CNA938 Rewind - Los Angeles protests: Trump's motive behind his deployments
U.S President Donald Trump's move to federalize the National Guard and deploy troops to Los Angeles without the approval of California Governor Gavin Newsom has sparked debate over whether the White House could actually be fueling the unrest. Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman look at whether the move has in fact escalated the situation, rather than de-escalate it. For that, they speak with Rick Mullaney, Shircliff Executive Director, Public Policy Institute, Jacksonville University.
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CNA
29 minutes ago
- CNA
Zelenskyy, European leaders head to US for talks on peace deal terms
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said reclaiming Crimea or entering NATO were off the table for Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington for Monday's (Aug 18) talks aimed at ending the war with Russia. Zelenskyy, who has repeatedly rejected territorial concessions, will meet Trump in Washington on Monday, accompanied by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and other leaders. The meeting comes on the heels of a summit between Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, which failed to yield a ceasefire breakthrough but produced promises from both leaders to provide "robust security guarantees" to Ukraine. Zelenskyy was not invited to the Alaska meeting, after which Trump pivoted to the long-held Russian position that a ceasefire was not needed before a final peace deal. "President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight," Trump posted on his social media platform. "Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!" Trump and Zelenskyy are expected to meet one-on-one before being joined by a cohort of European leaders Monday, according to the White House schedule. Along with von der Leyen, NATO chief Mark Rutte and the leaders of Britain, Finland, France, Germany and Italy will be present. It will be the first time Zelenskyy visits Washington since a bust-up with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in February when the two men berated the Ukrainian leader for being "ungrateful". On Sunday night, after arriving in Washington, Zelenskyy said: "We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably." SECURITY GUARANTEES Since the Oval Office row in February, Trump has grown more critical of Putin and shown some signs of frustration as Russia repeatedly stalled on peace talks. But Washington has not placed extra sanctions on Moscow and the lavish welcome offered to Putin in Alaska on his first visit to the West since he invaded Ukraine in 2022 was seen as a diplomatic coup for Russia. Speaking in Brussels on the eve of his visit to the United States, Zelenskyy said he was keen to hear more about what Putin and Trump discussed in Alaska. He also hailed Washington's offer of security guarantees to Ukraine as "historic". Trump said he spoke to Putin about the possibility of a NATO-style collective defence guarantee for Ukraine. The promise would be outside of the framework of the Western military alliance which Ukraine wants to join and which is seen as an existential threat by Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron said European leaders would ask Trump "to what extent" Washington is ready to contribute to security guarantees for Ukraine. DISCUSSION ON LAND Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said Moscow had made "some concessions" regarding five Ukrainian regions that Russia fully or partially controls, and said that "there is an important discussion with regard to Donetsk and what would happen there. "That discussion is going to specifically be detailed on Monday," he said, without giving details. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 following a sham referendum and did the same in 2022 for four Ukrainian regions - Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia - even though its forces have not fully captured them. A source briefed on a phone call between Trump and European leaders on Saturday told AFP that the US leader was "inclined to support" a Russian demand to be given territory it has not yet captured in the Donbas, an area that includes the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and which has seen the deadliest battles of the war. In exchange, the source cited Trump as saying, Moscow would agree to "freeze" the front line in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Russian forces hold swathes of territory but not the regional capitals. Russia has until now insisted that Ukraine pull its forces out of all four regions as a precondition to any deal. "CAPITULATION" There is concern in Europe that Washington could pressure Ukraine to accept Russia's terms. "For peace to prevail, pressure must be applied to the aggressor, not the victim of aggression," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Sunday. Macron said: "There is only one state proposing a peace that would be a capitulation: Russia." Zelenskyy has repeatedly pushed back against ceding territory, but said he is ready to discuss the issue in the context of a trilateral summit with Trump and Putin. Trump has raised the possibility of such a meeting, but Russia has played down the prospect. Moscow's forces have been advancing gradually but steadily in Ukraine, particularly in the Donetsk region.
