Showing 1 - 10 of 20
Trump's words seen raising risk of war in Europe
News, Peter Apps, Published on 21/02/2024
» As German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a new munitions factory early last week, he warned that Europe must move to mass-producing weapons "because the painful reality is that we do not live in times of peace".
Red Sea raids push US and allies to crunch point
News, Peter Apps, Published on 15/01/2024
» When the United States and 11 allies published a joint statement last week calling for an end to Houthi attacks from Yemen on Red Sea shipping, they hoped the implicit threat of force might at least reduce the intensity of fire on foreign vessels.
Red Sea crisis presents US, allies with tough choices
News, Peter Apps, Published on 25/12/2023
» As the Pentagon asked allies to provide warships for an international task force to protect Red Sea commercial shipping from mounting drone attacks from Yemen last week, one of the United States' closest partners appeared to be holding back.
China challenges US amid Gaza, Ukraine conflicts
News, Peter Apps, Published on 06/11/2023
» As US and European warships gathered in the eastern Mediterranean amid rising tensions around Israel last weekend, the carrier USS Ronald Reagan dropped anchor off Manila to quietly project the message that Washington would stand behind the Philippines in any conflict in the South China Sea.
US now pulled back to refocus on Middle East
News, Peter Apps, Published on 14/10/2023
» Early on Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after Hamas launched the largest assault against Israel in more than 50 years, an unknown object or force wrenched aside and damaged the key undersea gas pipeline and fibre-optic cable linking Finland and Estonia beneath the Baltic Sea.
US allies wary of a disruptive new Trump presidency
News, Peter Apps, Published on 20/06/2023
» In a March post on his website, Donald Trump pledges to end the war in Ukraine when reelected to a second term, halt confrontation with Russia and "finish the process we began under my administration fundamentally reevaluating Nato's purpose".
'Mid-Covid world': horror, division, global shifts
News, Peter Apps, Published on 01/05/2021
» As Israel recorded zero daily Covid-19 deaths for the first time in 10 months last week, grave-diggers in next-door Gaza reported rising workloads and hospitals said they were near to collapse.
Leaders must adapt to Trump's post-midterm world
News, Peter Apps, Published on 14/11/2018
» For Donald Trump's first foreign trip since Americans voted in the midterm elections, the bleak weather in Paris appears to have matched the diplomatic mood. The US president seemed subdued during his visit to mark the centenary of the truce that ended World War I, and insulted many Europeans when rain and traffic were cited as the reason for cancelling one of his visits to an American war cemetery.
Brexit process approaches roller-coaster endgame
News, Peter Apps, Published on 04/10/2018
» If Britain genuinely wanted a good last-minute Brexit deal, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt should probably not have compared the European Union to the USSR.
The messy meaning of the Manafort and Cohen cases
News, Peter Apps, Published on 24/08/2018
» The mixed verdict in the trial of Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's former campaign manager, along with the guilty plea on campaign finance violations by the US president's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, is a sign of just how messy -- and perhaps inconclusive -- Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election will be. But Tuesday's events also point to broader destabilisation in US politics.