Tariffs on India's oil imports big blow to Moscow, says Trump ahead of Alaska talks
The president pointed directly to India's energy purchases from Russia as a pressure point. "Doesn't help when the President of the United States tells their largest or second-largest oil buyer that we're putting a 50% tariff on you if you buy oil from Russia. That was a big blow," Trump said, in an apparent reference to India. Trump administration has imposed 25% reciprocal tariffs on India, plus an additional 25% levy on its purchases of Russian oil -- a total 50% tariff. India strongly condemned the tariff hike, calling it "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable."TRUMP, PUTIN TO MEET IN ALASKA FOR PEACE TALKSThe US president confirmed that he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. "I thought it was very respectful that the President of Russia is coming to our country, as opposed to us going to his country or even a third-party place. But I think we'll have constructive conversations," he said.#WATCH | Washington, DC | On Russia-Ukraine war and meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump says, "This could have been a third world war... I thought it was very respectful that the president of Russia is coming to our country, as opposed to us pic.twitter.com/rrOyuRkFTG— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2025He added that he plans to engage with European leaders after the meeting and wants to facilitate talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Trump also claimed that he has solved five wars so far in his second term in the White House and again claimed he stopped the conflict between India and Pakistan. However, India has repeatedly said the ceasefire understanding with Pakistan was reached after direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations of both militaries.- EndsWith inputs from agenciesTune InMust Watch
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Hindustan Times
16 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
‘Bedroom jihadis' emerge as threat in J&K: ‘Digital is the new battlefront'
Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir claim to have uncovered a new kind of threat, quite unlike the armed terrorist but emblematic of the times. 'Bedroom jihadis' — termed thus for they use social media from the safety of their homes to incite communal discord — form the nub of a renewed cross-border effort from Pakistan to destabilise the region, officials told news agency PTI. "After years of fighting armed terrorists, security agencies have been facing this hidden enemy in which these new-age jihadis use computers and smartphones," an official was quoted as saying.(Pixabay) A network of social media handles controlled by terror groups in Pakistan was pinpointed in a special investigation. They have been intruding local digital spaces and fueling them with inflammatory content and propaganda. "After years of fighting armed terrorists, security agencies have been facing this hidden enemy in which these new-age jihadis use computers and smartphones to wage war from just about anywhere, spreading rumours and influencing youths," an official in the know of the developments was quoted as saying by PTI. A similar trend emerged eight years ago, in 2017, but died down in the crackdown after the abrogation of special status of the state, and its convresion to UT, in 2019. But the "bedroom jihadis" have surfaced again after the assembly elections last year, officials told PTI. Their aim is possibly yo destablise the elected government, the officials said. As part of the investigation over several weeks, security agencies scrutinised thousands of posts, comments and private messages. An instance thay cite was the recent Muharram, observed by the Shia community, when there was tension between the two sects of the Muslim community — the other being Sunni — over a social media post. Another was when personal details of Kashmiri Pandit migrants appointed under a central rehabilitation scheme were leaked. The police had arrested a local man who had allegedly been directed from across the border to do this. "Anyone sitting on his bed or sofa can plant fake news in one of the thousand chat groups, and the entire Union Territory can plunge into communal divide," said an official involved with the probe. Many X (formerly Twitter) users have created fake accounts to spread fake narratives being peddled from across the border, the official further told PTI. "It is like finding a needle in a haystack, but nevertheless effective policing has led to blocking or nabbing such elements," another official said. The reach of these chat groups and social media posts extends beyond Jammu and Kashmir, with participation from youngsters in Delhi and abroad, he added. "The digital battlefield is increasingly becoming a front where external forces seek to destabilise the region by exploiting local tensions," former director general of police, J&K, Kuldeep Khoda told the news agency.
