Trump

United States President Donald Trump descends on Tuesday on the Middle East for a regional tour that will begin in Saudi Arabia and include stops in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. It is a business trip in every sense of the term, involving potentially trillions of dollars in investment and trade deals.

The UAE, for example, has already pledged $1.4 trillion in investments to the US over 10 years in sectors ranging from artificial intelligence and energy to mining and aluminium production. Saudi Arabia, for its part, has committed to investing $600bn in the US over the next four years. According to the Reuters news agency, Trump will also be offering the kingdom an arms package to the tune of $100bn.

Meanwhile, in keeping with the president’s solid history of nepotism and self-enrichment, it just so happens that the Trump Organization is currently presiding over real estate projects and other business ventures in all three Gulf countries he is slated to visit.

And yet one country is conspicuously absent from the regional itinerary despite being the US’s longstanding BFF in the Middle East: Israel, the nation that has for the past 19 months been perpetrating genocide in the Gaza Strip with the help of gobs of US money and weaponry. The official Palestinian death toll stands at nearly 53,000 and counting.

Although the genocide kicked off on the watch of his predecessor President Joe Biden, Trump was quick to embrace mass slaughter as well, announcing not long after reassuming office that he was “sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job” in Gaza. It appears, however, that Israel is taking a bit too long for the US president’s liking – particularly now that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prescribed an intensified offensive against an enclave that has already been largely reduced to rubble.

The issue, of course, is not that Trump cares if Palestinian children and adults continue to be massacred and starved to death while Israel takes its sweet time “finishing the job”. Rather, the ongoing genocide is simply hampering his vision of the “Riviera of the Middle East” that will supposedly spring forth from the ruins of Gaza, the creation of which he has outlined as follows: “The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it.”

So while war may be good for business – just ask the arms industry – it seems that too much war can ultimately be a counterproductive investment, at least from a Trumpian real estate perspective.

In the run-up to Trump’s Middle Eastern expedition, reports increasingly circulated of tensions between the US president and the Israeli prime minister – and not just on the Gaza front. On Sunday, NBC News noted that Netanyahu had been “blindsided – and infuriated – this past week by Trump’s announcement that the US was halting its military campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen”.

Even more annoying to the Israeli premier, apparently, is Trump’s refusal to endorse military strikes on Iran. Plus, the US has reportedly discarded the demand that Saudi Arabia normalise relations with Israel as a condition for US support for the kingdom’s civilian nuclear programme.

What, then, does the strained Trump-Netanyahu rapport mean for the ever-so-sacred “special relationship” between the US and Israel? According to an article published by the Israeli outlet Ynetnews: “Despite the tensions, Israeli officials insist behind-the-scenes coordination with the Trump administration remains close, with no real policy rift.”

The dispatch goes on to assure readers that US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has “denied rumors that Trump might announce support for a Palestinian state during the visit” to the three Gulf nations. Of course, it’s not quite clear what sort of “Palestinian state” could ever be promoted by the man proposing US ownership of the Gaza Strip and expulsion of the native Palestinian population.

Although Israel may be sidelined on this trip, that doesn’t mean it won’t continue to serve a key function in general US malevolence. Just last month, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – source of the idea that there is “no reason for a gram of food or aid to enter Gaza” – was hosted by Republican officials at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. After a dinner held in his honour, Ben-Gvir boasted that Republicans had “expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid depots should be bombed”.

Flashy trillion-dollar Gulf deals aside, rest assured that the Trump administration remains as committed as ever to capitalising on Israeli atrocities.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

PALM SPRINGS — In a ballroom packed with more than 1,000 people raising money for LGBTQ+ youths, veteran California legislative leader Toni Atkins didn’t mince words: To be a gay or transgender teenager right now, she said, must feel like “a rug has been pulled from beneath your feet.”

In her fiery speech at the annual Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast, Atkins, who is running for California governor, said President Trump and other Republicans are working to “legislate our trans siblings out of public life.”

“These aren’t just political stunts: These are acts that put lives in danger and strip away basic human dignity,” Atkins said. “So hear me, as I say: Trans people belong. Trans youth deserve love, joy and our protection.”

Atkins’ speech, which drew rousing applause, offered a glimpse of how Trump’s efforts to undermine California’s liberal values — including support for transgender Americans — will be at the heart of the state’s 2026 campaign for governor.

In his first 100 days, Trump issued executive orders banning trans women from women’s sports and barring the federal government from recognizing genders other than male or female.

Trump is also pushing to ban transgender Americans from the U.S. military, writing in an executive order that transgender identity is a “falsehood” inconsistent with the “humility and selflessness required of a service member.” The Supreme Court cleared the way last week for that ban to take effect.

“Cruelty, and an attempt to humiliate, seems to be the point of what they are doing,” said Lisa Middleton, a transgender woman and former mayor of Palm Springs.

The LGBTQ+ community has become a political force in shaping statewide policy and campaigns.

