Global News Podcast European leaders meet ahead of Trump's summit with Putin
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Spectator
28 minutes ago
- Spectator
Uefa's ‘Stop killing children' banner isn't fooling anyone
Who does Uefa think it's kidding? It says the huge banner saying 'Stop killing children' unfurled at a Super Cup match last night was 'not political'. It was 'about humanity', insists an insider. 'In fact, you could just say it is common sense', they said. They must think we were born yesterday. Everyone whose moral faculties have not been entirely fried by the Gaza war knows this banner was likely a political dig at that state it is fashionable to hate – Israel. To display such a banner ahead of a Spurs match – a team with deep links to Britain's Jewish community – is especially egregious The banner said 'Stop Killing Children – Stop Killing Civilians'. It was displayed on the pitch in Udine, Italy ahead of the clash between Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain. Children from conflict zones around the world stood by the banner, including two Palestinian kids. Uefa's rules forbid the display of political messages before, during or after matches. But this wasn't political, it says – it was a cry of concern for littl'uns everywhere. I call BS. I suppose it is wholly coincidental that such a banner has been displayed at a time when Europe's chattering classes feverishly accuse the Jewish State of being a child-killing entity. Spend more than 60 seconds on social media and you'll encounter this calumny. Browse the 'respectable' press and there it is. Venture into your city centre when there's a 'pro-Palestine' march and you'll hear the mob holler it: 'Israel spills the blood of children!' This view of Israel as a uniquely murderous state, as a nation that takes pleasure in the butchery of children, is all the rage right now. 'Israel is annihilating Palestinian children', op-ed writers cry. It is 'targeting childhood' itself, we're told. A Unicef official described Israel's war in Gaza as a 'war on children'. It is no such thing, of course; it is a war on the neo-fascists of Hamas who invaded Israel on 7 October 2023 to rape and massacre Jews. On those weekly street rages against Israel you'll see placard after placard calling on it to 'Stop Killing Children'. Israel is seen as an infanticidal regime, as uniquely wicked among the nations of the earth in that children do not merely perish in its wars, as they tragically do in all wars – no, they are targeted for execution by this sick state that gets a twisted thrill from letting the blood of innocents. You don't have to be an expert in Medieval History to hear the echo of the blood libel in these chants. Where once Jews were seen as the dastardly spillers of the blood of Christian children, now the Jewish state is seen as the murderous spiller of the blood of Palestinian children. Some people might believe the left's anti-Israel hotheads when they say it is entirely coincidental that they now accuse the Jewish nation of the same ritualistic crimes of child slaughter that the Jewish people were once accused of – I am not one of those people. For me, it was made most clear on an anti-Israel demonstration in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex back in April. Protesters carried dolls in shrouds stained with fake blood while screaming 'Stop killing babies!' as Jewish families walked home from synagogue after Sabbath prayers. How profoundly shaming that 900 years after the blood libel was born in the City of Norwich, England's Jews once more found themselves surrounded by a frothing mob howling about child slaughter. And now into this mix comes Uefa's apparently innocent banner. Look, who knows what the thinking was of the individuals who thought it would be a good idea to mention the death of children in war before a game of footie. But the impact of the banner is undeniable: it will have made hundreds of thousands of people think about that 'evil' state that the cultural elite insists is murdering children for sport. 'For centuries, Europe has traded in the blood libel that Jews kill children, and clearly the trope remains as popular as ever', said the Campaign Against Antisemitism in response to the Uefa furore. Quite right. To display such a banner ahead of a Spurs match – a team with deep links to Britain's Jewish community – is especially egregious. Why not a banner saying 'Stop Kidnapping Jews', in reference to Hamas's brutal, 15-month abduction of the British-Israeli Spurs fan, Emily Damari? Children die in all wars. It's the worst thing about war. But the Israel-Hamas war is the first of my lifetime where there has been such a grim, frenzied obsession with these tragic deaths, and such a certain conviction that they are not accidental tragedies at all but the intentional handiwork of that monstrous Jewish army. I'm tired of tiptoeing around this: the reason they accuse this nation alone of ritualistic child murder is because it is the Jewish nation.
