Finland again summons Russian diplomat over a suspected airspace violation
NATO member Finland on Tuesday said it believed a Russian military aircraft entered its airspace off the coast of Porvoo in the southern part of the Nordic country, and that the Finnish Border Guard was investigating the incident.
"The foreign ministry has invited Russia's acting head of mission to speak on the issue today," the Finnish ministry said in a statement to Reuters.
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CNBC
15 minutes ago
- CNBC
Putin wants a photo op with Trump and a sanctions delay, says EU foreign policy chief
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not actually interested in negotiating when he meets his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to discuss the war in Ukraine, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told CNBC on Tuesday. European officials and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have expressed concerns at being sidelined from the Putin-Trump meeting in Alaska on Friday. The Ukrainian leader warned that Russia is planning further offensives and cannot be trusted, while European leaders have been scrambling to secure Ukraine a seat at the table. "In order to have any deal implemented, you need Europe and you need Ukraine. So it is clear that Putin is just pretending to negotiate," Kallas said on CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe." "Putin doesn't want Zelenskyy around that table, because that would reveal that he actually doesn't want to negotiate, and he just wants to have a picture with President Trump and also postpone sanctions," she said. CNBC has contacted the Kremlin for a response to Kallas' claims and is awaiting a response. European officials and Zelenskyy have been sidelined from the Putin-Trump meeting in Alaska on Friday, which has caused much irritation. Zelenskyy has warned that Russia is planning further offensives and cannot be trusted, while European leaders have been scrambling to try and influence Trump and get Ukraine a seat at the table. European leaders, including Zelenskyy, are set to meet for a virtual summit later on Tuesday, which will reportedly focus on ways to pressure Russia, the fate of Ukrainian territories seized by Russia and possible security guarantees for Kyiv. Trump has also been invited. U.S. has threatened, but not yet implemented sanctions on Russia. European officials have long been trying to pressure Washington D.C. to implement measures, which could put pressure on Putin. Ahead of the talks between Trump and Putin, concerns have also grown that the U.S. president may pursue a solution that would be unfavourable for Ukraine. Trump suggested on Monday that there could "some swapping" of territory as part of a peace deal though he insisted the U.S. "would try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine." The EU's Kallas on Tuesday said no deal could be implemented behind Ukraine's back. When asked about how the EU could react should Trump agree to cede some Ukrainian territory to Russia, she said: "How would that work in practice, like really, if Ukraine doesn't agree to this, then how would it really work?" Putin clearly just wants concessions, she said, adding that before any talks about ceding territory, a ceasefire should be discussed. "Just to recall that Ukraine agreed to unconditional ceasefire already five months ago, and since then, Putin and Kremlin, Russia has just been playing games," Kallas said. "Russia could stop this war today. Just stop bombing the civilians and civilian infrastructure, and the war would be over," she added. The EU diplomat also addressed tensions within the bloc regarding its approach to the war. Hungary, which has previously created hurdles for the approval of EU sanctions against Russia, this week chose not to endorse a statement by the bloc that said Ukraine must be free to decide its own future. "We definitely also need to discuss our working methods, because this is a crucial time for Europe, it is a crucial time for our security, and we need to be able to adopt decisions. We have been able to adopt decisions so far, but it's of course, increasingly more difficult," Kallas said.
