WASHINGTON: All it took was 90 seconds for weeks of tortured diplomacy to unwind in spectacular fashion.
President Donald Trump’s Oval Office thrashing of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday laid bare the limits of a full-court press by America’s allies aimed at reshaping Trump’s determination to end Russia’s invasion even if the terms are not to Ukraine’s liking.
It also stressed the profound ways Trump feels emboldened to redirect US foreign policy priorities toward his “America First” agenda in ways that extend well beyond those of his tumultuous first term.
The sudden blowup was the most heated public exchange of words between world leaders in the Oval Office in memory, as the usual staid work of diplomacy descended into finger-pointing, shouting and eye-rolling.
The encounter left the future of the US-Ukraine relationship, and Kyiv’s ability to defend itself in the brutal conflict with Russia, in mortal jeopardy.
“You either make a deal or we are out,” Trump told Zelensky, underscoring the American leader’s plans to dictate a swift end to the war or leave its longtime ally to continue the fight without its strongest backer.
Less than a day later, Zelensky used a series of posts on X to express his thanks to the American people, Trump and Congress for “all the support,” which he said Ukrainians “have always appreciated,” especially during the war.
“Our relationship with the American President is more than just two leaders; it’s a historic and solid bond between our peoples. That’s why I always begin with words of gratitude from our nation to the American nation,” he added. Ukrainians want “only strong relations with America, and I really hope we will have them,” he said.
Zelensky was in London to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer before a summit Sunday of European leaders.
Episode capped intense lobbying effort by American allies
The stunning episode in Washington had capped a week of what turned out to be largely futile efforts by US allies to paper over differences between Washington and Kyiv and to try to steer Trump away from his flirtations with Moscow.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron huddled with Trump to lay the groundwork for an eventual European-led peacekeeping force in Ukraine aimed at deterring future Russian aggression and to encourage the US president to be more skeptical of Vladimir Putin.
But even as Trump and Macron greeted each other with a vise-like grip, the US was splitting with its European allies at the United Nations by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in a series of resolutions marking the third anniversary of the war.
On Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Washington and appealed to Trump for a US “backstop” for European nations who would provide front-line security for Ukraine. He was in essence looking for insurance that, should a peace deal be reached, Russia won’t restart the fighting in the future. Starmer brought flattery and a state visit invitation from King Charles III to soften the ask.
The approach seemed to work, as Trump struck a more conciliatory tone toward Ukraine, calling America’s support for the country against Russia’s invasion “a very worthy thing to do” and disclaiming any memory that he had called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator.”
But Trump also brushed aside Putin’s past broken diplomatic promises, claiming they occurred under different presidents, and saying the Russian leader had never violated a commitment to him. It came as his aides were planning a series of negotiating sessions with Russian officials to lay the groundwork for a potential meeting between Trump and Putin in the coming weeks.
Mineral deal pursued by Trump goes by the wayside, for now
All the while, Trump was focused on securing a financial stake in Ukraine’s critical minerals to recoup the tens of billions the US has given to Kyiv to defend itself. Zelensky, meanwhile, wanted more than Washington’s vague promises that the US would work to preserve its economic interest in Ukraine under the agreement and pushed for more concrete security guarantees.
But Trump would not budge, and US officials repeatedly said Zelensky would not be welcome to meet with the president to discuss Trump’s push for negotiations with Russia until it was signed. After weeks of browbeating, Zelensky’s government on Wednesday formally agreed to the proposal, clearing the path for Friday’s meeting.
It started off cordially enough, as Trump and Zelensky spoke politely, even with admiration, of one of another for the first half-hour of the meeting. Trump even suggested he would continue some military assistance to Ukraine until he could secure an enduring peace deal with Russia.
But when the Ukrainian leader raised alarm about trusting any promises from Putin to end the fighting, Vice President JD Vance rebuked him for airing disagreements with Trump in public. It instantly shifted the tenor of the conversation. Zelensky grew defensive, and Trump and his vice president blasted him as ungrateful and “disrespectful” and issued stark warnings about future American support.