Other top Democrats running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom have also voiced strong support for LGBTQ+ rights, including Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Controller Betty Yee and Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

About 2.8 million lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people live in California, more than in any other state, and Californians overwhelmingly support laws that protect the LGBTQ+ community, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Last year, California voters overwhelming passed a ballot measure to enshrine the right to same-sex marriage into the state Constitution. A proposed ballot initiative that would have limited transgender youth medical care and required schools to notify parents about their child’s gender identity failed to get enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Polling by the Los Angeles Times last year found that more than 3 in 4 Americans see issues related to transgender and nonbinary people — which affect a fraction of the American population — as a distraction from more pressing policy matters.

“It is a trap that conservatives are utilizing to distract from the real issues at hand,” said Evan Low, a former California Assembly member and the new president of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.

Atkins, a former state Senate president pro tempore, former Assembly speaker and the only gay major candidate in the governor’s race, said in an interview that she’s “mindful that as a woman and as a member of the gay community, what I do matters.” She said she supported the bill passed by the California Legislature a decade ago that allows students to play on sports teams that match their gender identity.

“This administration is using that as a weapon and politicizing it,” Atkins said. “That’s just cruel.”

An Associated Press poll found in early May that Trump’s handling of transgender issues is more popular with Americans than his job performance overall. And polling done in January by the New York Times found that nearly 80% of Americans, including more than two-thirds of Democrats, opposed the idea of trans women competing in women’s sports.

“The Democrats, who are trying to find their voice on so many things right now, don’t know how to handle it,” said Hank Plante, a political journalist and former fellow at the USC Center for the Political Future who lives in Palm Springs with his husband. “They want to be true to their base and to their principles of equal rights. But at the same time, it’s a loser politically when you start talking about nonconforming gender issues and young people.”

One of the Trump campaign’s most bruising attack ads last fall showed a clip of former Vice President Kamala Harris saying she would support gender-transition surgery for inmates in California’s prisons, then concluded with: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”

“She didn’t even react to it, which was even more devastating,” Newsom said on a recent episode of his podcast. “Brutal. It was a great ad.”

On the same episode, Newsom told conservative commentator Charlie Kirk that it was “deeply unfair” for transgender girls to play on girls’ sports teams. Newsom previously supported a California law signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown that allowed trans students to compete in sports and use bathrooms based on their gender preference.

The uproar that followed Newsom’s comments underscored the complexities Democrats face on the issue, with some Democrats alleging that Newsom strategically abandoned a vulnerable group of people to prepare for a future presidential run.

Assemblymember Christopher M. Ward (D-San Diego), the chair of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, said the governor’s remarks left him “profoundly sickened and frustrated.”

But Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, one of the best-known Republicans running for governor, said he agreed with Newsom — and, if elected, would sign an executive order banning “boys competing in girls’ sports.”

Ron deHarte, the first gay Mexican American mayor of Palm Springs, warned in his speech at the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast that the LGBTQ+ community and its allies will “march with greater fervor — we will do more than ever before.”

“If you are a member of the military — transgender or not — if you are willing to fight for me, then I must be willing to fight for you,” deHarte told the crowd.

In an interview, deHarte said that elected officials are now facing an ethical test over whether to speak out against Trump administration policies that they see as hurting their communities, at the risk of losing federal funding.

He said all eyes are on Maine, where the Trump administration stopped all federal education funding after Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, refused to comply with Trump’s directive to ban trans girls from girls’ sports.

“It’s a challenging line to walk,” deHarte said. “You have to make sure you have not only the right moral standing, but the right legal standing too.”

Since Trump’s inauguration, federal officials have targeted California over laws aimed at protecting trans students.

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating the California Interscholastic Federation, which oversees sports at more than 1,500 high schools, and the California Department of Education over a law that bars schools from automatically notifying families about issues related to students’ gender identities.

Gay and trans high school students right now are experiencing fear that is “like being a little more closeted,” said Delana Martin-Marshall, 38, an art teacher at A.B. Miller High School in Fontana.

She and her wife, a physical education teacher at the school, drove a dozen students from the school’s gay-straight alliance in two vans to the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast.

“Students are really scared,” she said. “Scared of being themselves.”

There’s little that state-level officials can do to reverse decisions from the White House on issues like military eligibility and passports, but the state can still be a refuge for gay and trans students, attendees said, including shoring up funding and legal protections for gender nonconforming students and for gay couples.

“The state has to prepare for what’s coming,” Plante said. He pointed to Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion when the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, which said that the court “should reconsider” past rulings codifying Americans’ rights to contraception, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.

Christopher Martinez, 32, attended the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast with fellow students from College of the Desert who said they hope the next governor will focus on the day-to-day issues that affect transgender and gay college students, including the rising cost of living and housing insecurity.

“Everything is getting really expensive,” Martinez said.

CHICAGO — Growing up in the Soviet Union, Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez’s father and grandparents would listen to Voice of America with their ears pressed to the radio, trying to catch words through the government’s radio jamming.

The U.S.-funded news service was instrumental in helping them understand what was happening on the other side of the Iron Curtain, before they moved to the United States in the 1970s.

“It was a window into another world,” Spivakovsky-Gonzalez said. “They looked to it as a sort of a beacon of freedom. They were able to imagine a different world from the one they were living in.”

