puts

Amid heightened Japan-China tensions, US President Donald Trump spoke by telephone with Chinese President Xi Jinping. While Trump termed it a positive development, stating he would visit China in April 2026, China claimed that it categorically made it clear that “Taiwan’s return to China was an ‘integral part of the postwar international order.” While it has been reported that Trump requested a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the details of the conversation between the two haven’t been made public yet.

Trump’s claim of “extremely strong” US-China relations has once again seized global attention. Earlier, last month, just ahead of his highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, Trump boldly announced on Truth Social, “THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY!”

Unsurprisingly, the statement sparked widespread discussion, directly invoking China and seemingly reviving the long-dormant G2 concept, an idea previously floated by former President Barack Obama.

This apparent attempt to resurrect the “G2” notion, which envisions shared global leadership between the US and China, marks a notable rhetorical shift and is surprising given that Trump has been hawkish on China even during his first term as the president. By invoking it, Washington has brought back a concept dismissed as a faulty trade-off, given the persistent and often adversarial nature of US-China relations. Media analyses suggest that this move reflects a growing recognition within the US of China’s rising power and an uneasy acknowledgement of its near-equal status on the world stage. The renewed attention signals an implicit acceptance within American policy circles of China’s expanding international influence and the shifting balance of global power.

For China, however, the idea holds little appeal. First, China continues to present itself as a developing country, aspiring to lead the Global South and, eventually, to achieve broader global influence. Unlike the West, China sees strategic value in retaining the support of developing nations to bolster its legitimacy. While it aims to surpass the US militarily, economically, and technologically, it is unlikely to embrace a bilateral framework implying formalized co-governance of the world. Second, the ideological, strategic, and global ambitions gap between China and the US remains vast, limiting the feasibility of any institutionalized G2 arrangement. Third, if such a framework were ever to exist, it would likely involve broader coalitions of nations with differing ideologies, capacities, and priorities, rather than a US-China duopoly. In this light, the G2 concept appears even less plausible for China in 2025 than it did in the 2000s.

While much commentary has focused on how this discourse may be interpreted in China, the implications extend far beyond the bilateral relationship. Washington’s allies and partners across the Indo-Pacific are closely observing these developments. For many in the region, stability in US-China relations is desirable, as it would help mitigate the risks of confrontation, economic disruption, regional instability, and global upheavals. Yet Trump’s rhetoric has also generated unease among America’s regional partners regarding Washington’s long-term strategic intentions.

Concerns are growing that a return to the G2 framework could signal a weakening of US commitment to the Indo-Pacific, particularly in terms of security and regional order. While sustained engagement with China is widely accepted as necessary, framing the relationship as one of shared global governance may alarm America’s allies and partners, especially the Quad countries, the Philippines, and Taiwan. For these countries, any suggestion of a US-China condominium raises doubts about the credibility of the US’s status as a security guarantor and its assurances of collective defense and regional stability.

From the US perspective, reviving the G2 discourse may appear advantageous to smooth the way for a rare earth materials deal with China or to ease bilateral tensions. But fundamental differences and rivalry cannot be erased: China’s ultimate goal is to overtake the US. In all likelihood, China will view G2 rhetoric skeptically, interpreting it as a sign of US weakness and declining influence in the Indo-Pacific.

The Xi-Trump phone call and China’s reiteration of the Taiwan claim put pressure on Trump’s G2 plan. How Trump would manage ties with Japan and Taiwan while building relations with China is an issue worthy of international attention.

Trump’s episodic and erratic approach to China and the region risks eroding the trust the US has painstakingly built with its partners. There is little chance that countries such as India, Japan, or the Philippines would accept a bipolar world dominated solely by the US and China. Rather than serving as a stabilizer, the G2 concept is more likely to be seen as an attempt to divide the world into two poles once again, or worse, as a signal that the US is content with a bipolar world rather than a genuinely multipolar order.

Even if the G2 never materializes, the rhetoric has already strengthened China’s position while placing the US in a strategic bind. In effect, it is a win-win for China but a lose-lose for America. There are limitations to America First not only for the region but also for America itself and its foreign policy. The Trump administration’s path would do well to seriously consider the perspectives of its allies and partners, rather than advancing a strategy that ultimately benefits China.

Liverpool’s stellar start was followed by a run of six defeats in seven matches that sparked concern and talk of a crisis.

Things started to look up earlier in November, with victories over Aston Villa and Real Madrid lifting morale and offering hope of a return to form.

But they ultimately proved not to provide a permanent change in their fortunes, but a momentary respite.

A 3-0 defeat by Manchester City just before the international break was tough, but can happen against Pep Guardiola’s side.

But a setback by the same scoreline to Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest left them 12th in the Premier League and now followed by this embarrassing loss against PSV – only their second at Anfield in their past 26 pre-knockout stage games in this competition.

It has left Slot with a massive task on his hands to return his side to the top half of the Premier League and remain in the hunt for a top-eight place in the Champions League league phase, having slipped down to 13th.

