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Protesters march against Donald Trump near Aberdeenshire golf course

Protesters march against Donald Trump near Aberdeenshire golf course

The National2 days ago
The demonstrators, many carrying signs and banners with anti-Trump slogans, were addressed by disability rights campaigners, a member of the CND and a local activist.
Alena Ivanova of the Stop Trump Coalition, the group behind the protest, also told the crowd they had been 'inundated' with support from US citizens following Saturday's protests in Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
READ MORE: High Court quashes Foreign Office refusal to help Palestinian family leave Gaza
She said: 'We were inundated by messages on our social media and on email from US citizens deeply, deeply grateful to the people of Scotland for showing up for them, for showing up for the migrants in the States, for showing up for the people of Palestine, for the people that are being genocided right now, for showing up for our common humanity.
'And this is what we are here to do again, and this is what we will keep gathering to do for as long as it takes."
Following the speeches, the crowd were led in a series of anti-Trump chants before heading off to an area on the coast nearer to the Menie course. Those in attendance shared some of their motivations for attending.
(Image: Jeff)
Esme, 24, who works for [[Aberdeen]]-based LGBTQ+ group The Granite Gays, said 'we're not very keen on his presence' and 'we're not very happy with the way that our government is cosying up' to him.
She added: 'Taxpayers' money, something like £15 million, has been spent on his visit, plus he's dragged all these police up here.'
Meanwhile, retired solicitor Jean Abbot, 67, said: 'I believe this man is in the process of dismantling western civilisation and all the things that really have made life worth living for my generation.'
He is trashing what two generations of our people have fought wars to preserve, namely democracy and freedom and the rule of law.'
She added that while she could understand why UK leaders had to engage with Donald Trump, 'this is a very, very, very bad man and… people should be speaking out against him'.
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Stephen Colbert on Trump's Scotland trip: ‘A grift for the whole family'
Stephen Colbert on Trump's Scotland trip: ‘A grift for the whole family'

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time2 hours ago

  • The Guardian

Stephen Colbert on Trump's Scotland trip: ‘A grift for the whole family'

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US allies break with Trump to force diplomatic shift on Gaza
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time3 hours ago

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US allies break with Trump to force diplomatic shift on Gaza

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No role for principles were intended to generate support from America's allies in Europe and parts of the Arab world - even if Israel objected to many of them. Few probably remember Blinken declaring his Tokyo Principles - least of all the Trump administration, which immediately jettisoned them. But the ideas are still supported by many US allies, who travelled to the United Nations in New York this week for a French-Saudi-led conference calling for a rekindling of the two-state solution. The conference made headlines as France, then the UK, committed to recognising a Palestinian state later this year under certain conditions. On Wednesday afternoon, Canada followed suit. 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The latter was probably a reference to rejection by Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, which Trump visited in May for a lavish trade tour to take in gilded administration prefers to talk about the immediate issue: freeing hostages and getting a ceasefire. When Trump was again asked to look beyond that, during a recent White House visit from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he immediately deferred to the Israeli leader to amounts to a growing evidence that the Trump administration's strategy on Gaza increasingly parallels that of its Israeli ally. Mr Netanyahu rejects any involvement of the Palestinian Authority in future governance of Gaza, where his forces now control some two-thirds of the territory. The far-right flank of his coalition demands permanent military occupation, the expulsion of Palestinians and the building of Jewish settlements. Israel and the US have attempted to take control of the food supply for Palestinians, within militarised zones, while Israel also arms Palestinian militiamen who rival Hamas. The international body that monitors famine, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), said there is mounting evidence of widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease in Gaza. Israel has blamed Hamas and the UN for the crisis, but said it is facilitating more European nations have watched aghast. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told me on Wednesday: "We have seen the most horrific scenes. The global community is deeply offended by children being shot and killed as they reach out for aid."Starvation appears to be an inflection point for European countries - a moral impetus to drive their divergent diplomacy. Domestic pressures in Britain and France also mounted to recognise a Palestinian state under certain a coherent, internationally backed plan for future governance, Gaza faces the prospect of increasing chaos. Blinken was aware of this risk from early in the war, and shuttled between Arab states trying to get them to sign up for a future plan involving parts of the Palestinians Authority and Arab countries providing security forces. He also intervened on at least three occasions, forcing Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, twice using the threat of restricting US weapons to make his point. There has been no such pressure by the Trump administration, which accelerated arms to Israel since US has left what amounts to a strategic vacuum on Gaza's long-term plan. The Europeans, working with Gulf Arab counties, spent this week trying to fill it. For them, without effective aid, governance and a long-term peace plan, the impact on the ground will only deteriorate. They called this week for urgent aid intervention, backing the Palestinian Authority, and reviving work towards a two-state solution - even without the US signed up. It upends years of convention by which major Western powers would recognise a Palestinian state only at the end of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Importantly, their combined statement meant Saudi Arabia, a leader of the Arab and Muslim world, was joining the condemnation of Hamas and call for its they're hoping their move, supported by Arab countries, pressures Trump back towards a more established diplomatic their conference - which will meet again in September - is working against all odds. The superpower seat is empty.

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