Ocalan has called to abolish the PKK, but that's just the first step in making it happen
Opinion
Michael Sercan Daventry is a British-Turkish journalist, broadcaster and political commentator
February 27, 2025
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Al Etihad
3 hours ago
- Al Etihad
China vice premier to meet US delegation for trade talks: Beijing
7 June 2025 23:12 Beijing (AFP)Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will meet a US delegation for talks next week in Britain, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two will visit the United Kingdom from June 8 to 13 at the invitation of the British government, China's foreign ministry said in a said He and American representatives will co-chair the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation President Donald Trump had already announced on Friday that a new round of trade talks with China would kick off in London beginning Monday, after he spoke by phone with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a bid to end a bitter battle over posted on his Truth Social platform that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would meet the Chinese discussions will mark the second round of such negotiations between the world's two biggest economies since Trump launched his trade war shortly after returning to the White House in January.A first meeting, held in mid-May in Geneva, brought a pause to the US-China trade Thursday the Republican president finally discussed the issues with Xi for the first time since the trade tensions soared, assuring that the conversation had been positive. Xi for his part told Trump the two should "correct the course" of bilateral relations, according to remarks quoted by official Chinese media.
Gulf Today
6 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Vance silence on Musk may be Game of Thrones tactic ever
Richard Hall, The Independent The kingdom is in turmoil, the great Houses of Musk and Trump at war, and their subjects forced to choose sides. But as the scheming Littlefinger in Game of Thrones famously said as he plotted to take the King's place: 'chaos is a ladder.' And so it is for JD Vance, the ostensibly loyal vice president, and perhaps the person who stands to benefit the most from the chaos unleashed by the feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump — which is perhaps why he's remaining uncharacteristically subdued. Vance has never been one to shy away from a fight, especially an online one, especially if it's in defense of his boss. He once launched a 400-word diatribe against historian Niall Ferguson for criticising Trump's Ukraine policy, slamming his "moralistic garbage" and "historical illiteracy." He had no problem accusing senior members of his own party of "pettiness" for voting against what Trump wanted, and mocked world leaders who've had run ins with the president. The practicing Catholic even found himself on the wrong side of the Pope himself when he got into another online beef with British politician Rory Stewart over Trump's deportation policies. So one would expect the online warrior to rush to the defense of his president in response to the firestorm of abuse unleashed by Musk against the president on Thursday, which began with accusations of ungratefulness and ended with claims of him being close to Jeffrey Epstein. But Vance has been remarkably quiet. His only public comment at the time of writing has been the kind of terse statement a wife gives in support of a cheating politician spouse. "President Trump has done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I'm proud to stand beside him," Vance wrote on X. The next day, he continued with his lawyerly posts. "There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he's impulsive or short-tempered. Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that's ridiculous," he wrote. "It's (maybe) the single biggest disconnect between fake media perception and reality," he went on. Where was the combative Vance who demanded the Ukrainian president say thank you to his boss in the Oval Office? The one who told Kamala Harris to "go to hell" over the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan? Instead, Vance did not utter Musk's name in the 24 hours since the feud burst into the open. Vance was asked by Trump to remain diplomatic in his dealings with Musk, The Independent learned from a source familiar with the situation. Regardless, the VP has other motivations for keeping quiet. For years, he has been dogged by rumors of dual loyalties between the tech billionaires who fueled his rise and the president he now serves. Vance first came to public attention as the best-selling author of Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir of a rough Appalachian upbringing that many liberals praised as an intellectual explanation of Trump's appeal to the white working class. But before that book set him on a path to Congress and the Senate, he was already being courted by a set of right-wing tech billionaires known as the "PayPal mafia" — the billionaires Musk, David Sacks and Peter Thiel, who worked together at the pioneering online payments company back in the late Nineties and early Noughties and were bound together by a belief in deregulation, libertarianism and later, by darker right-wing ideology that railed against multiculturalism. Vance was working in venture capital at the time and went to work for Thiel at his San Francisco investment house, Mithril Capital. Thiel would be instrumental to Vance's rise, backing his campaign for Senate in 2021-22 to the tune of $15 million, and reportedly introduced Vance to Trump. The trio of Musk, Sacks and Thiel were instrumental in convincing Trump to choose Vance as his running mate, seeing in him an ideological ally, the libertarian tech investor who could one day take over as president. Some have gone so far as to call Vance a Manchurian Candidate for the tech elite. When the feud between Musk and Trump spilled out into the open, Musk was not shy about announcing his desire for Vance to take over as president. He responded to a tweet calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance with one word: "Yes." That is not an empty threat. Vance's path to the White House would inevitably require the support of Musk, the man who spent $395 million on electing Republicans in 2024. So his decision to ignore Musk's call for mutiny is an interesting — and calculated — choice. Much like Littlefinger, Vance has made sharp ideological turns and formed strategic alliances to find his way to within arm's length of the throne. He was once vehemently opposed to Trump, only to radically change course to stand by his side in his quest for power. But, spoiler alert, his fictional counterpart's calculating and maneuvering didn't end well for him. Trump spent his entire first term weeding out traitors, and claims to have gotten very good at it over the years. Will he be able to sniff out Vance?
