Donald Trump's Scotland visit branded 'cynical circus' by his nemesis in land ba
David Milne and others in Aberdeenshire were embroiled in the David v Goliath struggle with Trump over access and land rights as one of the venues was built on the Menie Estate.
The president is due to arrive in Scotland tonight for a five-day visit amid tight security, with protests expected.
He plans to visit a new golf course close to Milne's home and visit his other green, 200 miles south at Turnberry on the Ayrshire Coast.
The visit is 'an annoyance with no real value' in Mr Milne's view.
'I would describe his trip as a rather cynical circus, a PR stunt more than anything else,' he said. 'It's his personal situation, all he's ever interested in is himself, and how things affect him.
'He's opening a second golf course alongside one that's never busy.
'They have got a competition starting next week, so it's all going to get free publicity, free advertising because the president is here, he invites along Sir Keir Starmer and John Swinney and the British government has to pay for the security for his visit.
'It's a cynical PR stunt from day one.'
Mr Milne, 61, and his fellow campaigners fought the tycoon after he tried to purchase their homes to develop his 1,400-acre Trump International Golf Links, Scotland resort in the village of Balmedie.
They formed a 'popular movement' called 'Tripping up Trump' to protect people's homes and the environment from the work.
At one point, the Scotsman flew the Mexican flag in reference to Trump's intention to build a wall between the country and the US.
In 2021, the billionaire was reported to have described the Milnes' home of more than three decades in a former coastguard station as a 'visual slum.' He also spoke of issuing compulsory purchase orders to buy land within or on the resort's boundaries.
The saga died down in 2009 after the locals refused to sell.
Mr Milne told Metro: 'Initially the Trump organisation was a complete and utter pain when they planted trees around us, built earth banks around us, built fences in the wrong place and billed me for it and tried to compulsorily purchase my property.
'It doesn't endear you to people.
'The last few years I think they've realised they were onto a loser and they've left us alone, which is obviously a better situation for us.'
The health and safety consultant believes Trump should focus his attentions on some of the world's troublespots where the US has far more pressing concerns.
'He is currently supposed to be the US President,' he said.
'He is doing nothing to control the Israelis in Gaza, he's doing nothing to support the Ukrainians, and he's made no mention of the Israeli attacks on Syria or on other states, and their interfering with Iran. There are a lot of things he could be doing other than playing around with golf.'
The Trump opponent also highlighted the disruption in preparation for Air Force One landing at Prestwick Airport in western Scotland this evening for the president's private visit to the golf courses.
'It's going to be a pain in the proverbials,' he said.
'It's causing everyone a lot of hassle. The main road's going to be closed, the barricades were up already this morning.
'It's just a nuisance, an annoyance without any real value.
'Some of our neighbours have gone away to avoid it all.'
Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles. The new golf course, due to open on August 13, is named after Mary Anne, who emigrated to the US in 1930.
'We know where his priorities lie and they're not with Scotland,' Mr Milne said of the connection. 'We're just a convenient little symbol that he can tack on to the end of his marketing stuff.'
The Mexican flag is gone for good but blue and white will be on display outside the Milnes' home this weekend.
'The only flag I'll be flying this weekend is the Saltire,' Mr Milne said.
'That is to show this is still Scotland and the Scottish people, generally speaking, don't like Trump.'
The president's representatives have said in the past that the golf estate development was hampered by 'red tape', despite potentially generating thousands of jobs for the local economy.
In a statement to the BBC, the Trump Organization has said that it has invested 'hundreds of millions of pounds into the Scottish economy' and that both the Menie and Turnberry courses are 'driving thousands of international visitors into the country each year'. More Trending
The company added: 'There are very few, if any, investors in the sport that have done more for Scottish golf in the past decade than Trump.
'In spite of the many global economic challenges, where other investors walked away, and despite spiteful opposition, the Trump Organization has remained steadfast in its commitment and delivered on its promise to build one of the greatest modern links golf courses of all time in Aberdeen.'
Metro has approached the Trump Organization for further comment.
