported. Continue reading...

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