Jamie Beaton's message for students caught in Trump's war on Harvard; TIN's Greg Shanahan shoots for his own tech export revenue
Crimson founder Jamie Beaton is taking Trump's war on Harvard personally - but it also has potential to affect his business. He answers that threat, and also Crimson adviser Sir John Key's musing about him entering politics. TIN's Greg Shanahan – best known as the ranker of our tech exporters
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Otago Daily Times
2 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Trump threat if Putin blocks Ukraine peace
US President Donald Trump has threatened "severe consequences" if Russia's Vladimir Putin does not agree to peace in Ukraine. However, he also said a meeting between them could swiftly be followed by a second that would include the leader of Ukraine. Trump did not specify on Wednesday what the consequences could be, but he has warned of economic sanctions if his meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday proves fruitless. The comments by Trump and the outcome of a virtual conference with Trump, European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held on Wednesday could provide encouragement for Kyiv after fears the Alaska summit could end up selling out Ukraine by carving up its territory. However, Russia is likely to resist Ukraine and Europe's demands strongly and previously has said its stance had not changed since it was first detailed by Putin in June 2024. When asked if Russia would face any consequences if Putin does not agree to stop the war after Friday's meeting, Trump responded: 'Yes, they will.' Asked if those consequences would be sanctions or tariffs, Trump told reporters: 'I don't have to say. There will be very severe consequences." But the president also described the aim of the meeting between the two leaders in Alaska as "setting the table" for a quick follow-up that would include Zelenskyy. "If the first one goes okay, we'll have a quick second one," Trump said. "I would like to do it almost immediately, and we'll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they'd like to have me there." Trump did not provide a time frame for a second meeting. RED LINES European leaders and Zelenskyy had earlier spoken with Trump in a last-ditch call hosted by Germany to lay out red lines ahead of the Alaska meeting. "We had a very good call. He was on the call. President Zelenskyy was on the call. I would rate it a 10, very friendly," Trump said. French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump agreed Ukraine must be involved in any discussions about ceding land, while Zelenskyy said Trump had supported the idea of security guarantees in a post-war settlement. "President Trump was very clear that the United States wanted to achieve a ceasefire at this meeting in Alaska," Macron said. "The second point on which things were very clear, as expressed by President Trump, is that territories belonging to Ukraine cannot be negotiated and will only be negotiated by the Ukrainian president." German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who hosted the virtual meeting, said the principle that borders could not be changed by force must continue to apply. "If there is no movement on the Russian side in Alaska, then the United States and we Europeans should ... increase the pressure," he said. "President Trump knows this position. He shares it very extensively and therefore I can say: We have had a really exceptionally constructive and good conversation with each other." Trump and Putin are due to discuss how to end the three-and-a-half-year-old conflict, the largest in Europe since World War 2. Trump has previously said both sides will have to swap land to end fighting that has cost tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions. RUSSIA MAKES SHARP ADVANCE INTO UKRAINE On a day of intense diplomacy, Zelenskyy flew to Berlin for the virtual conferences with European leaders and then with Trump. He and the Europeans worry that a land swap could leave Russia with almost a fifth of Ukraine, rewarding it for nearly 11 years of efforts to seize Ukrainian land, the last three in all-out war, and embolden Putin to expand further west. Russian forces have made a sharp thrust into eastern Ukraine in recent days in what may be an attempt to increase the pressure on Kyiv to give up territory. "I told the US president and all our European colleagues that Putin is bluffing (about his stated wish to end the war)," Zelenskyy said. "He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front. Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine." A source familiar with the matter said the call with Trump discussed possible cities that could host a three-way meeting, depending on the outcome of the talks in Alaska. Wary of angering Trump, European leaders have repeatedly said they welcome his efforts, while stressing that there should be no deal without Ukraine's participation. Trump's agreement last week to the summit was an abrupt shift after weeks of voicing frustration with Putin for resisting the US peace initiative. Trump said his envoy, Steve Witkoff, had made "great progress" at talks in Moscow. A Gallup poll released last week found that 69% of Ukrainians favour a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible. But polls also indicate Ukrainians do not want peace at any cost if that means significant concessions. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexei Fadeev earlier said Moscow's stance had not changed since last year. As conditions for a ceasefire and the start of talks, Putin had demanded Ukraine withdraw its forces from four regions that Russia has claimed as its own but does not fully control, and formally renounce plans to join NATO. Kyiv swiftly rejected the conditions as tantamount to surrender.