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First Post
18 minutes ago
- First Post
Trump 2.0 and the end of strategic trust: Why Bharat must prepare for a long separation from America
Donald Trump's foreign policy, defined by personal deal-making rather than institutional continuity, has tilted sharply toward Pakistan—driven less by geopolitical considerations and necessities than by the overlapping business interests of his family, friends, and close associates read more For decades, the Bharat-United States relationship—built painstakingly across several administrations, especially in the last 25 years—operated on a certain baseline of strategic trust. Even when disagreements arose, a bipartisan consensus in Washington recognised Delhi as an indispensable partner in not just balancing China but also stabilising the Indo-Pacific. But in Donald Trump's second term, this consensus seems to have been shattered. His foreign policy, defined by personal deal-making rather than institutional continuity, has tilted sharply toward Pakistan—driven less by geopolitical considerations and necessities than by the overlapping business interests of his family, friends, and close associates. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The clearest sign of Pakistan's growing closeness to the United States has come with two high-profile visits to Washington by Field Marshal Asim Munir in as many months. Such access is rare for an Asian military leader, rarer still for one from a country the US has long viewed through the prism of counterterrorism and aid dependency. But in Trump's presidency, Munir's military credentials are only part of the attraction; his economic utility is far more significant. This shift has produced one disquieting outcome—an unambiguous American tilt toward Pakistan. And this preference, rooted in personal financial networks rather than traditional diplomacy, makes it unlikely that Trump will seek to normalise relations with Bharat anytime soon. Worse, the repercussions may very well extend beyond his presidency. In just six months, Trump has rewritten the rules of American statecraft. Allies and adversaries are no longer defined by shared values or strategic need but by whether they can offer him, his family, or those around him a lucrative offer—and a headline-grabbing deal for the state. If the offer/deal is worthwhile, a country is a friend. If not, it risks being treated as a pariah/rival. A banana republic like Pakistan fits in well in this game of loot and scoot. An eminent democracy like Bharat doesn't. Trump's Dubious Pakistani Links Jared Kushner was among the first in the Donald Trump orbit to cultivate influence in West Asia, working closely with Saudi Arabia during Trump's first term. After leaving the White House, his private equity firm secured a $2 billion 'investment' from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. A New York Times article, 'The Wooing of Jared Kushner: How the Saudis Got a Friend in the White House' (December 8, 2018), details how Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman courted Kushner to advance his 'hawkish regional agenda and consolidate his own power'. Based on documents, emails, and texts, the report shows that a Saudi delegation—visiting the US the very month Trump was first elected—identified Kushner 'as a crucial focal point in the courtship of the new administration'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump secured his second tenure on November 5, 2024. The very next day, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Field Marshal Asim Munir, then Pakistan's army chief, in Riyadh. Many analysts link this meeting directly to the Trump-Munir rapport, viewing it as the starting point of their relationship. The connection deepened in April 2025, when Pakistan's newly formed Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) signed a landmark agreement with World Liberty Financial (WLF)—a cryptocurrency firm majority-owned by Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump, and Jared Kushner. The deal came just days after a deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22. The timing was conspicuous, and the links unmistakable. WLF's flagship product, the USD1 stablecoin, operates on Binance's blockchain. Binance was founded by Changpeng Zhao, who, as per Forbes, was ranked the 24th-richest person in the world and second-richest Canadian, with a net worth of $64.8 billion in May 2025. Interestingly, on April 7, 2025, Zhao—who was once convicted in the US for money laundering—was appointed by Pakistan's Finance Ministry as a strategic adviser to the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC), a regulatory body to oversee and promote blockchain technology in that country. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump's Pakistan connection is further bolstered by his long-time real estate partner, Steven Charles Witkoff, and his sons—Zach and Alexander. The Witcoffs co-founded WLF in 2024, of which the Trump family owns 60 per cent of the shares. Steven Witkoff is Trump's main adviser in West Asia. He has developed deep connections in the ruling and business classes of the region, which were further strengthened by his close association with the US President. The presence of the Witcoffs has helped the Trumps spread their business deals across West Asia. A Reuters article, 'Trump's stablecoin chosen for $2 billion Abu Dhabi investment in Binance, co-founder says' (May 2, 2025), reports how a stablecoin launched by Trump's WLF 'is being used by an Abu Dhabi investment firm for its $2 billion investment in crypto exchange Binance', run by Changpeng Zhao. The report adds, 'The use of USD1 in the deal highlights World Liberty's growing clout in the global crypto industry, and its ties to Binance.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD WLF may be less than 20 months old, but it has already courted controversies. A New York Times investigation has found the company offering endorsements to cryptocurrency firms in exchange for payments of $10–30 million, while pocketing most of the funds. The Trump saga doesn't just end with WLF. Texas investor Gentry Beach, a close friend of Trump Jr, too, has deep Pakistan connections, though he has also courted Bangladesh and Turkey for his ventures. As per media reports, Beach visited Pakistan on January 30, 2025, within a fortnight of Trump taking office for the second time. He went there as chairman of a firm called White Bridge Global. The visit was organised by Pakistan's Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC). Interestingly, top military officials, including Field Marshal Asim Munir, are on the SIFC. White Bridge has reportedly signed a deal in Pakistan to explore placer gold deposits near the Indus River. It has also signed luxury real estate deals in the country. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD During his meeting with Prime Minister Sharif, Beach reportedly said, 'America cares about Pakistan… You are our front face in the entire region.' How prophetic were his words! Then, there is Omeed Malik, born to a Pakistani father and Iranian mother. Malik is the co-founder of 1789 Capital with Trump Jr. In an article, 'Meet Don Jr's New Boss', published in the New York Post on November 22, 2024, Malik is showcased as the brain behind the 'idea for a 'parallel economy'—a kind of Brexit for conservatives from corporate America, which he saw tilting inexorably into wokeness'. Those who know Malik say that he has created a sort of conservative deep state within the United States that now supports Trump against the traditional deep state, which distrusts the Donald. Donald Trump has used his time between the first and the second presidencies to create new connections globally to set up his own deep state ecosystem, with his Rockbridge Network as the nerve centre. This conservative deep state may be opposed to the traditional deep state of America, but it continues to carry forward the distrust for Bharat. Thus, this new deep state—just like the Leftist deep state—has deep links with Pakistan, Bangladesh, and West Asia. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD An Alternative World Order Bharat, in Trump 2.0, thus had no chance, given the personalised objectives and expectations the new president came to power with. This aspect becomes glaring in comparison to autocratic countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the countries of West Asia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharat, being a responsible and responsive democracy, insists on transparent processes and guards its strategic autonomy. It cannot offer such depredatory concessions, making it a bad fit for Trump's loot-and-scoot policies. Trump's public derision of Bharat, his punitive tariffs, and his warm embrace of Pakistan's military leadership have left a deep scar in New Delhi. Even if relations improve on the surface, the trust that took decades to build has taken a massive beating. This mistrust won't vanish when Trump leaves office. To make matters worse, America now has two deep states, which stand opposed to each other, but on Bharat they have a common worldview: It's inimical to Delhi and seeks alliance with Islamabad. This foreign policy would ultimately backfire on America, but when the country is led by those obsessed with forwarding personal wellbeing and family businesses, the nation becomes the casualty. The US President, with his Trump-first policy, has signed the death pact for Pax Americana. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD For Bharat, the strategic lesson is clear: First, the United States is not a dependable partner. Second, New Delhi must start looking for an alternative world order, as the US-led Western order remains innately biased towards the white world. This Western doublespeak was evident at the start of the Ukraine war when a large section of the Western world was abhorred to see the Ukrainian plight, while far more cataclysmic events in Afghanistan, Sudan, and elsewhere in the Global South went largely unheeded. Historically, it's not coincidental that the only case of nuclear catastrophe was seen in an Asian country even when World War II was largely the creation of one European nation. One can just imagine the reaction in the Western world had the US dropped a nuclear bomb on a White Christian state! Bharat must use the occasion to create a coalition of dharmic states—countries across East and Southeast Asia with deep historical and cultural ties with Bharat. From China, Japan, and Mongolia to Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia, these connections provide a foundation for a civilisational alliance that can complement, not replace, India's other partnerships. This, however, doesn't mean Bharat can become oblivious to Chinese perfidy. The Trumpian emergency has forced Bharat and China to come closer and look beyond obvious differences, but this doesn't mean Delhi can—and should—let its guard down, for that would come at great national cost. Beyond this civilisational bloc, outreach to Brics partners like Russia, South Africa, and Brazil can reinforce Bharat's multipolar strategy. This approach is not driven by sentiment alone. The global balance of power is shifting. Brics now surpasses the G7 in purchasing power parity. The world's 'unipolar moment' is over; Pax Americana is in decline. Trump's foreign policy accelerates this decline by eroding American credibility. For India, that volatility is a reason to engage more deeply with Asia, Africa, and Latin America, to invest in strategic infrastructure abroad, and to expand trade with economies that share an interest in a balanced world order. Bharat's challenge is to turn the Trumpian turbulence into an opportunity—to globalise Delhi's partnerships, deepen its civilisational connections, and act as a confident pole in an increasingly disrupted multipolar world. The path to success is often tough, treacherous, and lonely. Trump has just shown that to Bharat. And the country should be grateful to him for imparting this timely lesson. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
Hindustan Times
18 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
How Trump Is Expanding the Role of the American Military on U.S. Soil