Have you got a story you wish to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk
MORE: Why 'paranoid' Donald Trump 'will be even more dangerous' in presidency 2.0
MORE: Scottish golf club owner's neighbour lowers Mexican flag after four-year protest
MORE: Scathing verdict on Trump from corner of Scotland he couldn't conquer
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The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Are Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin preparing to ‘stitch up' Ukraine?
The leader of that third party nation then agrees to meet the leader of the aggressor nation to map out the terms of the ceasefire. This is then duly presented to the invaded nation's leader to sign and ratify. At no point is the leader of the invaded country invited to the initial negotiations. Does that sound like a fair deal to you? Would you imagine that any semblance of a sound and just peace would come of it? Only the very naïve or those suffering from a bout of the most unrealistic optimism would think so. But that is precisely what US President Donald Trump appears to believe will be the outcome of his meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, when the two men get together next Friday in Alaska to discuss an end to the conflict in Ukraine. The fact that Trump - even before the meeting takes place - has already said that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would need to cede territory for a deal to be reached, only added insult to injury in the eyes of many Ukrainians given that their leader was frozen out of the Alaska talks. (Image: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy) It perhaps came as no real surprise then that yesterday Zelenskyy unequivocally made it clear that Ukraine will not 'gift' land to Russia as part of a ceasefire deal. 'The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question already is in the Constitution of Ukraine,' Zelenskyy said in a social media post. 'No one will deviate from this - and no one will be able to. Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,' he insisted.. Zelenskyy also went on to stress that Ukraine is 'ready to work together with President Trump.' But he said that decisions made without Ukraine are 'unworkable.' The dramatic developments of the last few days coinciding as they did on Friday with Trump's deadline to Putin to stop the fighting or face tough new economic sanctions took many by surprise. They came too just when Ukraine and its European allies thought that Trump was coming round to their view of the war. Now, instead, say critics of the move, Trump has effectively handed Putin a diplomatic coup, while others also see dark historic parallels that subsequently went on to have profound implication for the world at the time in the past. 'It looks like Munich 1938, when great powers decide the fate of the victim of the aggression,' said Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the foreign affairs committee of the Ukrainian parliament and an MP in Zelenskyy's ruling party. When the idea of a summit was initially suggested Trump said it would only go ahead if Putin agreed to meet with Zelenskyy, something Kyiv has long called for but been resisted by Moscow. Zelenskyy sidelined THEN last Thursday with characteristic unpredictability, Trump announced that a Putin Zelenskyy face-to-face was unnecessary, effectively sidelining the Ukrainian leader and making it a bilateral negotiation between Trump and Putin. Almost immediately the alarm bells went off in Kyiv and in the corridors of power of its European allies. 'The danger for Ukraine is actually quite grave,' said Jonathan Eyal, international director at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the London-based think tank. 'There will be a sense of alarm in European capitals,' he added in an interview with American broadcaster NBC. 'Trump will be so pleased by what he perceives as the great achievement of getting Putin to the negotiating table, that he grabs any kind of offer that is made,' Eyal said. 'The danger of half-baked compromise, which Trump can claim as his main achievement, is very high.' Also speaking to NBC, Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of the charity Hope for Ukraine, warned that even if there is no truce agreement, 'a meeting with Trump - no matter the outcome - would be a big diplomatic victory for Putin.' 'Putin wants to break his diplomatic isolation' and such a meeting 'will stroke his ego, ' said Boyechko, adding that the 'meeting with Putin is a trap; President Trump must not fall for it.' But many observers are already predicting the scene when Trump with Putin alongside, emerges from the Alaska negotiations and talks up their success. It's a scenario say some commentators, that also helps fulfil Trump's craving for international prestige and his near obsession lately of being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize he so evidently covets. The obvious danger too note analysts, is that Trump would effectively be helping Putin's gambit of piling domestic pressure on Zelenskyy and his government. Many Ukrainians want the war to end but remain opposed to surrendering swathes of territory. Had Zelenskyy agreed to the ceding of territory, the risk involved was outlined by Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the foreign affairs committee of the Ukrainian parliament, who told the Financial Times (FT) that it 'might cause a social explosion in Ukraine.' In