Starmer Issues Not-So-Subtle Warning To Donald Trump About Putin Ahead Of Peace Talks
The two presidents are due to meet in Alaska on Friday in an attempt to thrash out a deal to end Russia's war with Ukraine.
But Keir Starmer's official spokesman today used strong language to insist that nothing Putin says should be taken at face value.
He said: 'You can never trust President Putin as far as you can throw him.
'We will obviously support President Trump and European nations as we enter these negotiations.
'Any ceasefire cannot just be an opportunity for President Putin to go away, re-arm, restrengthen, and then go again.
'So we're not going to leave it to trust. We're going to ensure that we're prepared such that we achieve a ceasefire.'
Friday's meeting in Alaska will be the first face-to-face talks between Trump and Putin since the US president re-entered the White House in January.
Trump has faced criticism for not inviting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the talks, leading to fears that Kyiv could be forced to give up land to end the war.
The PM's spokesman insisted any deal which is imposed on Ukraine would be unacceptable.
He said: 'Any peace must be secured with Ukraine, not imposed on it. The prime minister has been very clear that the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine.'
The spokesman added: 'There can be no reward for aggression. There can be no compromise on Ukraine sovereignty.'
Meanwhile, a leading think-tank has played down the prospects of a major breakthrough in Friday's talks.
The Institute for the Study of War said Russia 'remains unwilling to compromise on its long-standing war aims of preventing Ukraine from joining Nato, regime change in Ukraine in favour of a pro-Russian proxy government, and Ukraine's demilitarisation – all of which would ensure Ukraine's full capitulation'.
They said Russia 'will very likely violate and weaponise any future ceasefire agreements in Ukraine while blaming Ukraine for the violations as it repeatedly did in spring 2025'.
Related...
Downing Street Warns Trump Not To Force Ukraine To Give Up Land To End Its War With Russia
Vance Claims Trump Broke A Major 'Logjam.' It's Unclear If Putin Will Play Along.
Trump Has Already Handed Putin A Win By Hosting Peace Talks In Alaska
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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How the unraveling of two Pentagon projects may result in a costly do-over
By Alexandra Alper WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump's Navy and Air Force are poised to cancel two nearly complete software projects that took 12 years and well over $800 million combined to develop, work initially aimed at overhauling antiquated human resources systems. The reason for the unusual move: officials at those departments, who have so far put the existing projects on hold, want other firms, including Salesforce and billionaire Peter Thiel's Palantir, to have a chance to win similar projects, which could amount to a costly do-over, according to seven sources familiar with the matter. Trump took office vowing to rid the government of what he calls waste and abuse. The website of the Department of Government Efficiency, the agency he created to spearhead those efforts, lists over $14 billion in Defense Department contracts it claims to have cancelled. But seven months into his presidency, some of his own actions have complicated DOGE's work, from firing the Pentagon's inspector general to issuing an executive order prioritizing speed and risk-taking in defense acquisitions. Coupled with high-level vacancies in the Navy and Air Force that persisted well into the summer, the moves limit oversight of the Pentagon's contracting process and risk wasting hundreds of millions of additional taxpayer dollars as old projects are thrown out and new projects are agreed to, Reuters reporting based on sources, internal emails and documents, shows. 'There is a very real sense that we are in the regulatory Wild West with this administration – and it should come as no surprise that the traditional limits of 'normal contracting' are repeatedly going to be pushed and pressed in this environment,' said Franklin Turner, a federal contracting lawyer at McCarter & English. He said it is legal for the government to terminate any contract "for convenience," but said the Pentagon would be on the hook to reimburse the companies for wind-down costs plus take on the cost of any new replacement project. Trump officials say the administration is striving to make the contracting process more efficient. "Defense Secretary Hegseth is doing a great job restoring a focus on warfighters at the DOD while carrying out the American people's agenda to more effectively steward taxpayer dollars," White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement. Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said the agency is taking "swift action" to fix the "antiquated" defense contracting process by implementing Trump's executive orders. "This is how we will rebuild the military with necessary speed while ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely in the process,' she added. 'STRATEGIC PAUSE' In 2019, Accenture said it had won a contract to expand an HR platform to modernize the payroll, absence management, and other HR functions for the Air Force with Oracle software. The project, which includes other vendors and was later expanded to include Space Force, grew to cost $368 million and was scheduled for its first deployment this summer at the Air Force Academy. An April "status update" on the project conducted by the Air Force and obtained by Reuters described the project as "on track," with initial deployment scheduled for June, noting that it would end up saving the Air Force $39 million annually by allowing it to stop using an older system. But on May 30, Darlene Costello, then-Acting assistant Secretary of the Air Force, sent out a memo placing a "strategic pause" on the project for ninety days and calling for the study of alternate technical solutions, according to a copy of the memo seen by Reuters that was previously unreported. Costello, who has since retired, was reacting to pressure from other Air Force officials who wanted to steer a new HR project to SalesForce and Palantir , three sources said. Palantir co-founder Thiel was an early