Putin and Xi see right through Trump
HIROYUKI AKITA
August 17, 2025 15:27 JST
TOKYO -- More than six months into his second presidency, the global repercussions of Donald Trump's renewed leadership are becoming increasingly clear.
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Japan Times
24 minutes ago
- Japan Times
Anti-war protests erupt in Israel ahead of Gaza City operation
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to expand operations in the Gaza Strip, rather than attempt to negotiate an end to the war under which Hamas would free its last hostages. Organizers said that as many as half a million people attended the main rally at Tel Aviv's "hostage square' in the evening, a massive turnout by Israeli standards. Earlier on Sunday, as Netanyahu suggested calls to end the war would embolden Hamas, police scuffled with demonstrators blocking roads across Israel, making at least 30 arrests and turning a water cannon on participants at a sit-down protest at a Jerusalem access tunnel. Almost two years into an offensive that's pushed Israel toward global isolation and left much of the Palestinian enclave in ruins, Netanyahu's government this month gave the army the green light to take control of the de facto capital, Gaza City, and crush Hamas holdouts. The families of 50 hostages who are still held by Hamas in Gaza — 20 of whom are thought to be alive — designated Sunday as "Israel on Hold' day, calling on all Israelis to strike during the daytime in solidarity with their fight to free their loved ones. In a statement late Sunday evening, they said that "over 1 million people participated in hundreds of actions held across the country.' They vowed to intensify their actions. The plan to take over Gaza City is deemed to be of high risk to hostage lives, all of whom are thought to be in poor medical and mental condition and suffering from acute malnutrition. They're also thought to be at risk of execution or being caught up in crossfire. While the Israeli military's tanks and troops have yet to get rolling, some members of Netanyahu's security Cabinet have complained that the planned scale of the operation is insufficient. At the same time, his envoys look poised to resume mediated talks on a truce and hostage release if Hamas softens its terms. There's been no indication so far that the Iran-backed faction will do so. A once unwavering domestic backing for the war, which was launched in response to Hamas' killing and kidnapping rampage of Oct. 7, 2023, is long gone. Polls show most Israelis want a deal to bring back the 50 hostages, even if the remnants of Hamas are left intact. In scenes recalling the kind of anti-government demonstrations that preceded the war, groups organized over social media and flooded several highway intersections on Sunday, the first day of Israel's workweek. Many held up Israeli flags and photographs of hostages. A demonstrator holds a sign that reads "the voice of your brother's blood cries out from the ground" during a protest, after families of hostages called for a nationwide strike to demand the return of all hostages and an end to the war in Gaza, in Tel Aviv on Sunday. | REUTERS Netanyahu has vowed victory against Hamas. His timeline for achieving this has proven elastic, and he hasn't given details on who might next rule the shattered Gaza Strip, where the Hamas-run health ministry — which doesn't distinguish between combatant and civilian casualties — says 61,000 Palestinians have died. "Those calling today for the end of the war without a Hamas defeat are not only hardening the Hamas position and making the freeing of our hostages less likely,' Netanyahu said Sunday, signaling he was not impressed by the protests. "They're also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 recur time and again, that our sons and daughters will have to fight time and again in a forever war.' While Israel's main labor federation declined to join in Sunday's strike, the protesters found support from the private sector. The local operations of Apple and Microsoft pitched in, as did New York-listed web platform developer and online marketplace Fiverr, as well as Qumra Capital and Pitango Ltd. The companies allowed workers to take the day off to attend the demonstrations. "We are at a fateful moment for the Israeli nation and we do not intend to sit idly by,' the Hi-Tech Forum, a coalition formed in 2023 to protest the government's proposed judicial overhaul, said in a statement. "This is a moment when every Jew and Israeli should show their support for the (hostage) families and call for an end to the war and the return of all hostages.' Eli Cohen, a member of Netanyahu's security cabinet, said the Israel Defense Force would on Sunday finalize orders for the takeover of Gaza City, part of about 25% of the territory previously avoided during military incursions on the belief that hostages are being held there. The plan targets six to eight weeks for the forced evacuation of as many as 1 million Palestinian civilians before the main assault, Cohen told Channel 14 TV, adding that he would press for its acceleration: "This can be done in two to three weeks.' Shva, operator of Israel's national payment processing infrastructure, reported that as of 12 p.m. local time, the day's credit card spending was down 5.1% from a week ago, suggesting a moderate impact on businesses from the strike. The Israel Business Forum, a group of 200 of the country's top business leaders, met with hostage families but stopped short of formally backing the strike. Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group in much of the West, wants any Gaza truce to guarantee a full Israeli withdrawal. It's signaled it might cede some power, but refuses Israel's demand to disarm. On Sunday, Hamas denounced the Gaza City plan as "the beginning of a new wave of brutal genocide' by the Israelis. Israel lost 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the Oct. 7 attacks and more than 450 troops in Gaza combat since. Israel's longest war has spilled onto several fronts, including with Iran, and strained the military. "Today's demonstrations show the difference between the Israeli government and its people,' said Noa Tishby, an Israeli-born Los Angeles actress/producer and social media influencer on the conflict. "Israelis are exhausted from more than two years of protesting against this government, and yet are out today resisting the war in Gaza.'