the event however, Zelenskyy was wise to Putin's ploy and wasted no time in dispelling any notion of ceding territory. (Image: Russian President Vladimir Putin) Donbas on the table EVEN as it stands, Putin's sweeping proposal would require that Ukraine hand over the eastern Ukrainian region of the Donbas, without Russia committing to anything more than stop fighting. The offer, which Putin conveyed Wednesday to US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, said the Russian leader would agree to a complete cease-fire if Ukraine agreed to withdraw forces from all of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Read more Tears and trauma: David Pratt in Ukraine DAVID PRATT ON THE WORLD: Whatever happens in Brazil's resentful and rancorous election, the result will have major repercussions for us all David Pratt in Ukraine: It's hard to comprehend this level of destruction David Pratt: Kremlin's protestations have a hollow ring as atrocities mount up Russia would then control the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as the Crimea Peninsula which it seized in 2014 and wants recognised as sovereign Russian territory. Currently Russia controls almost all of Luhansk region and a substantial swathe of Donetsk region but has struggled to capture critical Ukrainian strongholds in the latter despite its summer offensive. Reports also indicated that the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions where Russian forces have been stuck on the south-eastern side of the Dnipro river would also be up for discussion, as would small areas of Kharkiv and Sumy regions that are controlled by Russian military. Moscow could withdraw forces from those regions. According to senior Ukrainian officials cited by the FT, Putin also demanded Nato membership for Ukraine be taken off the table, although EU membership would still be allowed. The officials also said Moscow insisted that Ukraine's military would be limited in size, and Russia would demand Western allies not provide Kyiv with long-range weapons. Against this backdrop of sweeping proposals that will feature in the Alaska talks this week, the war on the ground meanwhile grinds on. What began as a broad Russian push all along the 600-mile front in eastern and southern Ukraine now appears to be narrowing into three axes of attack - in the northeastern Sumy region and in the eastern Donetsk Oblast cities of Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka, two important logistical hubs for Ukraine. There is growing alarm over Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka, which are at risk of being surrounded in the coming months. Russia has been struggling to take Pokrovsk for more than a year, but recently has managed to advance on the city's flanks. This means Russian forces are increasingly threatening Ukraine's supply lines, in part by intensively targeting them with drones. Ukrainian soldiers say the Russian Army uses two main tactics to advance on the battlefield: pinning down Ukrainian troops with drones, shells and glide bombs before attacking enemy lines with relentless squad assaults on foot or by motorbike. 'In general, the basic tactics are relying even more on the manpower advantage and using those small infantry attacks in combination with heavy usage of firepower,' said Pasi Paroinen, an analyst at the Finland-based Black Bird Group that monitors conflict and intelligence analyses. 'They intensified their attacks pretty much almost all across the front line around May and towards June,' Paroinen added, speaking to ABC News. Some analysts maintain though that Russia is not only seeking to win new territory in Ukraine. 'Its goal is to destroy Ukraine's military potential, its army,' Valery Shiryaev, an independent Russian military analyst, said in a recent interview with Redaktsiya, an independent Russian news channel. 'If there is no army - the state would be defenceless.' (Image: US President Donald Trump) Exploding drones AWAY from the front lines, Russia has been increasing the toll it inflicts on the Ukrainian population and economy at large by escalating attacks on the country with mass-produced exploding drones. According to Ukraine's military intelligence service and cited by the Economist magazine, Russia has improved both the quantity and quality of its drones. Since last summer it has raised monthly production of the Geran-2 drone, Russia's version of the Iranian Shahed kamikaze drone five-fold. Last month on July 9th over 700 drones 60% of them carrying warheads and the rest cheap decoys, attacked Kyiv and other targets. Until March this year, only about 3-5% of the Gerans were getting through. Last month that rose to some 15% of a significantly higher number. The Economist also pointed to the increasing supplies of Chinese dual-use components that have helped Russia's increase in production. Military analysts insist the most promising solution in tackling the rise in Geran and other drone attacks is cheap interceptor drones. According to data from The Economist, at least four Ukrainian firms, including Wild Hornets and Besomar, are producing different models. So are Tytan, a Germany company, and Frankenberg, an Estonian one. General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's commander-in-chief, says that interceptor drones have a success rate of 70% against Gerans. But as the ground and air war continues to gruesomely play out, all eyes this week will be on that meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska. Should