When Spivakovsky-Gonzalez and his family heard of President Trump’s attempts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media — which oversees VOA, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia — he said it was a “gut punch.”

The first months of the second Trump administration have delivered blow after blow to American efforts to promote democracy abroad and pierce the information wall of authoritarian governments through programs that had been sustained over decades by presidents of both political parties.

The new administration has decimated the Agency for Global Media, restructured the State Department to eliminate a global democracy office and gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development, which just last year launched an initiative to try to halt the backsliding of democracy across the globe. In all, the moves represent a retrenchment from the U.S. role in spreading democracy beyond its borders.

Experts say the moves will create a vacuum for promoting freedom and representative government, and could accelerate what many see as antidemocratic trends around the world.

“The United States has historically been the leading power in spreading democracy globally. Despite different administrations, that has remained the case — until now,” said Staffan Lindberg, a political science professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

‘Pillar of American foreign policy’

David Salvo, managing director for the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, said promoting democracy abroad has been “a pillar of American foreign policy in the last 50 years” as a means of ensuring more stable, peaceful relationships with other countries, reducing the threat of conflict and war, and fostering economic cooperation.

Yet among President Trump’s early actions was targeting democracy programs through the State Department and USAID, which had launched a new global democracy initiative at the end of the Biden administration. The Treasury Department halted funding to the National Endowment for Democracy, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in April he would shut a State Department office that had a mission to build “more democratic, secure, stable, and just societies.”

Funding cuts have hit the National Democratic Institute, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and U.S. nonprofits that have worked for decades “to inject resources into environments so that civil society and democratic actors can try to effect change for the better,” including through bolstering unstable democracies against autocrats, Salvo said.

Whether global democracy programs are worth funding was central to a hearing Thursday by a U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, as Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) repeatedly asked how to “ensure our return on investment is really high.”

About 1.2% of the federal budget went to foreign aid in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the Pew Research Center.

“I understand the committee is interested in how we can improve … and get back to basics,” Tom Malinowski, a former Democratic congressman from New Jersey and assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights and labor under President Obama, told lawmakers. “The problem is the administration is eliminating the basics right now.”

Uzra Zeya, who leads the international nonprofit Human Rights First after serving in the Biden State Department, said it was “heartbreaking and alarming” to watch the U.S. essentially dismantle its democracy and human rights programs.

“The potential long-term impacts are devastating for U.S. national security and prosperity,” she said.

Diminishing the messaging pipelines

For more than 80 years, VOA and its related outlets have delivered news across the world, including to more than 427 million people every week in 49 languages, according to a 2024 internal report. The broadcaster began during World War II to provide Germans with news, even as Nazi officials attempted to jam its signals. The Soviet Union and China attempted to silence its broadcasts during the Cold War. Iranian and North Korean governments have also tried to block access to VOA for decades.

But the most successful attempt to silence VOA has been through its own government. It was in effect shut down in March through a Trump executive order.

Lisa Brakel, a 66-year-old retired librarian in Temperance, Mich., said VOA was a “mainstay” when she was a music teacher in Kuwait in the 1980s. She and her colleagues would listen together in the apartment complex where the American teachers were housed, to stay up to date with news from home.

When she learned the news about the VOA funding cuts, “I thought, ‘No, they can’t shut this down. Too many people depend on that,’” Brakel said. “As a librarian, any cuts to free access to information deeply concern me.”

Emboldening U.S. rivals

The broadcaster’s future remains in flux after a federal appellate court paused a ruling that would have reversed its dismantling. This was just a day after journalists were told they would soon return to work after being off the air for almost two months. Even if they are allowed back, it’s unclear that the mission would be the same.

Last week, the Trump administration agreed to use the feed of One American News, or OAN — a far-right, ardently pro-Trump media network known for propagating conspiracy theories — on VOA and other services.

In Asia, dismantling Radio Free Asia would mean losing the world’s only independent Uyghur language news service, closing the Asia Fact Check Lab as it reports on misinformation from the Chinese Community Party, and curbing access to information in countries such as China, North Korea and Myanmar that lack free and independent media, the broadcaster’s president, Bay Fang, said in a statement.

“Their invaluable work is part of RFA’s responsibility to uphold the truth so that dictators and despots don’t have the last word,” Fang wrote in May in the New York Times.

Experts who monitor global democracy said the information gap created by the administration will embolden U.S. competitors such as Russia and China, which already are ramping up their efforts to shape public opinion.

Barbara Wejnert, a political sociologist at the University at Buffalo who studies global democracies, said diplomatic efforts through U.S. broadcasters and democracy nonprofits helped precipitate a “rapid increase in democratizing countries” in the late 20th century.

“Especially today when the truth is distorted and people don’t trust governments, spreading the notion of freedom and democracy through media is even more vital,” she said.

Fernando writes for the Associated Press.

United States President Donald Trump will undertake a three-day tour of the Gulf for his first state visit since retaking office in January.

The trip begins in Saudi Arabia, followed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

It marks Trump’s second foreign visit as president after he attended Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome in April.

