Destructive battle
We might finally get an answer as to who runs the place, big business or big politics, with the fallout between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Elon brought a big bucket of money to Trump's reelection campaign but as everyone knows there is no such thing as a free gift. Musk didn't get the big seat but he seemed to be the power behind the throne. Now these best buddies are sparing partners heading for the ring and one might have some extra weights hidden in their gloves.
As an outsider it is interesting and perhaps entertaining but for Americans it could be a very destructive battle. It will be a goldmine for the late night comedians on TV. Why is American politics becoming an entertainment rather than a serious group trying to do the best for their country?
Dennis Fitzgerald,
Melbourne, Australia
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
25 minutes ago
- The National
Iran and Turkey increasingly involved in Gaza negotiations as Egypt takes a step back
Iran and Turkey have become increasingly involved behind the scenes in negotiations to reach a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, sources familiar with the talks have told The National. Mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have been trying without success to broker a ceasefire since the last one collapsed in March. Neither Israel nor Hamas are making the compromises needed to pause or end the war − now in its 21st month − despite mounting international pressure over the rising civilian death toll and worsening humanitarian crisis. US President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged this week that Iran was playing a role in the talks. ' Gaza, right now, is in the midst of a massive negotiation between us and Hamas and Israel, and Iran actually is involved,' he said. Although his comment appeared to suggest that Iran's involvement was a new development, Tehran has in fact been indirectly involved in the process since the negotiations began soon after the start of the war in October 2023, according to the sources. As Hamas's chief foreign backer, Iran has offered behind-the-scenes counsel to negotiators from the Palestinian militant group and separately engaged in talks with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, they said. However, they noted Iran's involvement was currently at a higher-than-usual level, possibly as a result of talks that Tehran and Washington have been holding on Iran's nuclear programme. Mr Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, leads the US negotiating teams on both Gaza and Iran's nuclear programme. 'Iran has been present in the Gaza talks from day one,' said one of the sources. 'But its profile has grown in recent weeks. The nuclear talks between the Iranians and the Americans appear to have given both sides a chance to discuss Gaza as well.' The sources said that Turkey's role in the Gaza talks, while of a somewhat lower calibre than Iran's, has gained weight after its Islamist allies in Syria toppled Bashar Al Assad's regime in December and quickly established a rapport with the West − including the US − as the country emerges from 14 years of devastating civil war. Turkey, a close US ally and Nato's only Muslim member, maintains close ties with Hamas and is home to several of its senior officials as well as vast investments by the group. Moreover, Turkey, along with Algeria, are the most likely destinations for Hamas leaders that Israel wants to send into exile from Gaza. 'Turkey has shown itself to the United States as a capable regional player with the kind of weight that can influence or contribute to the handling of trouble spots like Gaza and Syria,' said one of the sources. Egypt, in contrast, has seen its role in the Gaza negotiations partially diminished, but not necessarily because of the increased relevance of Turkey and Iran, with whom Cairo has recently been forging close ties. The Trump administration's use of an American-Palestinian – Bishara Bahbah – as its main go-between with Hamas negotiators has partially eroded the role played by Egypt, which neighbours both Israel and Gaza, according to the sources. Even before Mr Bahbah emerged on the scene in March, US negotiators ignored Washington's designation of Hamas as a terrorist group to hold at least one round of direct talks with its leaders in Qatar. The sources said Egypt's reduced role could also be attributed to Cairo's tense relations with Washington over Mr Trump's proposal in January to resettle Gaza's population in other countries − mainly in Egypt and Jordan. Egypt rejected the proposal, saying it would not be party to another injustice to the Palestinians and warning it would not allow a mass movement of Palestinians into its territory. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi postponed indefinitely a White House visit in February, according to sources at the time, and Mr Trump did not include Egypt − a close US ally of 50 years − in his visit to the region in May. 'Egypt sees its regional role to be driven by its size, history and past leadership as well as its institutional capacity,' said Michael Hanna, a New York-based Middle East expert at the International Crisis Group think tank. 'Its relevance at present is dictated by its geography; sharing borders with trouble spots in Gaza, Libya and Sudan. But it definitely no longer has the reach farther afield,' Mr Hanna said. He said recent US moves on the Gaza file, like the use of Mr Bahbah and direct talks with Hamas, may have also made Cairo feel left out. Egypt had brokered truces that ended previous wars between Israel and Hamas, most recently in 2021. Its relations with Hamas have improved greatly since the 2010s, when Cairo accused the group of meddling in its affairs and supporting insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula. In contrast, Egypt's relations with Israel have soured since the Israel-Gaza war began and are now at their lowest point since they signed a US-sponsored peace treaty in 1979. Israeli right-wing news outlets frequently claim that Cairo is preparing for war against the country. Adding to Egypt's woes is that the fallout from the war in Gaza has harmed its own national security, notably the capture by Israel in May last year of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in northern Sinai along with a narrow strip that runs the length of the Gaza-Egypt border. Israel maintains it captured the area to stop Hamas from receiving arms and other supplies through underground tunnels linking Egypt and Gaza. Egypt says it destroyed the tunnels nearly a decade ago. Attacks by Yemen's Houthis against Red Sea shipping since the start of the Gaza war have also hit hard traffic in Egypt's Suez Canal, denying Cairo billions of dollars in transit fees and deepening its economic crisis. The Houthis say the attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinians. Generally, said Mr Hanna, Egypt's regional weight has been somewhat devalued by its perennial economic woes. 'Egypt is often supplicant and that's not the posture of a country that can exert regional influence,' he added. Ammar Ali Hassan, a prominent Egyptian author and sociologist, said he partly disagreed with this analysis. 'Today's Egypt may have seen its regional role diminish despite its military capabilities,' he said. 'The absence of a clear political vision and will, as well as growing poverty, may have made safeguarding the country, rather than actively projecting regional influence − a priority given the turmoil surrounding Egypt.'