backer of President Donald Trump and has close ties with key Washington lawmakers, including Vice President JD Vance, whom he supported in a 2022 U.S. Senate race. Palantir in April won a $30 million contract from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to develop an operating system that identifies undocumented immigrants and tracks self-deportations, its largest single award from the agency among 46 federal contract actions since 2011. The Air Force said in a statement that it "is committed to reforming acquisition practices, assessing the acquisition workforce, and identifying opportunities to improve major defense acquisition programs." Accenture, Costello, Palantir and SalesForce did not respond to requests for comment. Space Force, which operates within the Air Force, was set to receive the Air Force's new payroll system in the coming months. But it is also pulling out of the project because officials there want to launch yet another HR platform project to be led by Workday, according to three people familiar with the matter. The service put out a small business tender on May 7 for firms to research HR platform alternatives, with the goal of selecting a company that will recommend Workday as the best option, the people said. Space Force did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Now the Air Force and Space Force "want to start over with vendors that do not meet their requirements, leading to significant duplication and massive costs," said John Weiler, director of the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council, a government-chartered nonprofit group that makes recommendations to improve federal IT contracting. 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Navy leaders instead mandated yet another assessment of project, according to a memo seen by Reuters, leaving it in limbo, two sources said. Cheeseman's reason for trying to kill the project was his anger over a decision by DOGE earlier this year to cancel a $171 million contract for data services provider Pantheon Data that essentially duplicated parts of the HR project. In an email obtained by Reuters, he threatened to withhold funding from the Nakupuna-led project unless the Pantheon contract was restored. "I am beyond exasperated with how this happened," Cheeseman wrote in a May 7 email to Chief Information Officer Jane Rathbun about the contract cancellation, arguing the Pantheon contract was not "duplicative of any effort." "From where I sit, I'm content taking every dime away from NP2 in order to continue this effort," he added in the email. Cheeseman did not respond to a request for comment. Rathbun and Pantheon Data declined to comment. The pausing of NP2 was "unexpected, especially given that multiple comprehensive reviews validated the technical solution as the fastest and most affordable approach," Nakupuna said in a statement, adding it was disappointed by the change because the project was ready to deploy. The Navy said it "continues to prioritize essential personnel resources in support of efforts to strengthen military readiness through fiscal responsibility and departmental efficiency." Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Business Journals
18 minutes ago
- Business Journals
Opportunity Zone tracts that could be in play across Los Angeles
Story Highlights New Opportunity Zone program reduces eligible areas by 26%. Governors must select zones by July 1, 2026. Intense lobbying is expected for limited Opportunity Zone designations. The second iteration of the federal Opportunity Zone program is expected to have fewer zones than its predecessor, potentially sparking intense lobbying efforts to determine which census tracts qualify for the high-stakes designation. The sweeping tax-and-spend legislation enacted last month — President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill — changed the criteria of the previous version of the Opportunity Zone program in a way that ultimately will shrink the number of eligible areas. The program by definition is intended to "spur economic growth and job creation in low-income communities while providing tax benefits to investors." GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events In the original program, passed during President Trump's first term as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, 42,176 census tracts were eligible to become designated Opportunity Zones. Ultimately, governors in each state and territory picked 8,764 of those locations to receive the tax-advantaged investments made possible by the program. In the new version of the Opportunity Zone program, Congress narrowed the definition of "low-income community" to census tracts with a median household income that does not exceed 70% of an area's median income, down from an 80% threshold previously. A census tract also would be eligible if it has a poverty rate above 20%. Congress also removed the ability of governors to nominate census tracts that would not otherwise be eligible but were allowed in the previous edition of the program because they were 'contiguous' to an eligible tract. Eliminating those tracts in the program's new version shrinks the eligibility pool even further. The federal government has not yet published an official list of eligible tracts under the new law. But, according to an analysis of census tracts and the most recently available poverty data by The Business Journals, about 26,000 tracts appear to meet the eligibility criteria for an Opportunity Zone designation under the parameters of the revamped program. If governors were to then pick the maximum-allowed 25% of those sites to be Opportunity Zones, that would mean about 6,500 zones in the program — a nearly 26% drop from the number of available sites in the program's first iteration. That figure is in line with other estimates that have found the number of eligible Opportunity Zones could fall by more than 20% under the new law. To determine the estimated number of zones that could be available locally under the new version of the program, The Business Journals analyzed the 2025 Census Bureau list of all tracts and applied the new eligibility rules to those tracts. The analysis included poverty rate data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. In and around Los Angeles, more than 1,300 census tracts appear to qualify under the new criteria. Here's a look at the number of eligible tracts by county, according to The Business Journals' analysis: Los Angeles County: 846 tracts San Bernardino County: 159 Orange County: 138 Riverside County: 131 Ventura County: 44 New rules expected to fuel fights For Jacob Naig, a real estate agent, contractor and Opportunity Zone investor in Des Moines, Iowa, having fewer tracts means every mayor, chamber of commerce official and developers' coalition is going to have to fight harder to ensure their areas are included in the program. 