Middle East Eye
2 days ago
- Middle East Eye
Jeremy Corbyn: UK must decide if it will 'block efforts to expose truth' over Israel support
Jeremy Corbyn has told Middle East Eye that the British government must decide whether it will support an inquiry into UK involvement in Israel's war on Gaza, or 'block our efforts to expose the truth'. On Wednesday, the former Labour leader presented in parliament his bill for an independent, Chilcot-style public inquiry into Britain's support for Israeli military operations in Gaza. The bill passed without division and Corbyn hailed the development, telling MEE: 'We have passed a major hurdle in establishing an independent inquiry into the UK's involvement in Gaza. 'I will now be writing to the prime minister to ask for assurance that the government will not stand in the way.' The independent MP said: 'The government must decide: will it support an inquiry that has support from MPs across the political spectrum, or will it block our efforts to expose the truth?' New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters John McDonnell, the former Labour shadow chancellor, who is also supporting the bill, told MEE: 'All we are asking for is the truth to be told about the genocide taking place in Gaza, not just to expose the horrendous brutality of Israel's actions, but to enable those accountable for this war crime to be held to account.' The Gaza (Independent Public Inquiry) bill is now on the House of Commons' order of business for 4 July, though it is listed low down the order paper and will only be debated if the government decides to give it the time. There are already indications that Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government will seek to torpedo efforts to establish an inquiry, which would seek the full cooperation of both Labour and Conservative ministers involved in decision-making processes since October 2023, when Israel's war on Gaza began following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October. Asked by Corbyn about the provision of components for the F-35 jets used by Israel and if the government would support his inquiry, the UK Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer replied: 'I do not see that this could be any further scrutinised and litigated… or what an independent inquiry on the F-35 parts would achieve.' In an earlier statement on Gaza, Falconer said the British government was 'appalled by repeated reports of mass casualty incidents, in which Palestinians have been killed when trying to access aid sites in Gaza'. He said Britain was continuing to 'strongly support efforts led by the US, Qatar and Egypt to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza', and that the Israeli government's 'decision to expand its military operations in Gaza and severely restrict aid' undermined these goals. 'All we are asking for is the truth to be told about the genocide taking place in Gaza' - John McDonnell, former Labour shadow chancellor Presenting his bill in parliament shortly after Falconer's response, Corbyn spoke of the need for an inquiry into the UK's 'economic, military and political cooperation with Israel since October 2023,' including the sale or supply of weapons and the use of the Royal Air Force base Akrotiri on Cyprus, from which transport and spy planes fly regularly. He said the inquiry should find out the full list of military shipments to Israel, stating: 'It's very simple: until this government ends the sale of weapons to Israel, it remains complicit in the mass murder of Palestinians.' Corbyn referenced the Chilcot inquiry into the UK's involvement in the Iraq war, which was published – after much resistance from the government – in 2016 and found 'serious failings within the British government'. Labour's leader at the time, Corbyn apologised for his party's 'catastrophic decision to go to war in Iraq'. In parliament on Wednesday, Corbyn said 'history is now repeating itself'. UK: Corbyn and new independent MPs urge Labour to act on Gaza Read More » 'Over the past 18 months, human beings have endured a level of horror and inhumanity that should haunt us all forever,' he said of Israel's war on Gaza, which has claimed the lives of over 55,000 Palestinians. 'We are not just witnessing a war, we are witnessing a genocide, this time live-streamed all over the world,' he continued. Corbyn highlighted Britain's "highly influential role in Israel's military operations'. Export data released in May showed that the UK approved $169m worth of military equipment to Israel between October and December 2024, shortly after the Labour government had partially suspended arms exports over concerns they could be used unlawfully in Gaza. RAF flights British surveillance flights over Gaza have continued even following Foreign Secretary David Lammy's announcement that the UK was suspending free trade agreement talks with Israel in response to its expanded military operations in the Palestinian enclave. RAF shadow aircraft have conducted hundreds of surveillance flights from Akrotiri over Gaza since the war began. Corbyn called for the inquiry to uncover what exactly the base in Cyprus is being used for, regarding the supply of arms and intelligence. 'In the future, our history books will shame those who had the opportunity to stop this massacre' - Jeremy Corbyn At least 40 parliamentarians now support Corbyn's bill, and MEE understands that more MPs have expressed support for a second reading following the former Labour leader's Wednesday speech in parliament. 'Today, children are taught about history's worst crimes against humanity. They are asked to reflect on how these crimes could have possibly occurred,' Corbyn said in that speech. 'In the future, our history books will shame those who had the opportunity to stop this massacre but chose to enable atrocity after atrocity instead.'
