Also, removing up to 5 million barrels of Russian oil and another 2 million barrels of petroleum products from the market — without creating an oil shock — is a complicated task with a questionable chance of success. That is why Western leaders have shied away from it, and in any case, there are still…
This became apparent after the nonreciprocal concessions made to U.S. President Donald Trump on defense spending and trade, as well as Europe’s acceptance of a junior role in handling the war in Ukraine. Moreover, from Gaza to Nagorno-Karabakh, the EU’s involvement in conflicts abroad has become largely irrelevant, either due to its lack of credible…
Under the plan outlined by Starmer, France and the U.K. would lead talks on building a “coalition of the willing” to offer security guarantees to Ukraine in case a cease-fire is reached. The two countries have for weeks been involved in building a proposal to deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine after a hoped-for truce has…
Storm ahead There is still time for Starmer to become either of them. He left the White House under dark clouds — literally — and unanswered questions. Aides later clarified that despite Trump speaking of a trade deal, they were not prioritizing a full-fat free-trade agreement, long coveted in London after Brexit. Starmer, on the…
NATO split Trump’s demand is splitting the alliance’s European nations into three groupings, said Camille Grand, a former NATO assistant secretary-general who’s now a distinguished policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. A “relatively small group” that includes the Baltic nations and Poland is already spending nearly 5 percent of GDP on defense…
Trump has long complained that many NATO allies are free-riding on the U.S. and not spending enough on defense. There is growing talk that the alliance should boost its goal for members to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense to 3 percent. Portugal spends only 1.55 percent of its GDP on…
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he would end the war started by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 in one day. In an attempt to anticipate any upcoming cuts to Ukraine funding, the government of outgoing President Joe Biden is looking to send the last of more than $6 billion…