A warning before the meeting ‘not to take the bait’
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a defense hawk and Trump ally, said he had warned Zelensky before the meeting “not to take the bait” in his dealings with Trump, who has repeatedly shown a penchant for throwing criticism but a deep resistance to receiving it.
It was Vance — a longtime critic of American support for Ukraine — who dangled it, when he insisted diplomacy was the only way forward.
“What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?” Zelensky said, listing Russia’s past violations of ceasefires. “What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,” Vance responded before tearing into the Ukrainian leader. “Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”
Trump then let loose, warning the Ukrainian leader, “You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have.”
At another point, Trump declared himself “in the middle,” seeming to formally break from years of American support for Ukraine. He went on to deride Zelensky’s “hatred” for Putin as a roadblock to peace.
“You see the hatred he’s got for Putin,” Trump said. “That’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate.”
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” Trump said to Zelensky as the two leaders talked over each other.
Latest example of major shift in US foreign policy
The episode was just the latest instance of Trump’s brazen moves to shift long-held American policy positions in his first six weeks back in office, portending even more uncertainty ahead for longtime American allies and partners who have already felt pressed to justify their place in Trump’s eyes. It comes just weeks after Trump floated a permanent relocation of Palestinians in Gaza and an American takeover of the territory, and as he has doubled down on plans to put stiff tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada starting next week.
After the Oval Office dustup, Zelensky was asked to leave the White House by top Trump advisers — scrapping plans for a lunch, a joint press conference and the signing of the economic agreement, even as the Ukrainian leader and his aides pushed for a “reset” on the meeting.
Trump later told reporters he didn’t want to “embolden” the Ukrainian leader if he didn’t want “peace” with Russia — flipping what Ukraine had seen as an inducement for security guarantees into a cudgel.
“You can’t embolden somebody who does not have the cards,” Trump said.
After the disastrous encounter, Zelensky appeared on Fox News on Friday evening and told Bret Baier that his public spat with Trump and Vance was “not good for both sides.” But Zelensky said Trump — who insists Putin is ready to end the three-year grinding war — needs to understand that Ukraine can’t change its attitudes toward Russia on a dime.
Zelensky added that Ukraine won’t enter peace talks with Russia until it has security guarantees against another offensive.
“Everybody (is) afraid Putin will come back tomorrow,” Zelensky said. “We want just and lasting peace.”
“It’s so sensitive for our people,” Zelensky said. “And they just want to hear that America (is) on our side, that America will stay with us. Not with Russia, with us. That’s it.”
Zelensky acknowledged that without US support, his country’s position would grow “difficult.”
After repeatedly declining opportunities to apologize to Trump, Zelensky closed his Fox appearance with a sheepish expression of remorse as he struggled with the reality of Trump’s new direction in Washington: “Sorry for this.”
Trump’s Oval Office thrashing of Zelensky shows limits of Western allies’ ability to sway US leader
https://arab.news/b8wda
Trump’s Oval Office thrashing of Zelensky shows limits of Western allies’ ability to sway US leader
- White House blowout capped a week of largely futile efforts by US allies to steer Trump away from his flirtations with Moscow
- Sen. Lindsey Graham said he had warned Zelensky before the meeting “not to take the bait” in his dealings with Trump
Australian Prime Minister Albanese proposes tougher national gun laws after mass shooting in Sydney
- He said Monday he would propose new restrictions including limiting the number of guns a licensed owner can obtain
SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday proposed tougher national gun laws after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, leaving at least 15 people dead.
Albanese said he would propose new restrictions, including limiting the number of guns a licensed owner can obtain. His proposals were announced after the authorities revealed that the older of the two gunmen — who were a father and son — had amassed his six guns legally.
“The government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws,” Albanese told reporters.
“People’s circumstances can change. People can be radicalized over a period of time. Licenses should not be in perpetuity,” he added.
