Trump wants ceasefire deal at Putin summit
A video conference was held between Trump and the leaders of Germany, Finland, France, the UK, Italy, Poland, EU officials and Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky on Wednesday. The virtual meeting was devoted to discussions of Trump's summit with Putin in Alaska scheduled for Friday.DETAILS TO FOLLOW
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Russia Today
2 hours ago
- Russia Today
The EU throws an epic tantrum as Trump meets with Putin
The European Union had been wailing about 'transatlantic unity' in the run-up to US President Trump heading to the negotiating table with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday – without it. It sounded like a toddler stomping their feet because Daddy let go of their hand in the mall and now they're lost between Cinnabon and Burger King. A lot of good their dogmatic rhetoric has done them so far. If it wasn't for Brussels getting drunk on its own transatlantic solidarity and unity propaganda, maybe it wouldn't currently be in economic and political dire straits. The kind where you're trying to duct-tape your economy back together with overpriced American gas. They could have charted a different path vis-a-vis Russia. Maybe one that involved spearheading diplomacy rather than marching in lockstep behind the US-led NATO parade of weapons and fighters on Russia's border with Ukraine, which helped supercharge the conflict in the first place. They could have insisted on keeping their cheap Russian energy instead of sanctioning their own imports like they were vying for a Nobel Prize in masochism. Now, the US is daring them to even close their clever little loophole in their own anti-Russian sanctions. The one that lets them moralize about helping Ukraine and the need to avoid negotiations with Russia while guzzling Russian fuel on the down-low. Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told them to 'put up or shut up' and sanction the Indian and Chinese importers of Russian petroleum through which the EU still buys Russian fuel. While the EU indulges itself in rhetorical games, Trump has dropped all pretexts of serving any interests but America's first, and isn't following any agenda beyond trying to wrap things up with Russia in Ukraine and to score some economic wins in the process. Brussels has had more than three years to do the same. Instead, it kept repeating the mantra that Kiev had to win on the battlefield. There were no other options, it said. Whoops! Now that the option has materialized, the Europeans are relegated to running behind Trump, pleading with him to indulge them by letting Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky decide where the post-conflict borders will be. What did they think the downside of their 'win by force' gamble would be, if not changed borders? The EU insists on Ukraine fighting Russia with EU cash and weapons, and when Kiev loses, they say, 'Ok, well this sucks – how about if everyone just pretends that none of this happened and we dial all the territorial gains and losses back to a point of our choosing, okay?' The EU insisted on waiting for someone else to take the initiative for peace. Now all it can do is pick up its pom-poms and cheer Trump on. Then hope that he rewards it. As Zelensky's self-appointed babysitters, instead of spending the past week in the run-up to the Alaska summit insisting that Putin and Trump allow a high chair booster seat and a pack of crayons at the negotiating table so he can show them where he wants the borders, maybe the Europeans should have been calming him down and managing expectations. He sounded like he was treating his phone like a toy, calling up everyone in the contacts under 'EU' – Estonia, Denmark, probably a few pizza places… The EU has tried to gaslight Trump with the same rhetoric that it constantly firehoses onto European citizens about peace in Ukraine being a dangerous gateway drug for Russia to invade Western Europe – a convenient marketing pitch to justify boosting the weapons industry to the detriment of domestic priorities. Not even warhawk US Senator Lindsey Graham is saying that now, telling NBC News that 'Russia is not going to Kiev'...let alone the EU. European leaders treated Wednesday's video call with Trump like a win. Perhaps because he didn't explicitly tell them off, for once. But they really have no idea what he'll actually discuss with Putin, nor do they have leverage over any eventual US–Russia deal. They don't know whether Trump is just placating them because he doesn't need a bunch of hysterical circus clowns in the mix. So how could the EU spin this to avoid looking completely irrelevant? 'Today Europe, the US and NATO have strengthened the common ground for Ukraine, we will remain in close coordination. Nobody wants peace more than us. A just and lasting peace,' said unelected EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Yeah, sounds desperate for peace, alright. Which must be why the EU is building weapons factories at breakneck speed, according to the Financial Times. Nothing says 'we're committed to ending the war' like tripling down on weapons. What are you going to do with all those if peace breaks out? Toss them in the landfill and hope that taxpayers forget about the boondoggle, like you did with the hundreds of millions of unused Covid jabs? Brussels talks like a co-architect of global policy, but in practice it's more like a subcontractor who has to implement someone else's blueprint. The Alaska summit exclusion exposes how little agency it actually has in resolving conflicts that it has been funding and fueling. So much for a 'feminist' foreign policy. The EU is behaving like a geopolitical tradwife. Whatever happens between Trump and Putin, the EU has already vowed to adopt Ukraine's problems while crossing its fingers that Trump might pitch in with 'assistance' – military or otherwise. Why would Trump want a piece of that when Brussels has already welcomed it being dumped on its lap? Why settle for normalization with Russia, business, trade, and peace when you can have endless soap opera reruns instead?