the talks turn against Trump's hopes and he has to get tough with Putin then the sanctions and tariffs leverage might come into play. After imposing 50 % tariffs on India for purchasing Russian oil, Trump could also resort to imposing additional sanctions on Russia's 'shadow fleet' of oil tankers . The term 'shadow fleet' refers to vessels whose ownership is hidden and which avoid using services from Western companies Russia has used a shadow fleet of largely ageing tankers to ship oil around the world in an attempt to evade western restrictions imposed in the wake of Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The substantial petrodollars from these help fill Putin's war chest. Most observers however belief it will not come to that and that the meeting will be far more convivial much to the alarm of Kyiv and its European allies. Trump has long been a believer that the crux of foreign policy is two leaders in a room making historic deals, but without Zelenskyy at the table it's not so much a long shot as nigh on impossible say analysts. (Image: Efrem Lukatsky) Low expectations EVEN among Russia's pro-war Z-bloggers there seems to be limited expectation from the planned meeting. The hawkish Telegram channel Military Informant described it as 'likely the last attempt to buy time.' While the post predicted the meeting would be 'epochal,' it warned against expecting any 'major breakthrough' on the war in Ukraine. 'So far, Zelenskyy's strategy of going along with every US idea has won the sympathy of the American president for Ukraine, so the upcoming Putin-Trump meeting may be the last chance to shift the situation,' the channel wrote. It's precisely such a shift however that both Ukraine its European and other allies will be dreading. While one White House official said that planning for the meeting remains fluid and Zelenskyy could still be involved in some way, few are holding their breath. This Friday in Alaska could yet prove a significant moment indeed for both the outcome of the war and Ukraine's future.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Trump envoy 'misunderstood' Putin's demands for ending Ukraine war, insiders say - as president mulls inviting Zelensky to Alaska summit
Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East, may have misinterpreted Vladimir Putin 's terms for ending Russia 's war in Ukraine as he worked to set up a face-to-face with President Trump, per a new report. On Wednesday, Witkoff spoke with the Russian president at the Kremlin for about three hours, after which Trump praised his negotiator for making 'great progress'. However, a report from BILD, a German outlet, suggested that Witkoff was under the impression that when Putin demanded a 'peaceful withdrawal' from Kherson and Zaporizhia, he meant that he wanted Russian soldiers to withdraw. But according to insiders, Putin actually meant he wanted Ukrainian forces to give up these tactically-important cities. 'Witkoff doesn't know what he's talking about,' a Ukrainian official told BILD. Russia reportedly still isn't budging on its demand to control the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Crimea. This comes as Trump officially set Friday, August 15, as the day he and Putin will meet in Alaska to discuss a negotiated settlement to the war, which has stretched on for over three-and-a-half years. 'It's complicated, nothing easy,' Trump told reporters ahead of the announcement. 'It's very complicated but we're going to get some back and we're going to get some switched.' On the day Trump confirmed he and Putin would be meeting, two people were killed in a Russian strike on a civilian bus in Kherson and two others were killed in a Russian FPV drone strike on a car. Once news of Trump-Putin summit emerged, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that 'decisions without Ukraine' would not bring peace to the region. Writing on social media, the Ukrainian President said: 'Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. They will achieve nothing. 'Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.' He said Ukraine was 'ready for real decisions that can bring peace' but said it should be a 'dignified peace', without giving details. Following Zelensky's comments, it has now come out that the White House is considering inviting him to Alaska. A senior US official told NBC News that an invite to Zelensky is 'being discussed'. His presence hasn't been finalized, but the prospect of him showing up is 'absolutely' possible, the official said. 'The President remains open to a trilateral summit with both leaders. Right now, the White House is focusing on planning the bilateral meeting requested by President Putin, the White House said in a statement to NBC. Trump has long wanted to end the war in Ukraine, often promising on the campaign trail last year that he would end the conflict on day one of his presidency if he were elected. Trump's frustration with Putin has grown as the fighting has worn on months into his second term. In late July, he began to turn the heat up on Russia, saying he was giving the country 10 or 12 days to restart peace talks with Ukraine. If that wasn't met, he said he was prepared to hit Russia with economic sanctions. Originally, Trump gave Putin a 50-day deadline and threatened to bring stiff economic penalties on Russia if it did not end hostilities with Ukraine. That would've meant a target date of early September for Putin to make a decision.
