WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s decision to shift the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier to South America in his campaign against drug cartels is pulling the ship out of the Mediterranean Sea at a time when a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been threatened by new strikes in Gaza.
The US is set to be in the fairly unusual position of having only a single aircraft carrier deployed and none in the waters off both Europe and the Middle East. The change is especially stark after the US joined Israeli strikes on Iran in June and has engaged in some of the most intense combat operations since World War II against Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
Aircraft carriers, with their thousands of sailors and dozens of warplanes, have long been recognized as one of the ultimate signifiers of US military might and the nation’s foreign policy priorities. There have been five carrier deployments to the Middle East since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, including two carriers in the region at multiple points this year and last.
The new orders for the USS Gerald R. Ford illustrate the Trump administration’s increasing focus on the Western Hemisphere and mark a major escalation of firepower as the US military ramps up fatal strikes on alleged drug boats. With a buildup of warships, aircraft and troops already in the region, Trump himself has signaled what could be next.
Speaking from another aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, in its home port of Japan, Trump noted the US attacks at sea and reiterated that “now we’ll stop the drugs coming in by land.”
Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a retired Marine colonel, questioned how long the Ford would be able to remain in South America, when only three of the 11 US aircraft carriers are typically out to sea.
“It’s such a powerful and scarce resource, there will be a lot of pressure to do something or send it elsewhere,” Cancian said. “You can imagine the peace negotiations breaking down in the eastern Mediterranean or something happening with Iran.”
The USS Nimitz also is deployed but is heading home from the South China Sea to the West Coast before being decommissioned. It recently lost two aircraft — a fighter jet and a helicopter — in separate crashes that are under investigation. A third carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, is not deployed but is conducting exercises off the coast of San Diego.
The shift is happening just as violence has flared up again in Gaza despite a ceasefire that Trump helped broker after two years of war. The Israeli army launched a barrage of attacks Tuesday as tensions with Hamas grew two weeks into the fragile ceasefire.
Carrier’s move adds pressure on Venezuela
Meanwhile, the US military’s growing presence near Venezuela and its 13 fatal strikes on alleged drug boats have stoked fears that Trump could try to topple authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the US
In response to questions about the speculation, Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted Saturday that the US is taking part in a counterdrug operation. And he again accused Maduro’s government of participating in the shipment of narcotics.
“This is a very serious problem for the hemisphere, and a very destabilizing one,” Rubio said. “And that has to be addressed.”
Maduro said in a recent national broadcast that the Trump administration is manufacturing a war against him.
“They are fabricating an extravagant narrative, a vulgar, criminal and totally fake one,” Maduro added. “Venezuela is a country that does not produce cocaine leaves.”
Experts say the US forces in the region aren’t large enough for an invasion. But they could help push out Maduro — and possibly plunge the nation into chaos.
“There’s a really high potential for violence and instability,” according to Geoff Ramsey, an expert on US policy toward Venezuela who is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. If Maduro loses power, he said Venezuela could “devolve into a Libya-style meltdown that could last years.”
Land strikes are ‘a real possibility’
The Ford strike group, which includes five destroyers, will add to an unusually large US military buildup in the waters off Venezuela. The Navy already has eight warships in the region — three destroyers, three amphibious assault ships, a cruiser and a smaller littoral combat ship that’s designed for coastal waters. It was not clear if all five of the destroyers in the Ford strike group would make the journey.
A US Navy submarine also is operating in the broader area of South America and is capable of launching cruise missiles. The US military also sent a squadron of F-35B Lightning II fighter jets to an airstrip in Puerto Rico and recently flew a pair of supersonic, heavy bombers up to the coast of Venezuela.
The administration says the military has killed at least 57 people in the strikes against vessels accused of transporting drugs. Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants because of narcotics flowing into the country and said the US is in an “armed conflict” with them, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration after 9/11.
Lawmakers from both political parties have expressed concerns about Trump’s lack of congressional approval and unwillingness to provide details about the attacks. Others, such as Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, believe the president has all the authority he needs.
The South Carolina Republican said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that land strikes in Venezuela are “a real possibility.”
“We’re not going to sit on the sidelines and watch boats full of drugs come to our country,” Graham said. “We’re going to blow them up and kill the people that want to poison America, and we’re now going to expand operations, I think, to the land.”
Trump’s decision to send aircraft carrier to South America will leave Mideast and Europe with none
https://arab.news/vgd88
Trump’s decision to send aircraft carrier to South America will leave Mideast and Europe with none
- Aircraft carriers, with their thousands of sailors and dozens of warplanes, have long been recognized as one of the ultimate signifiers of US military might and the nation’s foreign policy priorities
- The new orders for the USS Gerald R. Ford illustrate the Trump administration’s increasing focus on the Western Hemisphere and mark a major escalation of firepower as the US military ramps up fatal strikes on alleged drug boats
94 million need cataract surgery, but access lacking: WHO
- Of the 94 million affected, fewer than 20 percent are blind, while the rest suffer from impaired vision
GENEVA: More than 94 million people suffer from cataracts, but half of them do not have access to the surgery needed to fix it, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
Cataracts — the clouding of the eye’s lens that causes blurred vision and can lead to blindness — are on the rise as populations get older, with age being the main risk factor.
“Cataract surgery — a simple, 15-minute procedure — is one of the most cost-effective medical procedures, providing immediate and lasting restoration of sight,” the WHO said.
It is one of the most frequently performed surgeries undertaken in high-income countries.
However, “half of the world’s population in need of cataract surgery don’t have access to it,” said Stuart Keel, the UN health agency’s technical lead for eye care.
The situation is worst in the WHO’s Africa region, where three in four people needing cataract surgery remain untreated.
In Kenya, at the current rate, 77 percent of people needing cataract surgery are likely to die with their cataract blindness or vision impairment, said Keel.
Across all regions, women consistently experience lower access to care than men.
Of the 94 million affected, fewer than 20 percent are blind, while the rest suffer from impaired vision.
- 2030 vision -
The WHO said that over the past two decades, global cataract surgery coverage had increased by 15 percent.
In 2021, WHO member states set a target of a 30-percent increase by 2030.
However, current modelling predicts that cataract surgery coverage will rise by only about 8.4 percent this decade.
To close the gap, the WHO urged countries to integrate eye examinations into primary health care and invest in the required surgical equipment.
States should also expand the eye-care workforce, training surgeons in a standardised manner and then distributing them throughout the country, notably outside major cities.
The WHO was on Wednesday launching new guidance for countries on how to provide quality cataract surgery services.
It will also issue guidance to help support workforce development.
Keel said the main issue was capacity and financing.
“We do need money invested to get rid of this backlog, which is nearly 100 million people,” he told a press conference.
While age is the primary risk factor for cataracts, others include prolonged UV-B light exposure, tobacco use, prolonged corticosteroid use and diabetes.
Keel urged people to keep up regular eye checks as they get older, with most problems able to be either prevented or diagnosed and treated.
The cost of the new lens that goes inside the eye can be under $100.
However, out-of-pocket costs can be higher when not covered by health insurance.
“Cataract surgery is one of the most powerful tools we have to restore vision and transform lives,” said Devora Kestel, head of the WHO’s noncommunicable diseases and mental health department.
“When people regain their sight, they regain independence, dignity, and opportunity.”