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
Institute of Arab and Islamic Art, NYC, presents Bilgé's ‘Torn Time'
The Institute of Arab and Islamic Art (IAIA), founded by Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani, is presenting Torn Time, the first institutional solo exhibition of Bilgé (1934 – 2000) in the United States. Opened in the institute's spaces in New York (May 6 – Aug. 31), the show, curated by Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani, unveils two decades of Bilgé's work, tracing her unwavering relationship to nature through her diverse, deep and delicate approach to drawing. Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Bilgé's desire to become an artist landed her in New York in 1958, where she completed her master's in painting at NYU. As a female immigrant, she navigated an artistic landscape that perceived her as 'other' - yet defied social expectation by remaining in the US. The show explores Bilgé's engagement with line and space, exploring scale, nature, fiction and geometry, connecting with experiences of alienation and exaltation. In 1972, Bilgé emerged from a deep-sea dive into The Tongue of the Ocean, a deep water region in the Bahamas, with a shifted perspective. Influenced by her metaphysical encounters with nature, her work evolved from figurative painting to an exploration of the 'spacelessness of space.' She began producing planar works, book-like objects which examined the materiality of paper. Untitled work (Cosmos Pastel I). She developed a disciplined, reductive vocabulary, packed with emotion, elements of which included tear, string, square and line. But inside the sparse language resides the potential for endless variation, and the characteristic transcendentalism of the artist's work that departs from American minimalism. Slits and tears in the paper attempt to make visible the invisible, the layers and fibers of the material evoking the unpredictability of life itself. While her work examines the infinite potential of the line, the forces that drive it bring to the fore acts of expanding and shrinking, evidenced in her artist's books, which must be unfolded and spread out to be experienced before being packed up again. Bilgé invites the vastness of the universe to share space within the boundaries of her work, without sacrificing the magnitude of its glory. By reorienting the understanding of space, she harnesses the possibilities of nature within her work. Through a skillful grasp of minimalism, Bilgé both ossifies and dissolves boundaries, exploring the intimate and ethical potentialities of abstraction. Bilgé, also known as Bilgé Civelekoğlu Friedlaender, was a Turkish-American artist who extensively explored sensual, spiritual connections through her artistic engagement with geometric abstraction. In her long and prolific career, her artistic exploration developed through an expressive minimalist visual language. In her journals, she spoke of the universal human creations of the 'line,' the 'square,' and how they symbolise human relationship to nature. Bilgé's career launched with solo exhibitions of minimalist works in 1974 at Betty Parsons and Kornblee Galleries in New York. A picture of Torn Time. Her transformative experiences of nature and early earthworks set the stage for her later ecological works in the 1980s, leading to interventions in nature, and working directly with natural materials. She was part of New American Paperworks and exhibited alongside Robert Rauschenberg and Michelle Stewart, among others. She continued to exhibit internationally through the 1990s, with works centering on awakening the human consciousness to our interdependence with nature, through exploration of ritual and the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh from a Feminist, Jungian position. Exhibition venues included Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; the Second International Istanbul Biennial, Gallery Nev, Istanbul; American Craft Museum, NY; Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto; University of Massachusetts Museum at Amherst; Corcoran Museum, Washington D.C.; Arter, Istanbul and Neues Museum, Nürenberg. The Institute of Arab and Islamic Art (IAIA) is an independent, non-profit centre that promotes and advances the artistic and cultural dialogue between New York City and the Arab and Islamic worlds. It serves as a platform for creative, innovative and forward-thinking artists, curators, critics, scholars and intellectuals. A work from Bilgé. Through diverse education programmes, a multi-disciplinary exhibition space, knowledge-building facility, a residency programme and an emphasis on collaborations with global cultural organisations, IAIA provides a welcoming environment for the international community to learn about and engage with often over-simplified cultures. 'The continued misconceptions of the Arab and Islamic worlds have limited and damaged cultural interactions and exchanges with the United States,' says IAIA. 'The lack of facilities, resources and opportunities dedicated to Arab and Muslim artists in New York City has continued to alienate these individuals from a broader global conversation. IAIA establishes itself as a beacon to challenge social misconceptions and artistic stereotypes.' Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani in front of an artwork. To this end, IAIA fosters a dialogue between civilisations, while dissipating notions of borders by bringing to the fore a thorough appreciation of the Islamic region's own Modern and Contemporary Art. Founded on the value of nurturing art, IAIA is dedicated to both the preservation and revival of Arab and Islamic art. IAIA presents works by artists from the Arab and Islamic worlds, including video art, traditional media, performances, archival exhibitions, installations and commissioned works. Curated, well-researched exhibitions are held on a quarterly basis with additional programming that includes a residency programme for artists, critics, curators and writers, to engage with New York's art scene. 'IAIA recognises the significance of creating knowledge and is therefore producing publications, screenings and lectures. IAIA shares resources, forges partnerships and collaborates with established institutions and foundations across the Arab and Islamic worlds as well as New York, bringing together ideas and creating opportunities,' the organisation says.