Here is what to know about the trip and what is on the agenda:

When and where is Trump visiting?

Trump will fly out of the US on Monday and start his trip in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Tuesday.

He is expected to attend a Gulf summit in the city on Wednesday, visit Qatar later that day and conclude his visit in the UAE on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia was the first country Trump visited during his first term as well, breaking the tradition of US presidents starting with the United Kingdom, Canada or Mexico.

What is on Trump’s agenda?

His objectives are securing major economic deals and making diplomatic progress on issues that impact the region, including a Gaza ceasefire and stalled Saudi-Israel normalisation talks.

The focus on economic deals comes as the US recorded a drop in its economic output in the first quarter, its first in three years.

On Wednesday, Trump said he will also decide during his trip how the US refers to the “Persian Gulf”.

US media reported that he may decide to refer to the body of water as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia.

Saudi Arabia: Normalisation, business deals and weapons

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the president wants to expand the Abraham Accords, under which the UAE and Bahrain recognised Israel during Trump’s first term, to include Saudi Arabia.

Talks were reportedly under way on Saudi Arabia joining the accords, but after Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) paused those discussions.

Saudi officials have said they won’t move forward unless there is real progress towards a two-state solution for Palestine, leading to speculation that Trump may propose a US-backed framework to end the war and revive normalisation efforts during this visit.

In a shift from past US policy, the Trump administration has uncoupled discussions on a Saudi nuclear agreement and normalisation with Israel, which US President Joe Biden’s administration had held as a condition for nuclear cooperation.

Riyadh wants US help building a civilian nuclear programme, which Israel has raised concerns about and had wanted it tied to normalisation.

Trump’s main focus will be economic partnerships as he meets with MBS and attends a Saudi-US investment forum. He wants to secure a $1 trillion Saudi investment in US industries, expanding on a $600bn pledge made by the crown prince earlier this year.

Saudi Arabia is also expected to announce more than $100bn in US arms purchases, including missiles, radar systems and transport aircraft.

Other key issues include reviving a scaled-down US-Saudi defence pact.

UAE: Investment in the US and cooperation on tech goals

In the UAE, Trump is to meet with President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss investment opportunities in sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy and manufacturing.

In March, the UAE announced a $1.4 trillion investment plan for those sectors in the US over the next decade.

Meanwhile, Trump is expected to lift Biden-era export restrictions on advanced technology as the UAE seeks US microchips and artificial intelligence technology to support its goal of becoming a global AI leader by 2031.

Qatar: Military cooperation, regional security and Syria

In Qatar, where the largest US military base in the Middle East is located, Trump’s agenda includes meetings with the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to discuss military cooperation and regional security.

Doha, which has close ties with Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, may also seek Trump’s support in easing sanctions on Syria.

As a key partner in regional mediation, Qatar is also expected to discuss Gaza ceasefire efforts with Trump.

Why is Israel not on the itinerary?

Trump’s decision to skip Israel during this tour comes amid heightened tensions in Gaza, where Israel’s military has intensified its operations after breaking a ceasefire on March 18.

“Nothing good can come out of a visit to Israel at the moment,” a US official told the Axios news website.

Since it broke the ceasefire, Israel has continued extensive air strikes on Gaza while voicing concerns over what it sees as a decline in US support.

Recent reports from US and Israeli media also suggest growing tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the Trump administration signals it may act independently on Middle East policy without waiting for the Israeli leader.

Israeli political commentator Ori Goldberg told Al Jazeera: “At the moment, Israel is at odds with [Trump’s] overall goal, promising continuous fire.

“I think the mistrust between Trump and Netanyahu has been quite extensive for some time.”

How are countries responding to this visit?

In the lead-up to Trump’s visit, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE pledged significant investments in the US, signalling an interest in deepening economic ties.

However, Trump’s trip also follows resistance in the region over his proposal for the US to redevelop Gaza and relocate its residents to other Arab countries.

In a meeting of Arab leaders in Riyadh in February, officials from countries including Egypt, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait rejected Trump’s plan, emphasising the need for Palestinian self-determination and regional stability.

Police bodycam footage shows Newark Mayor Ras Baraka being arrested outside a detention centre in New Jersey, during a protest about US immigration. Officials claim he trespassed, but Baraka and witnesses say he complied with orders.

Former British Home Secretary Charles Clarke has expressed little faith that United States President Donald Trump’s “combination of bullying and flattering” will produce a lasting ceasefire in Ukraine.

Trump, on April 17, presented Russia and Ukraine with a “final” ceasefire offer, which forces Kyiv to legally cede Crimea to Moscow, without offering it security guarantees.

“My picture from the outset, which is essentially pessimistic, is that Trump wanted his big moment and in the same way as with North Korea, he thought he could [coax Russia] into a situation,” said Clarke.

Trump had similarly tried to force North Korea into nuclear disarmament in 2019.

“I don’t myself see how [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy or Ukraine as a whole could ever concede de jure control of Crimea to Russia. They could concede de facto control, but Trump didn’t seem to take that distinction,” Clarke said.