NZ Herald
4 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Trump can cut billions in foreign aid funds approved by Congress, appeals court rules
If the panel's decision stands, it wasn't immediately clear how much it would affect other lawsuits contesting a range of Trump Administration funding freezes and cuts besides foreign aid. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson wrote in the majority opinion that the challengers lacked valid legal grounds to sue over the Trump Administration's decision to withhold the funds, also known as impoundment. The US Comptroller General - who leads an accountability arm of Congress - could sue under a specific law related to impoundment decisions, Henderson wrote, but the challengers couldn't bring a 'freestanding' constitutional claim or claim violations of a different law related to agency actions. Henderson, appointed by former President George H.W. Bush, was joined by Judge Greg Katsas, a Trump appointee. The court didn't reach the core question of whether the Administration's unilateral decision to refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress is constitutional. Judge Florence Pan, nominated by former President Joe Biden, dissented, writing that her colleagues had turned 'a blind eye to the 'serious implications' of this case for the rule of law and the very structure of our government'. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement that the appeals court 'has affirmed what we already knew – President Trump has the executive authority to execute his own foreign policy, which includes ensuring that all foreign assistance aligns with the America First agenda'. A lead lawyer for the grant recipients did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The two consolidated cases before the appeals court only deal with money that Congress approved for the 2024 fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. Grantees are poised to lose access to funds if they haven't yet been approved to be spent by federal officials - a precursor to actual payouts - or unless a court order is in place. The Administration lost one of its few battles before the US Supreme Court earlier this year in the foreign aid fight. In March, a majority of justices refused to immediately stop US District Judge Amir Ali's injunction taking effect while the legal fight went forward. Since then, however, the challengers have filed complaints with Ali that the Administration is failing to obligate or pay out the funds. They've rebuffed the government's position that the delay is part of a legitimate effort to 'evaluate the appropriate next steps' and accused officials of angling to use a novel tactic to go around Congress in order to cut appropriated money. Trump's Administration has dramatically scaled back the US government's humanitarian work overseas, slashing spending and personnel and merging the USAid into the State Department. The challengers say the foreign aid freeze has created a global crisis, and that the money is critical for malaria prevention, to address child malnutrition and provide postnatal care for newborns. They argued that the President and agency leaders couldn't defy Congress' spending mandates and didn't have discretion to decide that only some, let alone none, of the money appropriated by lawmakers should be paid. The President can ask Congress to withdraw appropriations but can't do it on his own, the challengers argued. The Justice Department argued Ali's order was an 'improper judicial intrusion into matters left to the political branches' and that the judge wrongly interfered in the 'particularly sensitive area of foreign relations.' The government also said that the Impoundment Control Act, which restricts the president from overruling Congress' spending decisions, wasn't a law that the non-profits and business could sue to enforce. The challengers countered that Ali's order blocking the funding freeze was rooted in their constitutional separation-of-powers claim, not the impoundment law.
NZ Herald
6 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Diplomats who have been in the room give their insight on who might prevail in Alaska
The Telegraph has spoken to a host of former officials and diplomats who have first-hand experience dealing with both the Russian and American presidents. Trump characterised his goals for the high-stakes meeting as an opportunity to stare into his Russian counterpart's eyes to judge his plan to end the war in Ukraine. 'I'm going to see what he has in mind,' the US President told reporters. 'I may leave and say good luck, and that'll be the end,' he added. 'Probably in the first two minutes I'll know exactly whether or not a deal can get done.' If he is prepared to walk away at the slightest demonstration that Putin isn't ready to end the war – Zelenskyy says Russia is gearing up for more conflict – then what does Trump want? It has long been thought that he is desperate for a Nobel Peace Prize and has a particular grudge against President Barack Obama for being decorated only eight months into his first term. The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited Obama's 'extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples', which seemed to be more about Obama's promise as an international leader than his actual accomplishments. Trump is the self-styled 'president of peace'. 'As president, he has brokered peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, Serbia and Kosovo, and with the Abraham Accords,' the White House said. 'Trump and certainly [JD] Vance, they don't care about the future of Ukraine particularly,' Anthony Gardener, who served as Obama's US Ambassador to the EU, said. 