At least 38 people were being treated in hospitals after the massacre on Sunday, when the two shooters fired indiscriminately on the beachfront festivities. Those killed included a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor.
The horror at Australia’s most popular beach was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws primarily aimed at removing rapid-fire rifles from circulation. Albanese called the massacre an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.
He pledged swift change, planning on Monday afternoon to present his gun law proposals to a national cabinet meeting that includes state leaders. Some of the measures would also require state legislation.
“Some laws are commonwealth and some laws are implemented by the states,” the Australian leader said. “What we want to do is to make sure that we’re all completely on the same page.”
Australia’s gun laws were revised after a 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people.
Jewish leaders lambast antisemitism measures
Meanwhile, the massacre provoked questions about whether Albanese and his government had done enough to curb rising antisemitism. Jewish leaders and the massacre’s survivors expressed fear and fury as they questioned why the men hadn’t been detected before they opened fire.
“There’s been a heap of inaction,” said Lawrence Stand, a Sydney man who raced to a Bar Mitzvah celebration in Bondi when the violence erupted to find his 12-year-old daughter. “But the people were warned about this. ... And still not enough has been done by our government.”
“I think the federal government has made a number of missteps on antisemitism,” Alex Ryvchin, spokesperson for the Australian Council of Executive Jewry, told reporters gathered on Monday near the site of the massacre. “I think when an attack such as what we saw yesterday takes place the paramount and fundamental duty of government is the protection of its citizens, so there’s been an immense failure.”
An investigation was needed, Ryvchin said, into “how that was allowed to take place.” Those investigations were beginning to unfold Monday.
More details about the shooters emerge
Little was publicly confirmed about the men. Police said they were a father and son but wouldn’t supply their names.
The father, 50, who was shot dead, had a gun license that allowed him to legally acquire the six firearms recovered from his property and also held a gun club membership, said Mal Lanyon, Police Commissioner for New South Wales state, where Sydney is located.
The particular gun license he held entitled an adult with a “genuine reason” to own a rifle or shotgun. Accepted reasons include target shooting, recreational hunting and vermin control, but self-defense is not an accepted reason.
The man arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, authorities said, and was an Australian resident when he died. Officials wouldn’t confirm what country he had migrated from.
His 24-year-old Australian-born son, who was shot and wounded, is being treated at a hospital. Lanyon said the man “may well” face criminal charges and police wouldn’t divulge what they knew about him to avoid marring a prosecution case against him.
Victims included children and the elderly
None of the dead or wounded victims have been formally named by the authorities. Identities of those killed, who ranged in age from 10 to 87, began to emerge in news reports Monday.
Among them was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of the family Hanukkah event that was targeted, according to Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach worldwide and sponsors events during major Jewish holidays.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details. French President Emmanuel Macron said a French citizen, identified as Dan Elkayam, was among those killed.
Larisa Kleytman told reporters outside St. Vincent’s Hospital that her husband, Alexander Kleytman, was among the dead. The couple were both Holocaust survivors, according to The Australian newspaper.
The violence erupted at the end of a summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, an icon of Australia’s cultural life. They included hundreds gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival with food, face painting and a petting zoo.
On Monday, hundreds arrived near the scene to lay flowers at a growing pile of floral tributes. There were words of pride, too, for a man who was captured on video appearing to tackle and disarm one gunman, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.
The man was identified by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke as Ahmed al Ahmed. The 42-year-old fruit shop owner and father of two was shot in the shoulder by the other gunman and survived.
Massacre followed a surge in antisemitic crimes
Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Over the past year, the country was rocked by antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85 percent of the nation’s Jewish population lives.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he warned Australia’s leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to take action against antisemitism. He claimed Australia’s decision, in line with scores of other countries, to recognize a Palestinian state “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”
Albanese on Monday vowed the violence would be met with “a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith.”
“There is no place in Australia for antisemitism,” he said.
Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the previous attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran. Authorities have not suggested Iran was linked to Sunday’s massacre.