'Look for polished census tract pitch decks, not only letters from governors' offices," Naig said in an email. "In Iowa, I can already see Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport and who knows where else jockeying for a limited pool of urban tracts, while rural counties protest that they were forgotten last time and need a carve‑out.' Naig said there also are upsides to fewer Opportunity Zones. The changes should ensure that capital can go to truly distressed regions and not so-called 'tourist' areas as in the previous version of the program — places where no subsidy was truly needed to get developers to build. He also thinks states will devise clearer, more-transparent scoring rubrics, such as highlighting jobs or vacancy rates, to protect Opportunity Zone nominations from political blowback. He anticipates cities and states will pile on additional benefits such as facade grants, expedited permitting or special taxation zones, as well. 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Harris County (Houston) in Texas has 526 eligible tracts, followed by New York's Kings County (Brooklyn) and Wayne County (Detroit) in Michigan. What will change for the program The new Opportunity Zone program calls for governors to identify their targeted sites by July 1, 2026, and for the program to officially open for investment on Jan. 1, 2027. That might seem like a lengthy timeline, but experts say business owners, landowners, investors and local-government officials should be taking action now — especially since the sun-up to designating new zones is likely to be a time of intense lobbying. Blake Christian, CEO at builder MIT Modular and an Opportunity Zone expert, said lobbying during the first round of the Opportunity Zone program was not pronounced because people were less aware of the full scope of the program and its potential. Governors ended up picking tracts that were already developed or were poorly suited to attract investment. Not this time, Christian said. 'Local lobbying has already begun, and with rural census tracts now more directly competing with urban areas, governors will be getting more public input than they may want,' Christian said. The original Opportunity Zones program saw about $89 billion in qualifying equity investments across 5,600 census tracts through the end of 2022, according to a working paper by the Economic Innovation Group — with expectations those investments will eventually total more than $100 billion. The group additionally noted that Opportunity Zones ultimately were responsible for a net increase of 313,000 housing units over a five-year period. Ahmed Whitt, director of the Center for Wealth Equity at Living Cities, said the new limitations on eligibility will likely discourage some real estate projects that contributed to the issues of gentrification and oversupply that plagued the program previously. 'We'll see more-intense lobbying, especially for select urban neighborhoods,' Whitt said. 'Still overall, the changes in 2.0 are likely to create a more-effective program by focusing on areas that truly need both investment and have growth potential.' Stay on top of the latest real estate news by signing up for The National Observer: Real Estate Edition.
Axios
18 minutes ago
- Axios
Defense industry is filling the Golden Dome vacuum
Golden Dome is the most publicly discussed U.S. defense project in years — except by the people commissioning it. The big picture: The Trump administration is mum about its $175 billion hemispheric missile shield, but U.S. defense contractors are maneuvering and messaging as they seek a piece of the action. Driving the news: Golden Dome was verboten for certain speakers on stage at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, last week. It was a different scene, though, in the hallways and at the happy hours. Check this split-screen: From industry: Ads. Announcements. News hits. Sci-fi-style graphics with colorful grids, dramatic missile arcs and explosions. Promises. From the Pentagon: Very little, as headline after headline after headline made clear. As Breaking Defense put it: "The first rule of Golden Dome is don't talk about Golden Dome." The intrigue: There is engagement — it's just behind closed doors. And contractors are pushing forward while still deciphering what, exactly, the administration wants and the military needs. Here are some of the latest examples: Lockheed Martin launched a command-and-control incubator in Virginia to work on battle management, mission planning and AI integration. The company is also planning a test of space-based interceptors by 2028, according to Robert Lightfoot, who leads the company's space efforts. Peraton is eyeing a "system of systems integration approach" while leaning on its offensive and defensive cyber expertise, Milton Carroll, vice president of business development for space and intelligence, told Axios. "We don't build space assets," he said. "We don't build radars." AV and Sierra Nevada Corporation teamed up. Their announcement specifically mentioned sensors, directed energy and electronic warfare, as well as drone and missile defense. And L3Harris Technologies named Rob Mitrevski president of Golden Dome strategy and integration, a new role. The company is already involved with the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor program, namedropped in President Trump's original decree. Between the lines: Tom Karako, a missile-defense expert at CSIS, told Axios on the sidelines of the symposium that Pentagon silence is "probably temporary" and based on "internal machinations around public affairs." In the meantime? "We've got to create the consensus, and we've got to create the shared understanding of what is it that we're doing here and why," he said. "That's why my message is … Golden Dome: Start talking."