The Mainichi
2 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Fatal explosion at US Steel's plant raises questions about its future, despite heavy investment
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- The fatal explosion last week at U.S. Steel's Pittsburgh-area coal-processing plant has revived debate about its future just as the iconic American company was emerging from a long period of uncertainty. The fortunes of steelmaking in the U.S. -- along with profits, share prices and steel prices -- have been buoyed by years of friendly administrations in Washington that slapped tariffs on foreign imports and bolstered the industry's anti-competitive trade cases against China. Most recently, President Donald Trump's administration postponed new hazardous air pollution requirements for the nation's roughly dozen coke plants, like Clairton, and he approved U.S. Steel's nearly $15 billion acquisition by Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel. Nippon Steel's promised infusion of cash has brought vows that steelmaking will continue in the Mon Valley, a river valley south of Pittsburgh long synonymous with steelmaking. "We're investing money here. And we wouldn't have done the deal with Nippon Steel if we weren't absolutely sure that we were going to have an enduring future here in the Mon Valley," David Burritt, U.S. Steel's CEO, told a news conference the day after the explosion. "You can count on this facility to be around for a long, long time." Will the explosion change anything? The explosion killed two workers and hospitalized 10 with a blast so powerful that it took hours to find two missing workers beneath charred wreckage and rubble. The cause is under investigation. The plant is considered the largest coking operation in North America and, along with a blast furnace and finishing mill up the Monongahela River, is one of a handful of integrated steelmaking operations left in the U.S. The explosion now could test Nippon Steel's resolve in propping up the nearly 110-year-old Clairton plant, or at least force it to spend more than it had anticipated. Nippon Steel didn't respond to a question as to whether the explosion will change its approach to the plant. Rather, a spokesperson for the company said its "commitment to the Mon Valley remains strong" and that it sent "technical experts to work with the local teams in the Clairton Plant, and to provide our full support." Meanwhile, Burritt said he had talked to top Nippon Steel officials after the explosion and that "this facility and the Mon Valley are here to stay." U.S. Steel officials maintain that safety is their top priority and that they spend $100 million a year on environmental compliance at Clairton alone. However, repairing Clairton could be expensive, an investigation into the explosion could turn up more problems, and an official from the United Steelworkers union said it's a constant struggle to get U.S. Steel to invest in its plants. Besides that, production at the facility could be affected for some time. The plant has six batteries of ovens and two -- where the explosion occurred -- were damaged. Two others are on a reduced production schedule because of the explosion. There is no timeline to get the damaged batteries running again, U.S. Steel said. Accidents are nothing new at Clairton Accidents are nothing new at Clairton, which heats coal to high temperatures to make coke, a key component in steelmaking, and produces combustible gases as byproducts. An explosion in February injured two workers. Even as Nippon Steel was closing the deal in June, a breakdown at the plant dealt three days of a rotten egg odor into the air around it from elevated hydrogen sulfide emissions, the environmental group GASP reported. The Breathe Project, a public health organization, said U.S. Steel has been forced to pay $57 million in fines and settlements since Jan. 1, 2020, for problems at the Clairton plant. A lawsuit over a Christmas Eve fire at the Clairton plant in 2018 that saturated the area's air for weeks with sulfur dioxide produced a withering assessment of conditions there. An engineer for the environmental groups that sued wrote that he "found no indication that U.S. Steel has an effective, comprehensive maintenance program for the Clairton plant." The Clairton plant, he wrote, is "inherently dangerous because of the combination of its deficient maintenance and its defective design." U.S. Steel settled, agreeing to spend millions on upgrades. Matthew Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, said U.S. Steel has shown more willingness to spend money on fines, lobbying the government and buying back shares to reward shareholders than making its plants safe. Will Clairton be modernized? It's not clear whether Nippon Steel will change Clairton. Central to Trump's approval