AsiaOne
29 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
Europeans to back Zelenskiy in Washington as Trump presses Ukraine deal, World News
LONDON/KYIV — European leaders will join Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet Donald Trump in Washington, they said on Sunday (Aug 17), seeking to shore up Zelenskiy's position as the US president presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace deal to end Europe's deadliest war in 80 years. Trump is leaning on Zelenskiy to strike an agreement after he met Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in Alaska and emerged more aligned with Moscow on seeking a peace deal instead of a ceasefire first. Trump and Zelenskiy will meet on Monday. "If peace is not going to be possible here and this is just going to continue on as a war, people will continue to die by the thousands... we may unfortunately wind up there, but we don't want to wind up there," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS' Face the Nation. Trump on Sunday promised "BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA" in a social media post without specifying what this might be. Sources briefed on Moscow's thinking told Reuters the US and Russian leaders have discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to international organisations in Vienna, said Russia agreed that any peace agreement on Ukraine must provide security guarantees to Kyiv. "Many leaders of #EU states emphasise that a future peace agreement should provide reliable security assurances or guarantees for Ukraine," Ulyanov said on social media platform X. "Russia agrees with that. But it has equal right to expect that Moscow will also get efficient security guarantees." Top Trump officials hinted that the fate of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region — which is already mostly under Russian control — was on the line, while some sort of defensive pact was also on the table. "We were able to win the following concession, that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection," Trump envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, suggesting this would be in lieu of Ukraine seeking NATO membership. He said it was "the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that." Article 5 of Nato's founding treaty enshrines the principle of collective defence, in which an attack on any member is considered an attack on all. That pledge may not be enough to sway Kyiv to sign over Donbas. Ukraine's borders were already meant to be guaranteed when Ukraine surrendered a nuclear arsenal in 1994, which proved to be little deterrent when Russia absorbed Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. The war has killed or wounded more than one million people. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted a meeting of allies on Sunday to bolster Zelenskiy's hand, hoping in particular to lock down robust security guarantees for Ukraine that would include a US role. The Europeans are eager to help Zelenskiy avoid a repeat of his last Oval Office meeting in February when Trump and Vice President JD Vance gave the Ukrainian leader a public dressing-down, accusing him of being ungrateful and disrespectful. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also travel to Washington, as will Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who has played rounds of golf with Trump this year, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, an admirer of many Trump policies. European show of unity European leaders at the Sunday meeting projected unity, welcoming US talk of a security guarantee but stressing no discussions over territory could take place without Kyiv's involvement and clear arrangements to safeguard the rest of Ukraine's land. Some called for an immediate ceasefire, which Trump originally said he was trying to secure during his summit with Putin. Trump later changed course and agreed with the Russians that peace negotiations could come without a ceasefire, an idea dismissed by some of Ukraine's European allies. "You cannot negotiate peace under falling bombs," Poland's foreign ministry said in a statement. A joint communique released by Britain, France and Germany after the meeting said their leaders were ready "to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased, and to help secure Ukraine's skies and seas and regenerate Ukraine's armed forces." Some European countries, led by Britain and France, have been working since last year on such a plan, but others in the region remain reluctant to become involved militarily. Zelenskiy said on X there had been "clear support for Ukraine's independence and sovereignty" at the meeting. "Everyone agrees that borders must not be changed by force." He said any prospective security guarantees "must really be very practical, delivering protection on land, in the air, and at sea, and must be developed with Europe's participation." Rubio said both Russia and Ukraine would need to make concessions to reach a peace deal and security guarantees for Ukraine would be discussed on Monday. He also said there must be additional consequences for Russia if no deal was reached. "I'm not saying we're on the verge of a peace deal, but I am saying that we saw movement, enough movement to justify a follow-up meeting with Zelenskiy and the Europeans, enough movement for us to dedicate even more time to this," Rubio told broadcaster CBS. Putin briefed his close ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, about the Alaska talks, and also spoke with Kazakhstan's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Trump said on Friday Ukraine should make a deal to end the war because "Russia is a very big power, and they're not." After the Alaska summit, Trump phoned Zelenskiy and told him the Kremlin chief had offered to freeze most front lines if Ukraine ceded all of Donetsk, a source familiar with the matter said. Zelenskiy rejected the demand. [[nid:721424]]
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Asia: Stocks up, oil down before Trump-Zelensky talks
ASIAN stocks were mostly higher on Monday while oil dipped ahead of talks between Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders in Washington. US President Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, but the summit failed to yield any breakthrough on a ceasefire in Ukraine. Zelensky, who will be joined in Washington by European leaders, however called a US offer of security guarantees to Ukraine 'historic'. 'Trump and Putin walked away without a ceasefire, without even the illusion of one,' said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. 'What they did offer was theatre: enough 'progress' for Trump to declare victory and quietly holster his double-barreled threat - tariffs on Beijing for buying Russian barrels and sanctions on Moscow's crude,' Innes said. Before the Alaska talks, US stocks wavered on Friday after mixed economic data, with retail sales up but an industrial production index and a consumer survey both down. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Oil prices, which have been volatile for several days - Russia is a major crude producer - fell back on Monday, adding to a drop on Friday. Japan's Nikkei was up, posting a new record high and adding to gains on Friday after better-than-expected economic growth data. The Hang Seng, Shanghai, and Sydney were also higher while Taipei fell back. This week investor eyes will be on any clues on US interest rates at the Federal Reserve's annual retreat at Jackson Hole. AFP