Russia Today
5 hours ago
- Russia Today
Modi vows to ‘stand like a wall' to protect India's farmers
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared that his government will 'stand like a wall' to protect the interests of the nation's farmers. The remark comes amid escalating trade tensions with the US after President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Indian goods. New Delhi and Washington have been engaged in talks over a trade deal, with multiple reports suggesting that the negotiations hit a roadblock as the Indian government was reluctant to open up its agriculture and dairy markets to American products. 'I am standing like a wall for our farmers,' Modi said in his Independence Day speech at Delhi's Red Fort on Friday. He added that self-reliance in agriculture and industry was a way to protect India's sovereignty. The Indian leader called on the country to increase its economic resilience by making products with lower costs and higher value. 'Self-reliance is not just about exports, imports, the rupee, or the dollar. It is about our capabilities, our strength to stand on our own,' Modi added. "Slavery Made Us Dependent"... India Must Drive Towards Self-Reliant, Developed 🇮🇳 - Narendra Modi Hails Farmers' Sacrifice to Feed India # He said that those who 'rely too much on others invite a big question mark over their freedom,' adding that 'the real misfortune begins when dependence becomes a habit.' US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday called India 'a bit recalcitrant' in trade talks with the US, sparking backlash in New Delhi. Indian Congress Party MP and head of the country's Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, responded to Bessent's remarks on Thursday, suggesting in a post on X that it is 'far better to be recalcitrant than to be tractable, submissive, or acquiescent in injustice.' Vassal State Complex? US Treasury Sec. Bessent: India has been "Recalcitrant"Does Washington think New Delhi is being... disobedient?📹 FOX BUSINESS NETWORK Trade negotiations between India and the US collapsed earlier this month, and Washington initially imposed 25% tariffs on Indian imports before adding another 25% for the South Asian country's continued purchases of Russian oil. The second set of tariffs will be implemented starting on August 27. New Delhi has called the US tariffs 'unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable,' and has vowed to protect its national interests.
Russia Today
5 hours ago
- Russia Today
Lavrov's USSR sweater, Russian media's makeshift camp and wild animals on site: How the Putin-Trump summit is shaping up
The advance delegation of Russian diplomats, officials and media has arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, ahead of a summit to be led by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, Donald US president announced the meeting only last week and preparations for the event have proven to be a challenge for both sides. Here's how the summit surroundings are working out. Reporters in a hockey arenaThe summit is taking place during the high-tourist season in Alaska, and hotels in Anchorage turned out to be fully booked ahead of the event. To accommodate Russian journalists, local authorities have set up a makeshift camp at a local sports stadium. #Russian journalists in #Anchorage get the full #US 'stadium suite' experience cots, 'privacy' curtains as 'walls', all because hotels are PACKED during #Putin-#Trump summit & tourist rush 'I've been in many places, but… Reporters and some delegates were forced to sleep on Red Cross cots separated by pipe‑and‑drape walls. Chicken Kiev on the flightRussian journalists flying to Anchorage received an unexpected onboard meal: Chicken Kiev, a popular Ukrainian dish made of chicken fillet and filled with butter. Lavrov's sweaterRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's fashion choice sparked a media buzz as he arrived in Anchorage wearing a sweater emblazoned with 'СССР' (USSR). Lavrov stated that Moscow was going into the summit 'with a clear position.' Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov arrives for US talks in Alaska wearing a sweater with the inscription "USSR". animals patrol siteReporters filmed a wild moose and a bear roaming around at the entrance to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the summit site. Commenting on a video of the moose trying to 'sneak into the event,' Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova joked that Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky was running out of ideas on how to be included in the Putin-Trump and security headachesHosting a summit in Alaska has reportedly been a major logistical challenge for the US Secret Service, which had just one week to prepare for the event, according to Bloomberg. The service told the outlet that hundreds of agents had to be dispatched to Anchorage and that vehicles were shipped in because the state's rental‑car market is so small. University dorms were filled and tents set up inside the Alaska Airlines Center to create extra sleeping space Visa hasslesKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also noted difficulties in organizing the event, stating that obtaining US visas for Russian journalists was a challenge because American officials had 'lost the knack' for issuing them. This led to delays and added stress for visiting media crews. Event organization was further complicated by US sanctions on Russia. However, Washington temporarily lifted some of the restrictions, allowing transactions related to the upcoming meeting. The pause is set to remain in effect until August 20, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has said.