“He’s shaken things up, but I think he’s been obviously far too credulous to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and to Russia in the whole process.”

Clarke spoke to Al Jazeera on the sidelines of the 16th Conference on Baltic Studies in Europe, hosted recently by Cambridge University’s Centre for Geopolitics, which Clarke co-directs with Brendan Simms, a professor of European geopolitics.

Can Europe face Russia?

The prospect of a possible ceasefire is rarely out of the headlines.

Over the weekend, Putin said Russia would engage in direct talks with Ukraine “without preconditions” – a rare offer throughout the conflict – after European leaders met Zelenskyy in Kyiv to call for a 30-day truce.

Ukraine and Europe have presented a ceasefire document, which, unlike Trump’s plan, makes no territorial concessions to Russia three years after it invaded Ukraine. The question is whether they are willing and able to back it with continued military effort if Russia and the US reject it.

“The scenario of a complete American withdrawal may be overly bleak right now, but it’s definitely a possibility,” said Simms.

Should Europe then offer Ukraine an independent security guarantee?

“I do think we should do that, but I think we should only do it if we are genuinely committed to going the full mile with Ukraine,” said Simms.

“I could quite easily see, for instance, a discourse in a country like Germany, which would say something like, ‘Well, it’s awful what’s happening in Ukraine, Trump is awful, [but] no we’re not going to do anything to help Ukraine, and we are going to use Trump as an excuse to walk away from supporting Ukraine’,” Simms said. “That is very much a discourse you’re beginning to hear in German public opinion.”

Both Clarke and Simms believed the Russian army’s ability to win an uncontestable military victory in Ukraine has been overestimated thanks to narratives touted by the Kremlin.

“There’s been far too much belief that the Russians have got an effective military and economic machine,” said Clarke, citing the Russian failure to take Kyiv in 2022 and losing control of the Black Sea to an adversary without a navy.

Russia’s territorial gains in Ukraine have slowed down dramatically, two separate analyses found last month.

The Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom estimated that Russian forces seized 143sq km (55sq miles) of Ukrainian land in March, compared with 196sq km (75sq miles) in February and 326sq km (125sq miles) in January.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, DC-based think tank, spotted the same trend, estimating Russian gains of 203sq km (78sq miles) in March, 354sq km (136sq miles) in February and 427sq km (165sq miles) in January.

This pattern of diminishing returns had started in 2024, a year when Russia wrested away just 4,168sq km (1,610sq miles) of fields and abandoned villages – equivalent to 0.69 percent of Ukraine, the ISW determined in January.

Those meagre gains came at the cost of 430,790 soldiers, the equivalent of 36 Russian motorised rifle divisions, outnumbering Russia’s losses in 2022 and 2023 combined, said Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence.

As Russia prepared to celebrate the 80th anniversary of victory in World War II, its losses in Ukraine were approaching the one million mark, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said.

Al Jazeera is unable to independently verify casualty tolls.

“They do have weight of numbers on their side, but weight of numbers only counts if you’ve got willing fighters,” said Clarke. “And there’s a great deal of evidence that there’s real problems for the Russian leadership in terms of the attitude of Russian troops and Russian positions.”

While Europe could ultimately step up defence industrial capacity, Clarke cautioned that Europe would nonetheless struggle to replace US intelligence, political coherence and command and control.

A European force for the Baltic

These issues have recently come to the fore, as Europe grappled with the possibility of fielding a peacekeeping ground force in Ukraine.

Simms argued in favour of creating it, but against deploying it in Ukraine as a peacekeeping force.

One reason is that European militaries are not trained for the drone warfare now being developed in Ukraine and will not be effective, he said.

“The other consideration is that the Ukrainian army is our most effective ally. If we deploy forces as part of a peace deal, which will end the war in Ukraine by definition and take the Ukrainians out of the conflict, we will end up in a situation where our mobile force, our only deployable force, the preponderance of it will be fixed in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin will no longer be fixed in Ukraine. He can pivot to face the Baltic states in the high north, and the Ukrainians will no longer be in the field. So that will be almost like … a self-inflicted wound.”

A European mobile force should keep its powder dry for deployment wherever Putin strikes next, said Simms, most likely in the Baltic states, while Europe helps Ukraine in long-range fires – drones and missiles – and provides air cover.

Russia’s psyops: Nuclear blackmail

Clarke said it is “absolutely possible” that Europe and Kyiv can win the war without Washington’s support, but warned of a “high risk strategy” should Ukraine “hold on so long that Russia would fall over”.

Europe and Ukraine could win if Europe overcame its fear of nuclear blackmail, said Simms.

Putin threatened the use of nuclear weapons from the outset, he said, but did not use them when Ukraine claimed back 20,000sq km (7,720sq miles) of its territory in September 2022, nor when Ukraine counter-invaded Russia in August 2024.

Yet fear of nuclear retaliation prevented Germany from giving Ukraine its 500km-range (310-mile) Taurus missile, which carries a 450kg warhead and impacts at high speed, devastating its targets.

“It’s not at all clear that if a power station in Moscow were destroyed by a Taurus, that [Putin] would use nuclear weapons. In fact, I think it is unlikely,” said Simms.