Newsweek
15 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Democratic Socialism So White? Why Racial Minority Voters Aren't Lining Up for It … Yet
In June, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, a New York State Assembly member, achieved a stunning victory in New York City's ranked-choice Democratic primary for mayor. Following Mamdani's win—what some see as a transcendent moment in national politics—pundits have gone to great lengths trying to decode what democratic socialism, a relative anomaly in America, actually is. Along the way, commentators have scuttled important details, understating or overstating the movement's potential spoils and perils. And here lies Democrats' biggest challenge to selling democratic socialism to voters—especially the party's scorned and thinning racial minority base. Racial minority voters are more risk-averse in their voting behavior than white voters, and Democrats, including Mamdani, simply haven't given them strong reasons to believe in democratic socialism. Yet. As an alternative to free-market capitalism, democratic socialism has long struggled with branding, often perceived as utopian or overly redistributive in nature. But democratic socialism also suffers from a deeper representational problem. Rallies and social media feeds tend to present its most vocal supporters as white urban millennials, upper-crust Gen Zers, and "Bernie Bros," those who ironically would seem to have both the least to gain and least to lose from aligning with democratic socialism. NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference outside of the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building on Aug. 7, 2025, in New York City. NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference outside of the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building on Aug. 7, 2025, in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Opponents peg democratic socialism as a radical, bohemian ideology that could push the U.S. toward authoritarianism, pointing to socialist governments (sans the "democratic" part) in countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Proponents romanticize democratic socialism, envisaging Nordic countries like Denmark and Sweden where worker-led economies and strong safety nets reign. Nordic countries though are small, culturally monolithic, and overwhelmingly white, raising real questions about whether democratic socialism could flourish in a large, racially and culturally diverse country like the U.S. Until Mamdani's surprising victory, pollsters were unconvinced that democratic socialism reflected a serious movement. To this end, polling data remains limited, rarely capturing the distinction between "socialism" and "democratic socialism," the latter explicitly incorporating democratic processes and checks and balances. A 2022 Pew poll found socialism was viewed favorably by 52 percent of Black, 49 percent of Asian, and 41 percent of Hispanic respondents—compared to just 31 percent of white respondents. It's one thing though to embrace a political ideal, and quite another to vote for candidates who embody it. The main thrust of democratic socialism—economic fairness—resonates with many Americans, but potentially more so with racial minorities due to their history of exclusion from the workforce, housing, and other critical dimensions of the American ecosystem. But how that fairness is achieved remains the sticking point. And given years of opaque and failed promises from Democratic policymakers to level the playing field, many Black voters remain skeptical. Black voters' skepticism though largely centers on the thorny issue of electability, not simply effectiveness, and it's an issue the Democratic political establishment must untangle. For racial minority voters, concerns about electability, particularly when sparked or reinforced by trusted political leaders from their communities, can make them shy away from candidates with bold ideas that speak to their core issues. Elder democratic socialist Bernie Sanders epitomizes this conundrum. During the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, 61 percent of voters in South Carolina, where Democrats are mostly Black, said that South Carolina U.S. Congressman Jim Clyburn's endorsement of Joe Biden was an important part of their decision. South Carolinians' decision proved hugely important in swaying the eventual nomination away from Sanders to Biden. Clyburn, for his part, implied that the Sanders campaign didn't "aggressively" seek his endorsement. That's a misstep democratic socialist candidates can't afford to repeat. But there are broader issues. Barack Obama's naked appeals to greater socioeconomic equity on the presidential campaign trail in 2008 and 2012 invited insinuations—from both Republican critics and even Democrats—that he was flirting with socialism. Obama overcame the critiques; and his presidency, anticlimactically, ended up being thoroughly centrist, very far from a paragon of democratic socialism, let alone socialism. This deeply dismayed not just his progressive supporters, but his Black backers. Like Obama, and unlike Sanders, Mamdani oozes the vital kind of charisma that makes candidates feel relatable and trustworthy. However, unlike President Obama, and very much like Bernie Sanders, Mamdani hasn't initially made big inroads with Black voters, an essential step for any democratic socialist aiming to grow beyond liberal enclaves. There are two lessons to be heeded here. First, Democratic candidates with democratic socialist ideals must have the right messaging to overcome political establishment resistance, something Mamdani is currently pressure-testing. Second, when candidates move away from their own fresh, invigorating democratic socialist ideals, they risk alienating their most loyal and passionate voters. A pivot toward democratic socialism, or even a willingness simply not to obstruct candidates who embrace it, might be the bold gamble Democrats need to take. However, the party must recognize that for its indispensable racial minority voters, the devil you know is better than the one you don't. And as is almost always the case with socialist politics, the devil is in the details. Jerel Ezell is a sociologist and visiting professor at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Sugy Choi is an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Russia Has 'Strong Incentive' To Deploy More Destructive Nukes: Report