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
US embassy evacuations signal threat of strike on Iran, experts say
The US staff evacuations from its embassies in the Middle East on Thursday signals the threat of either an Israeli or American attack on Iran, experts told The National, as tension heightens across the region. US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that US personnel were being moved from the potentially 'dangerous' Middle East as nuclear talks with Iran faltered and fears grew of a regional conflict. 'The evacuation leaks signal that the threat of Israeli strikes on Iran looms closer on the horizon,' Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East programme at London's Chatham House, told The National. Tehran had earlier threatened to target US military bases in the region if conflict breaks out and if it were attacked over its nuclear programme, amid mounting speculation that Israel could strike the country's facilities. The orders to US embassy staff in Iraq was 'based on our latest analysis', according to the US State Department. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth authorised family members of US military stationed across the region to leave, according to a Pentagon statement. [The move] could be related to possible US or Israeli strikes on acts of resistance targets, and it's of a significantly large enough threat and a large enough scale that they expect retaliation Farzan Sabet, managing researcher at the Geneva Graduate Institute The State Department also said US government employees and family members in Israel are restricted from travelling outside major cities such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem until further notice. The move could be 'related to possible US or Israeli strikes on acts of resistance targets, and it's of a significantly large enough threat and a large enough scale that they expect retaliation, hence the evacuation', Farzan Sabet, managing researcher at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told The National. Mr Sabet said the move could be 'co-ordinated signalling because we've also seen many leaks about Israeli preparations to strike Iran to generate leverage for the US in nuclear talks with Iran'. It comes ahead of a sixth round of talks between Washington and Tehran in an attempt to reach a nuclear deal. Mr Trump has threatened to bomb the country if Iran refuses to reach an agreement. The US has given conflicting comments, though in recent weeks Mr Trump has more firmly stated that Tehran must stop its enrichment altogether. The Omani-mediated talks will be held in Muscat on Sunday in a final attempt to get a framework and deal on Tehran's nuclear activities and the lifting of Iranian sanctions. The threat from Iran could be directed more at Israel, given reports of its readiness to attack nuclear sites if talks fail, rather than the US, Yesar Al Maliki, a Gulf Analyst at MEES, told The National. 'US foreign policy is divided between isolationist and interventionist agendas within administration ranks, Tehran's messaging could be directed at the former group,' he said. Iran is 'under pressure as talks with the US are yet to produce a mutually agreeable compromise on enrichment', he said. Iraq under possible threat Iraq 's leadership across the spectrum has been very concerned from any Israeli attacks on the country, Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq initiative at London's Chatham House, told The National. Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al Sudani's 'government has managed thus far to keep Iraq insulated or relatively insulated from the wider violence and conflict', he said. However, the main concern is 'whether either Israel or the US, especially some of the neoconservative elements in the US administration want to target Iran via Iraq, could push for this policy'. 'Iraq has always been connected in a way to the wider regional conflicts,' he said, adding that Baghdad still has the Popular Mobilisation Forces which 'is somehow more or less connected to Iran's networks in the region and the axis of resistance'. In response to the move by Mr Trump, an Iraqi military spokesman, Sabah Al Numan, said on Thursday that the evacuation of some US embassy personnel is a 'regulatory precautionary measure related to them'. Omar Al Nidawi, programmes director at Enabling Peace in Iraq Centre thinks that the "sudden unprompted move and Trump's remarks yesterday that the region 'could be a dangerous place' suggests it was more likely a stunt meant to put pressure on Iran ahead of talks than a real security precaution based on actual concerns", he told The National.
