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ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Will Trump strike a 'land swap' deal with Putin?
Sam Hawley: Donald Trump wants to win a Nobel Peace Prize and so he's desperate to end the war in Ukraine. At the end of the week, he's meeting the Russian president in the first face-to-face encounter the two men have had since Trump returned to the White House. The problem is, the Ukrainian leader won't be there. Today, international relations expert Rajan Menon on Trump's theatrics and what the summit will really achieve. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Sam Hawley: Rajan, here we go again. Donald Trump negotiating with Vladimir Putin. News report: What could be the mother of all summits, a face-to-face meeting between the US president Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. News report: Vladimir Putin is coming to America. The Russian president will meet Donald Trump in the US state of Alaska in talks designed to move Putin closer to a peace deal with Ukraine. News report: US president Donald Trump has warned that a land swap could form part of a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine. Donald Trump, US President: We're going to get some back, we're going to get some switched. There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both. Sam Hawley: What a turnaround because a few weeks ago he was threatening sanctions against him, wasn't he? Rajan Menon: Yes, it is a remarkable turnaround. It comes, as you know, right on the heels of Steve Witkoff's recent visit to Moscow, his fifth visit, Witkoff being Trump's special envoy both to Russia and the Middle East. And I think Putin put forward the idea of a meeting, Witkoff immediately seized on it, came back and reported to Trump. And the talk of sanctions has sort of fallen by the wayside. And now the meeting appears to be on. And the big question is whether Zelenskyy will be participating in some fashion, if at all. Sam Hawley: Yeah, well, he at this point doesn't seem to be invited. But in an address to the nation, Zelenskyy has said that, you know, you really can't trust the Russian leaders' intentions on this one. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President: We understand Russia's intention is to try to deceive America. We will not allow this. I greatly value the determination with which President Trump is committed to bringing an end to the killings in this war. But the sole root cause of these killings is Putin's desire to wage war and manipulate everyone he comes into contact with. Rajan Menon: You know, there's another problem. Trump is now attacking Zelenskyy for rejecting the idea of land swaps. The idea is that the two provinces that constitute the area called Donbas in Ukraine's east, namely Donetsk and Luhansk, would be given to the Russians, and two other provinces to Ukraine's south, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the land that Ukraine retains there would remain in Ukraine's hands. Now, who cooked up this idea? I don't know. Perhaps it was Witkoff who misunderstood and proposed it to Trump, but the Russians have officially proposed no such thing. So Zelenskyy has rejected it, and Trump is angry at him. Donald Trump, US President: I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying, well, I have to get constitutional approval. I mean, he's got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap. Rajan Menon: The problem is that the president appears not to understand that Zelenskyy couldn't accept it even if he wanted to, because under the Ukrainian constitution, any change to the territory of Ukraine or its boundaries requires a national referendum. Sam Hawley: So these comments from Trump, once again, he seems to be suggesting that this is a war that Zelenskyy in some way wants or caused. It's extraordinary. Rajan Menon: It is extraordinary. He said this, by the way, not once, but previously as well. And there's no question that all along, he has had little use for Zelenskyy, essentially accused him of being a stick-up man who comes to Washington and walks away with billions of dollars. He said this war would never have happened had he, Trump, been in the White House. He criticised Zelenskyy for not recognising the annexation of Crimea. And he has this unexplained kind of reverence for Putin. I mean, can you imagine him inviting Putin to the White House and savaging him in the way that Zelenskyy was savaged in that famous meeting? So as the summit unfolds, my own sense is that Putin is in a position to win either way. That is to say, he could put forward terms that are adverse to Ukraine's interest and could endorse them. Or there could fail to be a breakthrough and Trump would turn around and say, well, it was Zelenskyy's fault, which would also make Putin happy. Sam Hawley: All right. So Trump has flagged this potential of a land swap. So that will be discussed, we assume, during this meeting with Vladimir Putin. We don't know, as you say, if Zelenskyy might be asked along at the last minute at this point. But Ukraine has always said, Rajan, that it