5 h. ago Trump is no 'strongman' when it comes to Russia or Israel. If other democracies don’t step up, anarchy awaits | Simon Tisdall

Putin and Netanyahu are creating chaos in the vacuum left by a weak US president. But there are still ways to foil themIt is too easy to blame Donald Trump for everything that goes wrong in the world. The ability of any US president to fundamentally change or control the behaviour of other major powers is frequently overestimated. Yet by posing as a sort of uncrowned global monarch and grand arbiter of war and peace, Trump perpetuates fantasies of US hegemony, omnipotence and divine right. Intoxicated by such ego-inflating delusions, he pledged before taking office to swiftly end the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts. Perhaps, in his vanity and hubris, he truly believed he could.Eight months on, the exact opposite is happening. Both crises are expanding and escalating. The bubble has burst, his bluff has been called, the emperor has no clothes – and there is no denying that Trump, by alternately appeasing, excusing and encouraging the two foremost villains of these twin tragedies, is great...

Politics

5 d. ago Trump’s strongman image got boos at the US Open, and perhaps that was the point | Andrew Lawrence

The president’s appearance at the men’s final was met with pushback. But his visit was always about distraction, even if it exposed his flawsIt was just the authoritarian image Donald Trump hoped to project at the US Open: the president himself, looming from Arthur Ashe Stadium’s giant screens like Chairman Mao at Tiananmen Gate, as he stood at attention for the national anthem. But there was no denying that, while the picture was there, the sound clashed. The burst of cheers that went up for his stiff salute on Sunday was quickly drowned out by a chorus of boos made louder from the Ashe roof being closed for rain – perhaps fitting given that many fans had been left to stand in the wet and endure the long security lines that resulted from his attendance. In that awkward five-second moment, as the Stars and Stripes was unfurled on center court, the president smirked at the negative reaction. It surely rang so familiar.Trump’s presence at the US Open men’s final wasn’t just intended a...

Politics

7 d. ago One by one, leaders learn that grovelling to Trump leads to disaster. When will it dawn on Starmer? | Simon Tisdall

As the US president’s state visit looms, he’s leaving a trail of broken promises across the globe. Britain can’t afford to look like a lackey stateSign up for our new weekly newsletter Matters of Opinion, where our columnists and writers will reflect on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading and moreSucking up to Donald Trump never works for long. Narendra Modi is the latest world leader to learn this lesson the hard way. Wooing his “true friend” in the White House, India’s authoritarian prime minister thought he’d conquered Trump’s inconstant heart. The two men hit peak pals in 2019, holding hands at a “Howdy Modi” rally in Texas. But it’s all gone pear-shaped thanks to Trump’s tariffs and dalliance with Pakistan. Like a jilted lover on the rebound, Modi shamelessly threw himself at Vladimir Putin in China last week. Don and Narendra! It’s over! Although, to be honest, it always felt a little shallow.Other suitors for Trump’s slippery hand have suffered similar heartbr...

Politics

1 week ago Impatience in Madrid as Pedro Sánchez puts Europe’s inaction on Gaza in the spotlight

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Spain’s prime minister admitted that the EU’s refusal to hold Israel to account amounts to failure. Plus, Russia’s ‘undeniable interference’Against the scale of civilian slaughter, famine and mounting evidence of war crimes in Gaza, Europe’s political leaders have been passive to the point of complicity, argue many human rights advocates and even former high-ranking EU officials.Now the Spanish prime minister has come close to acknowledging as much. In an interview with the Guardian, Pedro Sánchez characterised Europe’s refusal to act against the Israeli government as a moral and political failure that would damage its global credibility for years to come. Sánchez warned that Europe’s response to “one of the darkest episodes of the 21st century” has been “a failure, absolutely”. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Trump’s belligerence is pushing Xi, Putin and Kim together – and tearing the old world order apart | Simon Tisdall

The three-way partnership on show in Beijing is united in opposition to US hegemony and a western-dominated financial systemSign up for our new weekly newsletter Matters of Opinion, where our columnists and writers will reflect on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading and moreDonald Trump’s first reaction to the disconcerting spectacle of China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un marching side-by-side at a huge military parade in Beijing was, predictably, all about him. This show of solidarity and strength, he complained, was nothing less than an attempt to “conspire” against the United States. Trump likes military parades – his own, that is. Even more, he likes to be on the podium, at the centre of attention. He casts himself as world number one. The images coming out of the Chinese capital this week challenged him on all three counts.This puncturing of Trump’s insecure ego, and the striking feebleness of his response, will greatly grat...

Politics

2 w. ago Kevin Maguire: Twin warlords of death Putin and Netanyahu expose UK's irrelevance

The Mirror's Kevin Maguire says British Government is merely an onlooker as Russia and Israel supporter Donald Trump stays on the wrong side of morality

Events

3 w. ago Martin Rowson on Russian and Israeli preparations for peace talks – cartoon

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