“But he has achieved through his rhetoric and through, I think, a misunderstanding of the nature of deterrence, a chilling effect on the West, which has cost the Ukrainians dear and has wasted three years that we had to sort this out – before Donald Trump appeared on the scene.”

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration and congressional Democrats expressed optimism Sunday that more than $450 billion in loans and aid to Americans most affected by the coronavirus outbreak will be enacted this week, providing a measure of financial help as the U.S. death toll passes 40,000.

The bulk of the money is aimed at helping small-business owners, many of them pushed to collapse by the weeks-long shutdown of bars, restaurants, shops and other businesses in much of the country.

The package would also earmark $25 billion for coronavirus testing, which has become a major point of contention between President Trump and the nation’s governors, and $75 billion for beleaguered hospitals, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said Sunday.

After negotiations over the weekend with Mnuchin, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) both agreed that a deal was close. The Senate could vote as soon as Monday, and House members were told the chamber could meet Wednesday for a recorded vote.

The two sides were still struggling to reconcile differences over whether to add aid to states and municipalities, which Democrats said would provide a lifeline for first responders and workers such as bus drivers who are in close contact with the public.

The deal would swiftly replenish a loan program run by the Small Business Administration that is already essentially tapped out three weeks after it passed as part of a broader $2-trillion rescue package.

Mnuchin said the Paycheck Protection Program would receive about $300 billion. The deal also would add $60 billion to a separate emergency loan program for small businesses that also is out of money, Schumer said. Some of the loans would be specifically targeted to rural and minority-owned businesses.

“I think we’re making a lot of progress,” Mnuchin, who has handled the White House negotiations with congressional leaders, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” Mnuchin said he had “multiple conversations all weekend” with House and Senate leaders of both parties.

“I think we’re very close to a deal today,” he said, “and I’m hopeful that we can get that done.”

Schumer said on the same program that the two sides had “a few more issues to deal with,” but he pronounced himself “very, very hopeful” about an imminent agreement.

Pelosi, appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” agreed that they were “very close” to finalizing a deal.

The Senate plans to hold a brief session Monday afternoon, during which the Republican and Democratic leaders could pass the deal if no single senator objects. The House is slated to hold a similar brief session Tuesday.

Pelosi, who has accused Trump of failing as a leader during the pandemic, said on “Fox News Sunday” that he “deserves an F” for his response to the crisis but that bipartisan efforts to help Americans must move quickly ahead.

Since taking effect last month, the Payroll Protection Program has approved almost 1.7 million taxpayer-backed loans to small businesses, mostly to help keep paying employees. The flood of applications has nearly exhausted the $349 billion available, with thousands of small businesses still in urgent need of help.

Hospitals across the country have been hit hard not only by the wave of patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, but also by emergency steps such as putting off elective surgeries, which for most are a consistent source of cash flow. The $75 billion earmarked for them is meant to ease that shortfall.

Along with the hospital funding, Democrats have pushed hard for the $25 billion for coronavirus testing, which public health authorities say is crucial to determine how severe the outbreak remains, and who should be isolated, before stay-at-home restrictions are lifted.

On Thursday, three days after Trump had asserted “total” authority to reopen states, he did an abrupt about-face and announced that the governors — not the federal government — should assume responsibility for testing and deciding when it was safe for people to return to work and schools.

Schumer said on CNN that there “ought to be one person” ensuring a “national focus and effort on testing,” instead of a 50-state patchwork approach.

Democrats have sought an additional $150 billion for cities and states suffering a huge loss of tax revenues even as they spend heavily to cope with the crisis, but Republicans have opposed using federal funds to fill local and state budget shortfalls.

“The president is willing to consider that in the next bill but wants to get this over the finish line with a focus on small businesses, hospitals and testing,” Mnuchin said.

Pelosi and other Democrats have portrayed the requested state and local aid as meant to support those on the pandemic’s front lines.

“Our lives and well-being are threatened if health care, police, EMS, teachers and other essential workers are let go,” the House speaker wrote in a letter to colleagues Saturday. “These vital workers need our help now.”

Even those who support more state and local funding acknowledged that might be a losing battle for now.

The Republican head of the National Governors Assn., Maryland’s Larry Hogan, said on CNN that state and municipal aid is “desperately needed” but that perhaps it would have to wait.

“Look, we do not want to hold up funding to these small businesses,” he said.

The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, called the latest proposal “a good start” but said lawmakers must move quickly.

“We know that the small businesses out there are really hurting,” she said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” ”And every hour and day that goes by without this assistance is really hurting them.”

Mnuchin was asked on CNN if the delivery of $1,200 checks to individual Americans, part of the previous aid package, was delayed because Trump wanted to put his name on them. In the end, his name appears in the memo line but not as a signature on the checks.

Critics said either move suggested that the funds were somehow Trump’s personal largesse rather than the disbursement of taxpayer-supplied federal funds.

Mnuchin said that it would have been permissible to use the president’s signature rather than that of a Treasury official, but that the idea was dropped because it would have caused a delay. In any event, he said, the notion didn’t originate with Trump.