“I don’t think there should be a knee-jerk reaction, I think this is a very tough moment at Liverpool for one reason or another, but the one thing I’d say is that things weren’t right at the start of the season either, when they were winning,” added Warnock.

Sacking managers at the first sign of trouble is not a tactic Liverpool have frequently deployed. Let’s not forget too that last year Slot oversaw the best ever start – eight wins in his first 10 top-flight games – by a Reds boss, having just replaced Jurgen Klopp.

But his summer signings have not worked, putting him under pressure.

Record transfer Alexander Isak is still yet to get off the mark, German playmaker Florian Wirtz is currently injured and left-back Milos Kerkez continues to struggle.

Yet on Wednesday, Slot made just two substitutions as his side trailed. One was Isak for fellow new signing Hugo Ekitike, who looked to have picked up an injury, while the other was Italy forward Federico Chiesa for Ibrahima Konate during another tough evening for the French defender.

“This run is a shock for everyone,” admitted Slot.

“For the players, for me. I don’t easily shock and it’s very unexpected. We can all do better individually, but that goes for everyone including myself.”

The brightest spark has perhaps been Dominik Szoboszlai.

Reinstated in his role in central midfield against PSV, he provided not only a goal, but energy and an attacking threat, while going some way to proving there are significantly better uses for him than as a stand-in right-back.

“With each defeat it gets closer to being a crisis,” former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard told TNT Sports. “I don’t think Liverpool are at that [yet] – crisis is too strong.

“There are no excuses for a performance like that at this football club

“You cannot deny the team is struggling massively, they are on a terrible run, their confidence is at an all-time low, they are wide open.

“Unless the manager can find answers and stability in his team, then this situation is going to continue.”

PSV, though, was never going to be an easy fixture for Slot to try to get his players back on track.

The former Feyenoord boss has only won one of his past eight games against the Eredivisie outfit in all competitions (D3 L4), and against no side has he suffered more defeats in his managerial career.

Slot says he is not worrying about his future at the club and is instead focused on turning things around.

“I need to do better, that’s what I’m trying to do every single day to improve the team and that is where my main focus is,” added the 47-year-old.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Speaking in measured tones in his cluttered ground-floor office, state Atty. Gen. William “Drew” Edmondson doesn’t sound like someone itching to take on the political establishment in Washington.

His background doesn’t suggest it, either. His grandfather was a county commissioner. His father was a congressman. His uncle was the youngest governor in Oklahoma history and later served in the U.S. Senate. Edmondson’s own career is a study in calculated political ascension, from the Oklahoma Legislature to Muskogee County district attorney to an unprecedented third term as the state’s highest law enforcement official.

This week, he took a radical turn for someone who has long followed political conventions, and hijacked a high-profile federal investigation into one of the country’s biggest corporate accounting scandals.

By filing the first criminal charges Wednesday against telecommunications giant WorldCom Inc. and its deposed chief executive, Bernard J. Ebbers, Edmondson single-handedly threw into doubt the work of Justice Department prosecutors who want to punish the people responsible for understating expenses by $11 billion.

He also garnered more media attention in a single day than he did during the two years he worked on the $200-billion settlement with U.S. tobacco firms.

The securities fraud charges are among the first by a state against Wall Street’s most wanted, the men who ran WorldCom, Enron Corp. and other firms felled by accounting scandals. New York has charged some former executives of Tyco International Ltd., and federal authorities filed a civil action against the company.

Ashburn, Va.-based WorldCom pledged to cooperate with Oklahoma authorities.

U.S. prosecutors, who have charged five of Ebbers’ underlings and won four guilty pleas, are furious that the Oklahoma case might jeopardize their prosecutions. In addition to Ebbers, Edmondson charged the four who are cooperating with the federal government, and they might be afraid to testify about their illegal activity in a federal trial, fearing they would bolster the state case against them.

Some financial commentators and political opponents portray Edmondson as an ambitious bumpkin — or worse, a public official doing the bidding of a campaign contributor, SBC Communications Inc., a phone company looking to keep rival WorldCom mired in bankruptcy.

Many others, including some of Edmondson’s courtroom foes, defend him as a fair, thoughtful and straightforward man who was simply unable to sit tight in the face of massive fraud at WorldCom and what he saw as the foot-dragging of federal investigators.

“He’s not a wild and crazy guy,” said Andy Coates, dean of the University of Oklahoma’s law school. “He’s very sound in his judgments.”

Edmondson, a 56-year-old Democrat with a teaching degree who has the look and demeanor of a high school guidance counselor, says he came to his decision gradually, after studying WorldCom with officials from California and other states who are now cheering his prosecution from the sidelines.

“He’s not your average elected official,” said Washington state Atty. Gen. Christine Gregoire, who led Edmondson and half a dozen other state attorneys general in the tobacco settlement talks. “He’s an individual who will always do what he considers to be the right things, no matter the personal or political consequences.”

Edmondson’s interest in public service goes back to his childhood, when he attended “political meetings and bean-dip dinners” with his father, he recalled in an interview.