The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Putin is floating a new nuclear deal with the US ahead of Trump talks. Here's why
Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated he wants to pursue a new nuclear weapons agreement with US President Donald Trump, ahead of their anticipated summit in Alaska on Friday. The potential accord is framed by Mr Putin as part of a wider initiative to bolster global peace, coming amid persistent pressure from Mr Trump to de-escalate the three-and-a-half-year conflict in Ukraine. Moscow views the Ukrainian situation as integral to a complex web of security concerns that have elevated East-West tensions to their highest point since the Cold War. Despite Kyiv's repeated calls for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire, Mr Putin has resisted, even as Russian forces continue their gradual advance in Ukraine. However, progress on a new arms control treaty at the summit could allow Mr Putin to present himself as actively engaged in broader peace efforts. This, in turn, might help dissuade Mr Trump from imposing new sanctions on Russia and its key exports, including oil, a measure the US leader has previously threatened. Such a development could also signify a broader push to mend relations with Washington, particularly concerning trade and economic ties, areas the Kremlin believes hold significant untapped potential. Why has Putin repeatedly talked up Russia's nuclear arsenal? Throughout the war, Mr Putin has delivered veiled threats about using nuclear missiles and warned that entering a direct confrontation with Russia could lead to World War Three. They have included verbal statements, war games, and lowering Russia's threshold for using nuclear weapons. The fact that Russia has more nuclear weapons than any other country gives it a stature in this domain that far exceeds its conventional military or economic power, allowing Mr Putin to face Mr Trump as an equal on the world stage when it comes to security. How many nuclear weapons do Russia and the US have? According to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia and the United States have estimated military stockpiles of 4,309 and 3,700 nuclear warheads respectively. China trails behind with an estimated 600. What does the existing US-Russia nuclear treaty say? Signed by then-US president Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, the New START treaty caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy. Each is limited to no more than 1,550, and a maximum of 700 long-range missiles and bombers. Strategic weapons are those designed by each side to hit the enemy's centres of military, economic and political power. The treaty came into force in 2011 and was extended in 2021 for five more years after US President Joe Biden took office. In 2023, Mr Putin suspended Russia's participation but Moscow said it would continue to observe the warhead limits. The treaty expires on 5 February 2026. Security analysts expect both sides to breach the limits if it is not extended or replaced. What are the other nuclear points of contention? In a symptom of the underlying tensions, Mr Trump this month said he had ordered two US nuclear submarines to move closer to Russia because of what he called threatening comments by Mr Medvedev about the possibility of war with the US. The Kremlin played down the move but said "everyone should be very, very careful" with nuclear rhetoric. Separately, an arms race looms over shorter- and intermediate-range missiles, which can also carry nuclear warheads. During Mr Trump's first presidency, in 2019, he pulled the US out of a treaty that had abolished all ground-based weapons in this category. Moscow denied his accusations that it was cheating. The United States plans to start deploying weapons including SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles, previously placed mainly on ships, as well as new hypersonic missiles, in Germany from 2026. Russia said this month it no longer observes any restrictions on where it might deploy intermediate-range missiles.
The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Canada is boycotting US alcohol over Trump's policies. It will leave American companies' bottom lines dry
Canada 's moves to boycott imported American beers, wines and spirits in response to President Donald Trump 's tariff aggressions is reportedly beginning to take its toll. Anti-Trump sentiment remains strong in Canada after the natives took exception to the president's alarming talk earlier this year about annexing their country and making it the 51st state, a mood that ushered in the moderate Mark Carney as its new prime minister in March while right-leaning opposition leader Pierre Poilievre lost his seat. Canadian stores have since cleared bottles of Jack Daniel's, Maker's Mark and Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum from their shelves and replaced them with domestic alternatives like Maverick Distillery's Barnburner Whisky and Kavi Reserve Coffee Blended Canadian Whisky. The impact of the snub, a patriotic show of defiance in the face of Trump's 35 percent tariffs on Canadian goods, is now beginning to be felt, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reports that the Distilled Spirits Council estimates that American liquor sales in Canada have plummeted 62 percent year-on-year for the first six months of 2025. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which is responsible for the 688 stores licensed to sell alcohol in the country's most populous province, is meanwhile reporting zero sales of American goods, representing the obliteration of what was last year a $700 million industry. Meanwhile, in California, the wineries belonging to the Golden State's Wine Institute trade group say their products have lost more than $173 million in export value in the first half of this year, no surprise given that Canada was the destination for 35 percent of its exported cases. 'The absence of U.S. wine from Canadian stores is not just a market disruption, it's a breakdown in a trusted relationship built over decades,' the institute's CEO Robert Koch told the WSJ. 'This is not just about wine. It's about farming families, rural jobs and businesses that depend on access to international markets.' Another California business, Hope Family Wines, said its sales to Canada are down 10 percent since Trump returned to the White House in January. 'It's definitely going to hurt us personally,' said executive vice president Gretchen Roddick of the president's trade war. In Baltimore, Sagamore Spirit's CEO Robert Cullins said 10 percent of his company's rye whiskey was shipped north before the president commenced his second term, but no longer, adding that the $2 million loss in sales that represents is 'pretty significant' to a small craft distillery. On the other side of the coin, the boycott has inspired a 14 percent uptick in sales of Canadian liquor in Ontario. Trump has responded to his trade policy backfiring by griping that America's neighbor is 'mean and nasty to deal with' but Alberta, for one, has moved to reintroduce sales of American brands in June – albeit with a 25 percent retaliatory tariff of its own slapped on for good measure. Sales of U.S. bourbon and wine have duly rebounded despite that, according to one Calgary store owner, who told the WSJ: 'People are scared that maybe they won't be able to get them again.'