will not cede its territory to Russia. It just would never do that, would it? Rajan Menon: No, it wouldn't do it voluntarily. The one difficulty that Zelenskyy faces as regards the timing of this summit is that as we speak in Donetsk, which is now the major theatre of war, again, Donetsk province and Luhansk make up the area called Donbas. In Donetsk province, the Russian army has just broken through one of the main defence lines of Ukraine. And the problem is twofold. First, American supplies have ended. So there are no more Joe Biden-like tranches of multi-billion dollars of equipment. Secondly, the Russians just have more of everything and they're prepared to throw a lot of what they have at a front line that's 1,000 miles long. And the Ukrainians can't be fighting everywhere. So militarily, this has not been a good few months for the Ukrainians. And so Zelenskyy doesn't really have a lot of leverage. If you had to press me, I would say Trump would like to walk away from the war and leave the Europeans to handle this. Now, as the elected president of the United States, whatever you and I may think, it's his right to do that. My problem is that as he leaves, he wants to also shape the conflict in Russia's favour. That is not mediation. It's called something else. Sam Hawley: Well, on Fox News, J.D. Vance certainly indicated that he wants to wash his hands of the Ukraine war. He said that the American people don't want to pay for it anymore. JD Vance, US Vice President: Americans, I think, are sick of continuing to send their money, their tax dollars to this particular conflict. But if the Europeans want to step up and actually buy the weapons from American producers, we're OK with that, but we're not going to fund it ourselves anymore. Rajan Menon: Vance is probably the single most articulate and insistent advocate of that position, which has a certain amount of purchase, by the way, in Trump's MAGA movement. So the cost to Trump politically of walking away from war isn't very great. However, if the summit collapses and Russia overruns significant parts of Ukraine and the Ukrainians have their back to the wall, it will certainly come across as if Trump has been outsmarted by Putin. And I don't think he would like to be in that position. So he's got some pressure on him as well. The person who's now really in control of the situation, leaving aside the state of the Russian economy and so on, is Putin. No matter what happens, he can make it work to his advantage, no matter what happens at the summit, that is. Sam Hawley: Well, Donald Trump, Rajan, says he wants this meeting to feel out the Russian leader so he can know whether a deal could actually be done. Rajan Menon: This reminds me of George W. Bush, who said he looked into Putin's eyes and could see the man's soul. I mean, Putin can show a lot of different faces to different people. He also said, by the way, Trump, that, well, I'm going to sit in the room with Putin and in the first two minutes, I'll know whether a deal is possible or not. Donald Trump, US President: So this is really a feel out meeting a little bit. And at the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I'll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made. Reporter: How will you know that? Donald Trump, US President: Because that's what I do. I make deals. Rajan Menon: And now anyone can make a deal. The question is, you know, at what cost and to whom? Sam Hawley: And even the location of this meeting, Rajan, in Alaska, that favours Putin, right? Even if Trump is a bit confused about which country it's actually in. Donald Trump, US President: And it's embarrassing for me to be up here. You know, I'm going to see Putin. I'm going to Russia. Sam Hawley: That's good for him. Rajan Menon: Absolutely. You know, there is a strain of thinking in Russia that harks back to the fact that Alaska was once part of Russia and has indelible cultural ties with Russia and so on. So, yes, there is that. I don't know what they would call it, irony or whatever, but the choice is very interesting. But to cut to the chase, you know, I don't expect any earth shattering things to happen at the summit, because there is no way in God's green earth that Zelenskyy is going to agree to some scheme that Putin and Trump come up with that involves significant land concessions by Ukraine in return for nothing else. He will just flatly refuse and the Europeans have his back. Now, that said, you know, the United States is a big player in all this, but the summit itself is not going to change the trajectory of the war, which I suspect will be decided ultimately on the battlefield. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, European leaders are pretty concerned about this, aren't they, about this summit, even though Trump says he has a great relationship with all of them. Donald Trump, US President: My relationship with the European leaders, as you saw, is extremely good. Like, it's perfect. It's beautiful. Wait, wait, wait. Sam Hawley: But, you know, this is a worry for Europe, isn't it? Rajan Menon: Yes, it is. And that's another respect in which Trump can win because by siding with Zelenskyy, the Europeans have put themselves in a position where they've not chosen sides in effect. And as Putin sees this, that's yet another fissure occurring in the Western alliance, which he would be very pleased to see develop even further. I mean, one can like or dislike Vladimir Putin, but he is in his own fashion a strategic thinker. And in this game, there's no question that he has far more knowledge and expertise and experience than Donald Trump does. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, Rajan, ahead of this summit, do you really think that Putin is ready to end this war in any way? It has taken a huge toll on Russia. I mean, it's more than three years now, right? Rajan Menon: No question. But, you know, all indications are that despite supposedly a million casualties and 60,000 of them dead people, this has now been verified pretty extensively. He doesn't mind the loss and he doesn't mind the economic cost because he is riding a tiger. He began this war saying it was in the vital nationalist interests of Russia. He said, my war objectives are Ukrainian neutrality and the conquest of four Ukrainian provinces that are rightfully Russia's. And he has not wavered from that. So this is the question that comes to mind when we talk about land swaps. As far as I know, Putin has not said anything other than he wants all provinces. Now, there's no way that Zelenskyy is going to sign off on that kind of a deal where in order to end the war, he surrenders four provinces. I mean, it doesn't take a genius to end the war. You could go to Putin and say, here, write on a piece of paper what you want and I'll try to force Zelenskyy to agree to the terms. But that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about a negotiation and Zelenskyy very much has got a domestic political constituency to answer to. Plus, he's a Ukrainian nationalist and leader. And I think that he is not going to sign any kind of deal that these two people in Moscow and Washington come up with. So that's why I'm sceptical about the summit creating something extraordinarily new. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, Rajan, what should we expect ultimately from these talks then? Is this just about the United States washing its hands of this war? Rajan Menon: If it wanted to do that, it could easily do it. In a sense, I don't agree with it necessarily, but J.D. Vance's position has a certain coherence. He says, look, there's essentially an ocean between us and Ukraine. Ukraine is far away. Europe, on the other hand, has a direct stake in Ukraine. Europe is wealthy and powerful. The Europeans should lead it. That's a position that one has to take seriously. If that were all, it would be one thing. But my worry is that Trump wants to move away from the war, but also in the summit, put Zelenskyy in a position where he has to say no and then face Trump's wrath for being the person who wrecked the possibility of a deal. Because what Trump wants at the end of the day, I think, is a settlement, no matter how it comes about, which yields him a Nobel Prize. Sam Hawley: Rajan Menon is a professor emeritus of international relations at the City College of New York. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.
News.com.au
6 hours ago
- News.com.au
Truth behind ‘filthy' sight Trump can't stand
It's an arresting site – and that's why Donald Trump wants it to end, right now. In Washington DC, in the shadow of immaculately kept embassies, close to government buildings and on neatly swept streets, are tents. Lots, and lots, of tents. There are tents on footpaths, in parks, even the manicured verges of Washington's motorways. Which is reportedly where the US president saw them on the way to play golf. And he wasn't pleased. The tents are a visual sign of the extent of homelessness in the capital. One of those homeless people, Nathaniel, has been setting up his part encampment part artwork in the ritzy neighbourhood of Georgetown for more than a decade. He told that police knew him but rarely moved him on. But now, Mr Trump wants Nathaniel, his tents, trolleys and various other ephemera gone. Mr Trump prefers ballrooms to tents. Last week he spruiked the building of a new White House entertaining space to show off to world leaders. It will sport all the trimmings a president – who likes a dash of gold – can muster. A scrappy tent, a windswept home for one, in sight of dignitaries just will not do. Homelessness, as well as crime, were the main justifications the US president gave on Monday for a sweeping increase in government control over Washington DC. The city's police will be taken over, the National Guard deployed and, possibly, the military too. However, it may only last for 30 days as beyond that Mr Trump will need Congress' approval. Already, however, his justification has included two words that have already been shown to simply not hold water. 'Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN!' he wrote on social media. 'If our capital is dirty, our whole country is dirty, and (world leaders) don't respect us. 