of the acquisition was Nippon Steel's promises to invest $11 billion into U.S. Steel's aging plants and to give the federal government a say in decisions involving domestic steel production, including plant closings. But much of the $2.2 billion that Nippon Steel has earmarked for the Mon Valley plants is expected to go toward upgrading the finishing mill, or building a new one. For years before the acquisition, U.S. Steel had signaled that the Mon Valley was on the chopping block. That left workers there uncertain whether they'd have jobs in a couple years and whispering that U.S. Steel couldn't fill openings because nobody believed the jobs would exist much longer. Relics of steelmaking's past In many ways, U.S. Steel's Mon Valley plants are relics of steelmaking's past. In the early 1970s, U.S. steel production led the world and was at an all-time high, thanks to 62 coke plants that fed 141 blast furnaces. Nobody in the U.S. has opened a new blast furnace in decades, as foreign competition devastated the American steel industry and coal fell out of favor. Now, China is dominant in steel and heavily invested in coal-based steelmaking. In the U.S., there are barely a dozen coke plants and blast furnaces left, as the country's steelmaking has shifted to cheaper electric arc furnaces that use electricity, not coal. Blast furnaces won't entirely go away, analysts say, since they produce metals that are preferred by automakers, appliance makers and oil and gas exploration firms. Still, Christopher Briem, an economist at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Social and Urban Research, questioned whether the Clairton plant really will survive much longer, given its age and condition. It could be particularly vulnerable if the economy slides into recession or the fundamentals of the American steel market shift, he said.
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Japan Times
Trump's peace-deal demands leave Ukraine's Zelenskyy with only bad options
Volodymyr Zelenskyy finds himself in an impossible bind: risk Donald Trump's wrath or accept a quick deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine by paying the disastrous price of ceding territory for vague security guarantees that could see Moscow come back stronger in a few years' time. This is the existential dilemma confronting the Ukrainian leader as he travels to Washington for talks with the U.S. president on Monday. Fresh off a summit in Alaska with Vladimir Putin that bypassed a ceasefire, Trump has left Zelenskyy little room to maneuver. The situation is made even more tenuous by the memory of his last visit to the White House in February that erupted into a bitter exchange between Zelenskyy and Trump and briefly led to a halt in military support. This time a coterie of European leaders will accompany him, but they have questionable leverage and haven't always been on the same page. The entourage will seek clarity from Trump on exactly what security guarantees the U.S. is willing to provide as it attempts to orchestrate a meeting with the Ukrainian president and Putin. Among the group accompanying Zelenskyy are people Trump has struck a strong personal rapport with, including NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Aside from avoiding another dispute and maintaining Trump's interest in brokering a deal, Zelenskyy's objectives in the talks include: learning more about Putin's demands, pinning down the timing for a trilateral meeting, and prodding the U.S. toward tougher sanctions against Russia, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. Whether he can achieve any of these goals will depend on how much, in the view of European officials, Putin has gotten into Trump's head. After Friday's summit, Trump appeared to align again with the Russian president by dropping demands for an immediate ceasefire as a condition for opening negotiations. Instead, he said he'll urge Zelenskyy to act fast on a peace plan. "Putin has many demands,' Zelenskyy said Sunday at a joint news conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, a stopover to prepare for the Washington visit. "It will take time to go through them all — it's impossible to do this under the pressure of weapons,' he said, adding that a ceasefire would be needed to "work quickly on a final deal.' Raising the stakes for Kyiv, the U.S. president sounded open to Putin's demands that Ukraine give up large areas of land in the east of the country, which the Russian army and its proxies have been trying to seize since 2014. French President Emmanuel Macron attends a video conference with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of the so-called coalition of the willing on Sunday at the Fort de Bregancon in Bormes-les-Mimosas, France. | Pool / via REUTERS Despite the harsh demands on Ukraine, there