“That was my idea,” Mnuchin said. “He is the president, and I think it’s a terrific symbol to the American public.”

Times staff writer Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.

May 12 (UPI) — The Trump administration fired the United States’ top copyright official over the weekend, following the dismissal of the librarian of Congress late last week.

Rep. Joe Morelle, the ranking Democrat on the Committee on House Administration, confirmed in a statement that Shira Perlmutter was let go Saturday as the director of the U.S. Copyright Office and Register of Copyrights.

Politico was the first to report on Perlmutter’s firing.

“Donald Trump’s termination of Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis,” Morelle, D-N.Y., said.

“Register Perlmutter is a patriot, and her tenure has propelled the Copyright Office into the 21st century by comprehensively modernizing its operations and setting global standards on the intersection of AI and intellectual property.”

Perlmutter’s firing came two days after the administration fired Carla Hayden, the first woman and first Black person to serve as the librarian of Congress, who oversees the register of Copyrights.

A day before she was let go, Perlmutter’s office released a long-awaited report on the use of copyrighted works and artificial intelligence, an industry that Elon Musk, a financial backer of President Donald Trump’s and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, is highly involved in.

The report raises questions and concerns about the use of copyrighted material and intellectual property to train generative AI systems.

Last month, Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, now X, called for the erasure of all intellectual property law, meaning removing protections such as patents and copyrights, from such works.

“I agree,” Musk, who bought Twitter and renamed it X, said in response.

Morelle, in his statement, said it was no coincidence that Perlmutter was fired “less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk’s efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.”

Musk owns artificial intelligence company xAI.

The American Federation of Musicians expressed its appreciation to Perlmutter in a statement on Sunday, saying she had “served the American people with unrivaled expertise for decades.”

“Her unlawful firing will gravely harm the entire copyright community,” the world’s largest organization of professional musicians said. “She understood what we all know to be true: human creativity and authorship are the foundation of copyright law — and for that, it appears, she lost her job.”

Hayden appointed Perlmutter to the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office in October 2020, according to her official biography.

May 12 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday night said he will sign an executive order to reduce drug prices in the United States by between 30% and 80% with the aim of equalizing global prices.

No details of the executive order, which Trump said he’d sign Monday morning, were released, and it was not immediately clear how exactly the order would work.

He made the announcement in a post to his Truth Social platform, calling the executive order “one of the most consequential … in our Country’s history.”

“Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%. They will rise throughout the World in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!”

In the statement, Trump said he would be instituting a “MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price.”

He said the executive order would be signed 9 a.m. EDT Monday at the White House.

Trump had tried during his first term to institute a Most Favored Nation policy via executive order to tie U.S. prescription drug prices for Medicare to the world’s cheapest price tags but was met with successful legal challenges from the pharmaceutical industry.

PhRMA, a pharmaceutical trade group, criticized the original version of the plan from Trump’s first term as “bad policy,” stating it will limit seniors’ access to existing medicine and hamper development of new drugs.

Dr. Houman David Hemmati, a California physician and critic of California’ s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, said the policy is “a strong step toward fairness” but does present risks.

On X, he said it could limit patient access to drugs in those countries where the drugs’ prices are cheapest, as drug makers might pull out of those markets. It could also affect development, especially of generic drugs, which could also be pulled from shelves.

“A generic priced very low abroad might disappear if the U.S. demands that price, impacting access to essentials like insulin,” he said, adding that countries reliant on low prices might face drug access issues, and the United States might see delays in new drug launches.

According to a January 2024 report from the Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, the prices across all drugs in the United States were at least 2.78 times higher than in comparison countries and at least 3.22 times as high for brand drugs.

In his Sunday night statement, Trump said that with his new policy, “Our Country will finally be treated fairly and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before.”

He said the United States will save trillions of dollars.

In April, Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to standardize Medicare payments to reduce the price of prescription drugs.

Those Trumps never miss the chance to sell their merchandise.

Friday morning, on the heels of her well-received speech at the Republican National Convention, prospective first daughter Ivanka Trump showed just how much she takes after her father: Her official Twitter account tweeted, “Shop Ivanka’s look from her #RNC speech” to her 1.97 million followers, and a link to a Macy’s page that featured the polyester-and-spandex “sleeveless studded sheath dress” from her eponymous fashion line.

The tweet must have worked; the $158 dress, which was made abroad, sold out.

First lady Michelle Obama, another fashion plate, also has the power to move merchandise. Known for her eclectic tastes — from unsung American designers to J. Crew — she does not personally profit from the trends she sparks.

It’s different with the Trumps.

Over the course of his campaign, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has introduced us to Trump ties and Trump steaks, Trump wine and Trump vodka. Donald Trump promotes his real estate holdings by scheduling news conferences at his various properties: Trump Tower, Trump International Golf Links in Scotland (where he opined that Brexit would be good for business. Well, his business.)

Last March, at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla., he showed reporters a table piled high with what one journalist called “a veritable Trump-ucopia” of Trump merchandise. “I mean, what’s wrong with selling?” asked Trump.