'We're going to be removing homeless encampments from all over our beautiful parks,' Mr Trump added. 'We're going to help them … but they'll not be allowed to turn our capital into a wasteland for the world to see.' He added that he wanted to 'beautify' Washington which included 'replacing the potholes'. 'Not a crime' It's questionable whether anyone would find Nathaniel's little slice of Washington 'beautiful' – but it's certainly notable. On Pennsylvania Ave, not far from ritzy a strip of Lululemons, Aesops and any number of charming bistros, is a row of shopping trolleys draped with an enormous US flag. Other smaller flags – Switzerland, Japan, Ukraine – can also be found. There's also a large model of the Statue of Liberty and a mattress that has seen better days. It's eclectic. 'I've been doing this for years,' says Nathaniel, who sits next to a shopping bag that says 'good vibes'. He said he first came to Washington from Baltimore. spoke to Nathaniel before the election, before Mr Trump began murmuring about taking over some running of the city. But his patriotic quasi artwork has remained a feature of Georgetown. During the day, he said, he often reads his bible. At night he puts his belongings back into the trolleys covers them with a blanket. He keeps a tight hold on the flag through, his prized possession. 'The police know me, the way I do things' he said. 'It's not a crime, I'm not starting trouble, and I'm just putting my flag up'. There were 'homeless people all over the country,' said Nathaniel when asked why it seemed such an issue in DC. 'In New York they will just be on the Subway and sleeping on the trains'. 'This solves nothing' Of the 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia (millions more live in the Washington suburbs in Maryland and Virginia) around 800 people sleep on the streets, according to the Community Partnership to Prevent Homelessness. Advocates have pointed out that even if the authorities move people out of DC, they can't stop them from coming straight back to the capital. It's not illegal to not have a home. 'Sending in the National Guard, sending in the military, sending in even the local police is not the solution to homelessness,' executive director of the New York based Coalition for the Homeless, David Giffen, said. 'It solves nothing'. Mr Trump also claimed that a federal takeover of DC police was necessary because crime was 'out of control'. 'People come from Indiana, and then they get mugged,' he said. Of all US cities, DC is the 25th most dangerous. That's actually not as dangerous as Indianapolis, which is in Indiana. Maybe Washington residents should be warned about Indiana. Detroit, Baltimore and New Orleans, among others, are also higher than DC on the crime ladder. But many US cities are safer than the capital: San Francisco, Orlando, Seattle, LA and Boston. New York has half as much violent crime per 100,000 people. There's no doubt DC can and should do better. Two words that don't stack up In his executive order to take over the police, Mr Trump said 'rising violence' was the key problem. It's two words that don't stack up. Crime has fallen in Washington DC, dramatically. And that's without the federal government intervening. Homicides peaked in 1996 at almost 400. Last year they were less than half that, albeit it's back on the rise. District of Columbia Attorney-General Brian Schwalb said the move to take over the police was 'unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.' 'There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26 per cent so far this year,' he said. But Mr Trump has a disdain for statistics that don't back up his claims. Hours after the announcement, the White House issued a statement tersely insisting that 'Yes, DC Crime Is Out of Control'. It was 'higher than Islamabad,' it stated, singling out the Pakistani city for no apparent reason The White House also claimed the city police was 'allegedly … cooking the books'. But Mr Trump has a long stated desire to assert more control over the capital. And that Washington DC, similar to Canberra, is not a state but a federal entity, makes that much easier. It almost seems as if he wants to create a real life version of The Capitol, the central city of Panem in the Hunger Games franchise. A metropolis of conspicuous wealth, a symbol of sheer power. But Washington's woes are just a symbol of America's huge gap between its have and have nots. A country where the difference between standing on your own two feet and slipping through the massive gaps can be as simple as a bill for an unexpected medical treatment. Where many of those people on the streets are there because of barely treated mental health issues. The White House can physically remove the tents from DC's streets and deposit Nathaniel and others elsewhere. But they remain homeless. The reasons why they ended up on the streets have not magically been solved. But next time Mr Trump is heading from the White House for a round of golf, he may indeed be less perturbed by the sight of tents out of his window. And the guests in his ballroom won't have to wince at the reality of all those have-nots.