'I'm convinced Trump does want to position himself as the person who, quote, unquote, brought a sort of form of peace to get a Nobel Peace Prize,' Gardener added. Ending the bloodshed in Ukraine could do that. Others say he's looking for yet another deal to sell as a demonstration of business acumen. There are significant rare earth mineral deposits in eastern Ukraine. That territory is on the table, and Trump has already made a play for it by signing an agreement with Zelenskyy to be able to mine it. 'Trump wants to bag a win … period,' Gardener said. In his office in the Kremlin, where Putin will be preparing for his meeting with Trump, sits a bust of Catherine the Great. The significance of the monument should not be lost. As Russia's longest-serving female monarch, Catherine dragged the country into the 18th century and during her reign, doubled the size of its empire. David Liddington, a former deputy prime minister, said Putin also compares himself to Peter the Great, 'somebody who is going to restore Russia's greatness and grow Russia's territory, at least its effective empire'. And Putin is likely to double down on his positions, in an attempt to at least cement his control over the Ukrainian territory already seized by his invasion forces. He will leave little of the planning up to his aides, who are mostly believed to be yes men there for affirmation rather than assistance. 'President Putin is secretive, well-scripted and always eager to press an argument that reaffirms his positions rather than his willingness to settle. He reflects the attitudes of someone who's familiar with power play, intelligence and security considerations, not the transactional, commercial kind of negotiation playbook,' Margaritis Schinas, a former European Commission vice-president, said. According to Bobby McDonagh, a former Irish ambassador to the UK, Italy and EU, Putin is 'utterly predictable'. 'He will relentlessly and ruthlessly pursue his very narrowly defined idea of Russian interests,' McDonagh added. Those who have been in the room before say the Russian President will likely try to corner his American counterpart by demanding that the structure of their meeting plays out in a specific fashion. 'He prefers meetings structured in two parts: first, with delegations and interpreters that mainly serve as an audience to listen to his position on a particular subject, usually peppered with aggressive comments on those who think otherwise; then, a more closed – usually tete a tete – discussion of principals where he may show some margin of openness,' Schinas said. It is in the latter section of the meeting in which Putin will try to hammer home any wriggle room he has made for himself. 'Putin will keep his eye on the strategic prize. He will look for opportunities to lessen the economic pressure on Russia and the Russian economy,' Liddington said. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office estimates that sanctions on Russia have deprived the Russian state of at least £333 billion ($755b) in war funds between February 2022 and June 2025. Any easing would give Putin a significant win. John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, told the Telegraph that Putin will use his KGB skills to manipulate the US President. 'That's one reason why Putin really did not want Zelenskyy or the Europeans there. He doesn't want Trump to be distracted with all these other players,' Bolton said. 'Putin will try to get Trump back into feeling that they're friends again. I think Trump has been disappointed that his friend, over the first six months of the Administration, has not helped him reach this deal.' According to Bolton, Putin has 'manipulated Trump on Ukraine really right from the beginning of the Administration, but back before the disaster with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office'. The Russian President is 'going to try and get Trump back on side', Bolton said, adding: 'He's got to work fast'. 'The outcome will depend entirely on whether Trump resists Putin's known and entirely unacceptable demands,' McDonagh added. He was referring to a stripped-back Ukrainian Army, no prospect of them joining Nato, and the recognition of Russian sovereignty over the Ukrainian regions of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. The US President is much happier to consult with advisers on his positions in the meeting, but those don't bode well for Ukraine. Tulsi Gabbard, his intelligence chief, is known to not care much for Kyiv. Vance and Pete Hegseth, the Defence Secretary, have vocalised the need for Ukraine to surrender territory. 'He likes to be surrounded by his team and advisers, allowing them space for contributions, but under no circumstances margin for decision,' Schinas said. This means the US President is unlikely to listen to the European leaders, including Keir Starmer, who were to hold talks with him overnight. There is one hope among the European and Ukrainian onlookers ahead of the summit. Is Trump prepared to let himself be embarrassed at the hands of Putin? Will he attempt to emulate Ronald Reagan, the former US president credited for the invention of 'Make America Great Again'? Sir Julian King, Britain's last-ever European Commissioner, said: 'You can get unexpected outcomes'. 'Reagan at Reykjavik blindsided his allies,' he said, referring to the 1986 summit between the US president and Mikhail Gorbachev which ushered in the end of the Cold War. 'But as they meet for the first time in years, with Putin's maximalist negotiating and Trump's unpredictability, anything could happen. 'The one potential saving grace, Trump won't want to come out looking like a chump,' he concluded.