Spectator
2 hours ago
- Spectator
Why is it still acceptable to abuse men with long hair?
It was a hairy situation. At a drab corporate dinner in a posh hotel basement, one of my fellow diners grew increasingly prickly. My publication had committed some slight against him – perhaps passing him over for one of our phoney awards, more likely misspelling his name. Unassuaged by my non-apologies, the fur was beginning to fly, though with as much ferocity as Bagpuss might muster. As my assailant stared at my luscious locks cascading onto my chest, he decided things must get personal. He leant across the table and yelled: 'And get your hair cut!' The advice wasn't without merit; I'm perennially in need of a trim. But the incident spoke to something darker in the soul of British men, borne of frustration, drink, and perhaps subconscious lust. It is one of the last acceptable prejudices in modern Britain: barnets. The topic is an unlikely point of agreement between white contrarian hipsters and racial justice activists. Earlier this year, a group of the latter launched a petition to end 'hair discrimination' against people sporting afros, braids or dreadlocks, a phenomenon that has 'destroyed' some of those affected, as social entrepreneur Salha Kaitesi recently told the BBC. Whether facing unwanted contact, comments or professional chastisement, those with traditional black hairstyles argue they should be left alone. 'By discriminating against us, you're literally just saying we shouldn't belong or we shouldn't be who we are,' Kaitesi said. It's a new spin on a fashionable cause, at least. And as befits the vogue for legal boilerplating, her campaign calls for the Equality Act to be rewritten to make explicit mention of hair discrimination. This is despite the fact that the legislation already covers hairstyles worn because of cultural, family and social customs. The politics of hair is nothing new. Even two decades ago, my own all-boys secondary school carved out generous exemptions for bewhiskered pupils. While the official policy was not far off short back and sides with a clean shave, South Asian classmates were sufficiently numerous to make a mockery of having any standard at all. Such liberalism has crept into working life, as a stroll around any office would show you. Even the City of London, that bastion of stuffy privilege, now hosts a vivid array of barnets. The easing of dress codes has coincided with laxer rules about hair, perhaps encouraged by growing diversity in the workplace. Keep it kempt and you can often get away with anything. Or at least you can most of the time. For while the socially-astute conformists will know to avoid a brush with race relations law, white men with long hair are still fair game for follicular abuse. To paraphrase famous baldy Gregg Wallace, 'men of a certain age' are frequently forthright in expressing their distaste, as if traditional British mores haven't been suffering an unbroken series of catastrophic defeats since the 1960s. In that decade, lengthier styles on men were indicative of everything from mere idleness to the worst seditions: communism, anarchism and sexual deviancy. Long-haired men at the time report being refused service at pubs, subjected to a non-consensual trim, or in grimmer cases even beaten up. The correlation between barber abstinence and disobedience is true, of course. As Graham Nash once put it, long hair 'was a flag, it was a symbol of rebellion, of a new way of thinking, of a tantalising of your parents, a finger in the face of convention'. As well as symbolising good music taste and access to decent drugs, it was most of all a threat to the establishment. Perhaps then the man who heckled my flowing locks outside a Redhill pub some years ago was continuing in that tradition of defending the beliefs of every right-thinking person. Something similar may well be true of the Millwall fans who called out to their Lord and Saviour on seeing a friend of mine the other side of a security barrier – though in fairness, he does rather look like Jesus. But I suspect at its heart the verbal attacks on the long-hairs owe most to sexual jealousy from the baldies. Certainly many women cannot resist a floppy fringe after a few drinks, if only for the shampoo recommendations. It is hardly nit-picking to argue that men and women of all colours and creeds should be allowed to wear their hair how they like, if only to prop up one of the few AI-proof industries Britain has left and maintain a steady supply of hirsute tribute acts as rock pioneers die off. The government must act to end this disgraceful prejudice – at least once it's fixed the economy.