SBS Australia
10 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Outrage as Trump initiates federal takeover of Washington DC
'Under the authorities vested in me as the President of the United States, I'm officially invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act and placing the DC Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control. In addition, I'm deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order and public safety in Washington DC and they are going to be allowed to do their job properly.' It's not the first time Donald Trump and his allies have attempted to seize control of the US capital but this time things are a little different. The United States President has declared an emergency in Washington DC, deploying 800 soldiers to the city with the purported aim of addressing crime, cleanliness levels and homeless encampments. The move has not been received well by DC locals. "If they can strip the autonomy of the capital city, of a major city like Washington, DC, in broad daylight, if they can place us under military control without our consent, they will carry this playbook to every community that dares to push back in the United States of America. I need you to understand this right now." Mr Trump's declaration follows news that two 15-year-old suspects had allegedly assaulted and carjacked a 19-year-old former employee of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency in Washington DC last week. Since then President Trump has painted Washington as a dangerous city in crisis and called for children aged 14 and up to be prosecuted as adults. "This is an emergency. This is a tragic emergency and it's embarrassing for me to be up here. I'm gonna see Putin, I'm going to Russia! I don't want to be talking about how unsafe and how dirty and disgusting this once-beautiful capital was." But how do President Trump's claims of a city plagued by violence and anarchy stack up with the data? Violent crime, including murders, spiked in 2023, and has since been rapidly falling, dropping 35 per cent in 2024, according to federal data. Statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department show this crime rate has fallen an additional 26 per cent in the first seven months of 2025 when compared with the year prior. Northeastern University professor of law Jeremy R Paul says Mr Trump is pushing the boundaries of his presidential powers. "You say crime is up, but all the statistics from the Department of Justice that you control say crime down. So your rationale is flimsy. I think it would be impossible to look at what's happening now and not see a pattern of a president pushing boundaries and trying to see how far he can go." The extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation's capital is the second time the Republican president has deployed troops to a Democratically governed city in recent months after sending thousands of National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles in June. The latest move has bypassed the city's elected leaders, with Mayor Muriel Bowser expressing her outrage. "We don't believe it's legal to use the American military against American citizens on American soil. I'm not a lawyer. But I think that's a fairly widely held fact. I'm going to work every day to make sure it's not a complete disaster. Let me put it that way. To maintain the trust that DC residents have in us." The city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, has called Mr Trump's actions "unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful" in a post on X. Professor Paul says there is some legal basis for the President's actions but the justification seems flimsy at best. "There is a federal statute, the Home Rule Act, that gives the president some authority over DC law enforcement when there's an emergency. I don't think there is an emergency and therefore I think that it would be possible to challenge his actions as illegal or unlawful, as not consistent with his authorisation. But I think it would be very unlikely for a court to tell the president, 'We don't agree with you about whether there is or isn't an emergency'. And remember, this only lasts for 30 days." Mr Trump says the federal takeover will also see the destruction or displacement homeless encampments across Washington DC to make the city more visually appealing. Flegette Rippy, a homeless person living in DC, says this is no way to address the homelessness crisis. "Give us a home, how about that? How about just giving people that need a home, inside. And then we'd be inside. You just want to just throw us to the rats. You never know why a person is homeless. I was rendered homeless because my house caught on fire. I have no place to be because the shelters are overrun. I don't know this man. I don't want to know him. All I know is he's a rich man pushing people with no money around." Another key element of President Trump's crackdown on crime is the federal takeover of the Washington police department, giving them nearly unrestricted powers. "They love to spit in the face of the police and they're (police are) not allowed to do anything. But now they are allowed to do whatever the hell they want. You spit, and we hit. And they can hit real hard." The ease in which the Trump administration has been able to seize control of Washington D-C has concerned locals. 'Growing up in Washington it's very hard to see the city being captured by Donald Trump and making everybody live in fear. I don't approve of it and the backlash is going to be really severe against him and his administration. And that's why I don't feel safe in this city any longer because of what it's doing against its citizenry.' President Trump has shown particular interest in taking over Washington, which sits in the federal District of Columbia under the jurisdiction of Congress but exercises self-governance under a 1973 US law. Residents say this crisis has made them more aware of the need for statehood and protection from presidential powers. 'We are a really overpoliced city already, and I just feel like DC should be state, you know? We deserve representation just like people all over the country have. People's representatives from all other states are coming to Congress here, and we pay taxes just like anybody else.' Mayor Bowser agrees, saying residents deserve the same rights and protections available to other US citizens. 'We know that access to our democracy is tenuous. That is why you have heard me advocate for full statehood for the District of Columbia. We are American citizens. Our families go to war. We pay taxes, and we uphold the responsibilities of citizenship. And while this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can't say that, given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we're totally surprised.' And President Trump has signalled that other major US cities with Democratic leadership could be next for a federal takeover, including Chicago, a city long been beset by violent crime, although it was down significantly in the first half of the year. "We're starting very strongly with DC and we're going to clean it up real quick. We're going to have tremendous success in what we're doing. But then I'm going to look at New York in a little while. Let's do this. Other cities are hopefully watching this. If they don't learn their lesson we're going to do the same thing in Chicago."