“My brothers would go out of family obligation,” he said, “but I actually enjoyed it.”

His trust in government — especially the federal government — began to erode during the Vietnam War, when he served in the Navy and ferried secret messages to commanders on an air base. Reading that traffic, he said, “it became obvious we were in places where we said we weren’t.”

That “was one of a number of life circumstances that make me not trust immediately what we get told by the government.”

As attorney general, Edmondson has often argued against federal intervention into state matters. In 2000, he filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting New Jersey’s attempt to stop the Boy Scouts of America from discriminating against gay troop leaders — a position that didn’t endear him to his socially conservative constituents.

Edmondson has scored political points with his ardent and effective support of the death penalty, which is popular in the state. After the bombing of the city’s federal building that killed 168 people, he helped push a law through Congress that streamlined the lengthy appeals process in death row cases.

Oklahoma now executes more criminals per capita than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington. Unlike his counterparts in some other states, however, Edmondson voluntarily authorizes DNA testing of convicts at state expense when there is a real question of guilt.

“Edmondson handles his position in a professional manner,” said Oklahoma County’s chief public defender, Bob Ravitz. “He’s not in any way vindictive.”

Nor, Edmondson said, does he use his position to protect his friends and allies. “I’m the guy who, as district attorney, raided my own Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge because it was engaged in illegal gambling.”

He said he put a mayor and district attorney — both friends and financial supporters — behind bars for corruption. He worked with the Federal Trade Commission to put two of his major campaign contributors out of business for making misrepresentations in violation of telemarketing rules.

“Friendship is one thing,” Edmondson said. “Breaking the law is something else.”

He and his wife, Linda, a medical social worker, have two adult children, one a lawyer and the other an anthropologist. A niece is serving a 35-year prison sentence for an infamous crime spree inspired by the movie “Natural Born Killers.” Edmondson said the personal trauma had not changed his view of the criminal justice system.

In the WorldCom case, Edmondson was initially troubled by the enormity of the misdeeds. For three years, the firm reported profit when it had none. Investors, including Oklahoma’s state pension fund, lost more than $200 billion when the company filed for the record bankruptcy protection it hopes to emerge from this fall.

Edmondson and officials from three other states complained when WorldCom’s bankruptcy plan showed the company wiping out most of its potential criminal penalties in its reorganization.

Then there was the headline-grabbing $750-million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By Edmondson’s calculations, $250 million of that amount will be paid in stock and $300 million comes from an IRS refund WorldCom received for paying taxes on nonexistent profit. At the same time, the company is collecting $772 million in federal contracts.

“That’s what drove me over the edge,” he said.

Edmondson feared that waiting for federal criminal charges would allow the company to escape punishment. In other cases, he said he had put his own investigations on hold at the Justice Department’s request, then learned that its cases fizzled only after Oklahoma’s statute of limitations had expired.

“The United States attorneys are not necessarily the speediest vehicles on the street,” Edmondson said. Why run the risk with Ebbers, he reasoned, when “we’re confident that we can convict him, and we’re confident that he’s guilty.”

Edmondson’s critics say there’s another factor at work: the attorney general’s friendship with SBC lobbyist Mike Turpen.

The two men go back more than 20 years, to when Turpen was district attorney in Muskogee County and Edmondson was one of his deputies. Outside of work, Edmondson directed Turpen in a local theater performance of “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Turpen, a former state attorney general, is one of Edmondson’s largest fund-raisers.

San Antonio-based SBC is among a handful of phone companies mounting an aggressive lobbying campaign to prevent WorldCom from emerging from bankruptcy protection with the competitive advantage of much less debt. Edmondson happens to agree, saying his sense of fair play is offended by the prospect that WorldCom could end up “stronger than other companies out there that have not broken the law.”

But he bristles when asked about Turpen. Yes, they discussed WorldCom’s bankruptcy advantage. But he insists his friend didn’t have any undue influence on his thinking.

Turpen told a Tulsa, Okla., radio station Friday that “when it comes to decisions like this … nobody tells Drew Edmondson what to do and how to do it,” according to Associated Press.

Personal connections to people with a stake in law enforcement are to some extent unavoidable in a state with just 3 million residents. In the Oklahoma capital, where the seat of government stands across from blanched grass under an oil well, passersby nod to strangers on the street.

But even small states can make a difference in white-collar prosecutions. If Edmondson wins criminal convictions against Ebbers and other WorldCom executives, other states may be emboldened to follow suit — with or without the blessing of the Justice Department.

For the time being, though, officials in other states will wait and see how Edmondson does.

“I hope that serious punishment is forthcoming” for WorldCom, California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said.

Edmondson professes not to care about whether his actions this week will initiate a trend.

“It’s an interesting question,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter to me.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a call with US Vice President JD Vance that Ukraine agreed to work with the US and Europe towards a peace plan with Russia. Earlier he told the country it faces one of its most difficult moments as it weighs a US proposal that gives major concessions to Russia.