are signs that the U.S. is now prepared to back a deal. Following his meeting with Putin, Trump told European leaders that the U.S. could contribute to any security guarantees and that Putin was prepared to accept that. But it remains unclear what kind of security guarantees are being discussed with Putin, and what the Kremlin leader is willing to accept. "We got to an agreement that the U.S. and other nations could effectively offer Article 5-like language to Ukraine,' Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy, said in an interview with CNN, referring to the NATO provision that says if one ally is attacked, it is considered an attack on all members. Trump is also under pressure. He had promised that after taking office in January he would quickly end Russia's full-scale invasion, which is in its fourth year. His efforts were mainly targeted at Kyiv but he ultimately had to acknowledge it was the Kremlin that didn't want to stop the war. Trump on Sunday insisted that he made "BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA' in a post on Truth Social. But instead of yielding to Trump, Russia has intensified attacks. Civilian deaths have mounted, with June and July the deadliest months in more than three years, according to the United Nations. Ahead of the Alaska summit, Trump said refusal to accept a ceasefire would trigger tough new punitive measures on Moscow and countries buying Russian oil. After the meeting, which included a red-carpet reception for Putin and a shared ride in the U.S. leader's armored limo, Trump called off the threats. Rather than punish the aggressor, he declared he's seeking a full peace deal that includes "lands' swap' and urged Zelenskyy to accept it. On Sunday, the Ukrainian leader reaffirmed his stance that he won't give up territory or trade land. "Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia' at a meeting accompanied by the U.S., Zelenskyy said. "So far Russia gives no sign the trilateral will happen.' Zelenskyy's refusal to accept territorial losses is a position shared by the majority of Ukrainians. But the level of support has softened as counteroffensives sputter and casualties mount. Still, fears are that a further retreat could invite later attacks. Talks in Washington will also be pivotal for Zelenskyy domestically. In late July, he faced his first political crisis since Russia invaded. Thousands took to the streets over his move to undermine anti-corruption institutions. Zelenskyy relented and re-installed independence to agencies that investigate top officials. U.S. President Trump walks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as Putin arrives as Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday. | Doug Mills / The New York Times His position in the talks is complicated by divisions between the U.S., Ukraine and other allies. Trump believes Russia can take the whole of Ukraine — although the Kremlin has managed only to seize less than a fifth of Ukraine's territory despite more than 1 million war casualties. Europeans, meanwhile, are wary that favorable conditions could encourage Putin to widen his aggression. "It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine,' Zelenskyy said on Sunday. "But there are no details how it'll work and what America's role will be, what Europe's role will be, what the EU can do. And this is our main task.' By joining Zelenskyy at his meeting with Trump at the White House, European leaders hope to show support for Ukraine's leader as he faces growing U.S. pressure to agree to a quick deal. Beyond von der Leyen, Rutte and Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have confirmed their participation. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will join the talks as well, according to an official. Macron said that any agreement needs to maintain the strength of Ukraine's military, as well as include the involvement of European and even U.S. support, including training and logistics. "Several states are ready to do it,' Macron told reporters outside the presidential summer residence in the south of France, adding that allied forces may also be stationed in "non-hot zones' inside Ukraine. "We're going to present that in asking the U.S. up to what point they're ready to join these forces.' While Trump had gone into Friday's summit with Putin seeking a ceasefire, he'd emerged saying he was going to focus on a final settlement. Witkoff said the switch was made because Putin and Trump made "so much progress' that there was no need for a ceasefire period in which the details would be worked out. "The thesis of a ceasefire is that you'd be discussing all of these issues that we already resolved' in Alaska, Witkoff said on CNN, noting that they couldn't finalize any discussion of land swaps because Zelenskyy needed to be directly involved.