President Trump's decision to deploy National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., is his boldest move to date to expand the use of military power on U.S. soil. President Trump announced that he will deploy National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to combat crime rates. WSJ's Meridith McGraw explains the announcement and what it means for the city. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/ZUMA Press/Andrew Leyden/ZUMA Press The deployment of 800 National Guard troops to Washington, which the president alleges has been 'overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals,' amplifies the law-and-order themes that play well with his political base. He buttressed this announcement Monday by effectively federalizing the Washington police department, putting it under the control of the Trump administration. In making these moves, he alleged the actions were warranted for a number of reasons that ranged from crime to homelessness. The announcement was the latest in a series of moves by Trump to push the boundaries of how U.S. troops can be deployed in American territory, triggering a fierce legal debate over the U.S. military's expanding footprint at home. Trump is also using U.S. military bases for migrant detention centers and has deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles and on the Southern U.S. border. 'The most benign interpretation is that this is an attempt to gain a public-relations victory by claiming credit for the already historically low crime rates in D.C.,' said Carrie Lee, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund and a former professor at the U.S. Army War College. 'The worst-case interpretation is that it is a test run for more legally dubious uses of military forces in other American cities.' The same day as Trump's announcement about the National Guard in D.C., a federal trial began in San Francisco over California Gov. Gavin Newsom's challenge to Trump's move to federalize state National Guard units there two months ago. The case might be the opening salvo in a much broader battle over the use of military force in the nation's streets when the president's claims of emergency are widely disputed. Trump has long leaned on the threat of using U.S. military force to respond to domestic problems. In the first administration, chief of staff John Kelly told others that one of his biggest challenges was dissuading the president from using the military on U.S. soil. He said that Trump didn't understand that the military was only meant to be deployed domestically in rare circumstances, according to a person familiar with the exchanges. After returning to the White House earlier this year, Trump increasingly began to notice homeless encampments when his motorcade drove through the city to go to his golf course in Sterling or to the Kennedy Center, according to a senior administration official. 'He's staying in D.C. a lot more this term, and he pays attention to the news in D.C.,' the person said. Trump raised the issue of crime and graffiti with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser during the transition and closely followed a spate of crimes over the July 4 weekend, repeatedly raising the topic of crime with top aides, including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. For nearly 150 years, the Posse Comitatus Act has sharply limited the military's role in domestic law enforcement, barring it from policing civilians except in rare, legally defined cases. Since Trump returned to the White House in January, he has deployed the National Guard and U.S. military on domestic soil several times. In June, Trump deployed U.S. Marines and California National Guard troops to Los Angeles when demonstrators protested the role of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents' arrests of suspected illegal immigrants, leading to confrontations with law enforcement. On the U.S.-Mexico border, where active-duty U.S. and National Guard soldiers have been deployed, troops have detained migrants inside a newly declared 'National Defense Area,' and U.S. Air Force planes have also been used to ferry detainees out of the country. A rally on Monday. protesting the Trump administration's federal takeover of the District of Columbia. Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers that military bases in New Jersey and Indiana would be used to house detainees suspected of being illegal immigrants who would be overseen by the Department of Homeland Security. That would enlarge the network of military facilities for detained migrants, which has included U.S. military bases at Fort Bliss, Texas, and Guantanamo, Cuba, which have already been used to hold detainees. While Trump activated all 800 members of the D.C. National Guard, only 100 to 200 soldiers will be supporting law enforcement at any given time, according to an Army statement. Army spokesman Dave Butler said they would not come in direct contact with civilians and only provide a presence to deter criminals, as well as administrative and logistical support to law enforcement. D.C. officials say violent crime last year was at a 30 year low. A tent in Washington, D.C., on Monday. President Trump has pointed to homelessness as a reason to deploy troops. While U.S. troops deployed to Los Angeles were only meant to protect federal buildings, their role was broadened to escorting ICE agents during their arrests of suspected illegal immigrants. It also turned out to be open-ended—while they were initially meant to stay in Los Angeles for 60 days, the Pentagon recently issued a new activation order to extend their deployment through early November. Only several hundred of the nearly 5,000 National Guard troops sent to the city remain, mostly limited to two locations with federal buildings in Los Angeles. It isn't clear how long the National Guard will be deployed to Washington. 'These missions are highly fraught for the military, and whether they turn out well or poorly depends on the implementation details that are still murky,' Peter Feaver, a professor of political science and public policy at Duke University, said of Trump's decision. 'The closer the implementation details come to traditional police work, the more problematic—both legally and operationally—it is for the military.' Previous presidents have deployed the National Guard to quell large-scale civil unrest, as was done in 1968 when riots erupted in Washington, D.C. following the assassination of Martin Luther King. Invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, President Lyndon Johnson deployed 1,750 National Guardsmen and more than 11,000 active duty troops to support the beleaguered D.C. police forces. The laws pertaining to the District of Columbia grant Trump authority for using the National Guard that goes beyond what he enjoys in the rest of the country. The president has direct control over D.C. National Guard without taking steps to federalize the troops, as it required in U.S. states. 'D.C. has long been unique both politically and legally, even compared to other federal territories. The president has direct control of the D.C. National Guard in a way that he doesn't have other National Guards, including Guam's,' said Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. 'The larger issue is the possibility that we become desensitized to the prospect of a U.S. president putting troops in D.C. for entirely invented reasons.' Write to Michael R. Gordon at Vera Bergengruen at and Lara Seligman at