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Russia has a "strong incentive" to use more destructive nuclear weapons as Western militaries build up their missile arsenals and improve their air defenses, according to a new report. "Russian nuclear strategy appears to be at an inflection point," said an analysis published on Tuesday by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British defense think tank. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment via email. Why It Matters The U.S. provides the vast majority of NATO's nuclear deterrent. Together, Russia and the U.S. have a grip on about 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons. Nuclear rhetoric and threats have limned the almost three and a half years of full-scale war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin put Russia's nuclear deterrence forces on high alert as Moscow's forces poured into Ukraine in early 2022, and the Kremlin's veteran foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said a few months later that the risks of nuclear conflict had become "considerable." Russian officials have repeatedly said this month that the Kremlin does not consider itself bound any more by previous restrictions on short-range and intermediate-range nuclear and conventional missiles. The Knyaz Pozharsky nuclear-powered Borei-A class submarine is moored at a pier in Severodvinsk, Russia, on July 24. The Knyaz Pozharsky nuclear-powered Borei-A class submarine is moored at a pier in Severodvinsk, Russia, on July 24. Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP What To Know Moscow believes Washington can more easily take out its ability to launch a nuclear strike, according to RUSI's report. The Kremlin also assesses that improvements to NATO's air defenses could interfere with any strategy where Russia would use nuclear weapons "in a calibrated or dosed way, as part of a regional war," the report said. This "creates a strong incentive to employ nuclear weapons at a larger scale than is consistent with dosing," it continued. Strategic nuclear weapons are deployed on intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and those fired from bomber aircraft. They are thought of as the missiles that could level entire cities and threaten major global superpowers. They are limited under the New START Treaty that is due to expire in early 2026. Unlike strategic weapons, tactical nuclear weapons—or nonstrategic weapons—have a smaller yield and are designed for use on the battlefield or in what is known as a specific theater. Western estimates typically put Russia's tactical nuclear arsenal at somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 warheads. The U.S. has an estimated 200 tactical nuclear weapons, with about half deployed at European bases. In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed an agreement known as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which banned nuclear and conventional missiles able to strike between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310 and 3,400 miles). The treaty is no longer in effect and does not bind either state. The U.S. formally pulled out of the INF Treaty in mid-2019, during President Donald Trump's first term in office. Washington had accused Moscow of breaching the terms of the agreement by developing the SSC-8, also known as the 9M729 ground-launched cruise missile. NATO also accused Russia of violating the treaty, which Moscow denied. Both sides had suspended participation months earlier. Russia then said it would not deploy missiles banned under this treaty "until U.S.-manufactured missiles of similar classes" were rolled out, known as the INF moratorium. The U.S. has deployed its Mid-Range Capability missile system, which can fire Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of about 1,000 miles, to the northern Philippines. Putin said on August 1 that Moscow would deliver Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missiles to Belarus by the end of 2025. Russia fired the experimental missile at central Ukraine in November 2024. That month, Moscow updated its nuclear doctrine to justify a nuclear strike in response to an attack on Russia by a nonnuclear country if it is backed by a nuclear-armed nation. U.S. nuclear strategy during Trump's previous term in office steered Washington toward "flexibility and range" with its nuclear weapons, including by modifying some Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile warheads to be lower-yield. The U.S. first deployed the low-yield Trident warheads in early 2020. What People Are Saying Jon Wolfsthal, Hans Kristensen and Matt Korda, from the Federation of American Scientists, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed in June: "Many of the most dangerous ideas from the Cold War are being resurrected: lower-yield weapons to fight 'limited' nuclear wars; blockbuster missiles that could destroy multiple targets at once; the redeployment of a whole class of missiles once banned and destroyed by treaty."