Indeed.

The merchandising of the Trump name would probably not even be all that remarkable, given that the billionaire developer/reality TV star has been on a lifelong mission to plaster his name on as much stuff as possible.

But he has left himself open to charges of hypocrisy because a good deal of his clothing line is manufactured overseas.

On the campaign trail, he has promised repeatedly that he will restore American manufacturing to its glory days by curtailing outsourcing to foreign countries, especially China. He has frequently accused China of manipulating its currency to make its exports more attractive, which has, in Trump’s view, undermined American manufacturing.

Turns out much of Ivanka’s line is also made overseas, including the convention dress, described on the Macy’s website as “imported,” but it’s not clear where. Macy’s has not yet answered my query.

Last March, in a column on the PBS website, Harvard economic Robert Lawrence wrote that he had analyzed the Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump fashion lines, which were available on the official Trump website. Lawrence determined that “of the 838 Ivanka products advertised through the site, none appear to be made exclusively in the U.S.; 628 are said to be imported and 354 made specifically in China.”

(Links on Ivanka’s current style website redirect customers to Macy’s for purchases.)

Lawrence was moved to investigate after Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tweaked Trump during a debate for his foreign-made ties.

Turned out that Trump’s sports coats, cufflinks and eyeglass frames were also made in China. Some of his shirts were made in Bangladesh.

Lawrence, like most economists, was unbothered; international trade is good for the U.S., and Americans want to spend less on things.

“But how,” he asked, “do you reconcile a business model based on importing with professions of deep belief that manufacturing should be brought back to America?”

As a former fashion editor, I hope you will indulge me for a moment. Ivanka’s dress was pretty, but it did not look especially well made, or expensive. She is a former fashion model, and can carry off just about any look. But under the glare of the lights, one could see that the side seams pulled, and the dress was looser in the bodice than a tailored dress would be.

By contrast, Melania Trump’s body-skimming white dress, which also immediately sold out on the upscale fashion website Net-a-Porter, fit the way a $2,200 garment should.

Then again, Melania wasn’t selling anything but her husband.

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has fired the nation’s top copyright official, Shira Perlmutter, days after abruptly terminating the head of the Library of Congress, which oversees the U.S. Copyright Office.

The office said in a statement Sunday that Perlmutter received an email from the White House a day earlier with the notification that “your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately.”

On Thursday, President Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to hold that position, as part of the administration’s ongoing purge of government officials perceived to oppose the president and his agenda.

Hayden named Perlmutter to lead the Copyright Office in October 2020.

Perlmutter’s office recently released a report examining whether artificial intelligence companies can use copyrighted materials to “train” their AI systems and compete in the same market as the human-made works they were trained on.

The report, the third part of a lengthy AI study, follows a review that Perlmutter began in 2023 with opinions from thousands of people including AI developers, actors and country singers.

In January, the office clarified its approach as one based on the “centrality of human creativity” in creating a work that warrants copyright protections. The office receives about half a million copyright applications per year, covering millions of creative works.

“Where that creativity is expressed through the use of AI systems, it continues to enjoy protection,” Perlmutter said in January. “Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine … would undermine rather than further the constitutional goals of copyright.”

The White House didn’t return a message seeking comment Sunday.

Democrats were quick to denounce Perlmutter’s firing.

“Donald Trump’s termination of Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis,” said Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee.

Perlmutter, who holds a law degree, was previously a policy director at the Patent and Trademark Office and worked on copyright and other areas of intellectual property. She also previously worked at the Copyright Office in the late 1990s. She did not return messages left Sunday seeking comment.

O’Brien writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.

May 11 (UPI) — The Qatari Royal Family has planned to gift a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet to President Donald Trump to be used for Air Force One and for his own private use when his presidency ends, reports said Sunday.

News of the major gift was first reported by ABC News, citing anonymous sources, and later confirmed by The New York Times and NBC News. United Press International has reached out to Qatar’s Government Communications Office for confirmation.

The gift is expected to be formally announced when Trump visits Qatar next week, according to the reports. Trump toured the plane when it was parked at the West Palm Beach International Airport in February.

A Qatari representative, however, told Axios that while reports of Trump being gifted a jet were “inaccurate,” Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense are discussing the possible temporary use of an aircraft as Air Force One.

If it is gifted, the jet could become the most valuable gift ever from a foreign government to the United States, ABC News reported. Its $400 million estimated price tag surpasses the estimated $250,000 cost of constructing the Statue of Liberty — which was gifted to the United States from France.

But the expected acceptance of the gift by Trump raises questions of its legality, raising the possibility that the president could face scrutiny for bribery or violating the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The Emoluments Clause prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts, payments or other benefits from foreign governments without the consent of Congress but there is debate as to whether it applies to elected officials. According to Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, the interpretation of the clause has never been litigated before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lawyers for the White House reportedly expect accepting the gift to draw scrutiny and have drafted an analysis for U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which concludes that it is legal for the U.S. Defense Department to accept the gift and then to later hand it over to Trump’s presidential library for his private use when he leaves office.

The Trump administration is looking to the precedent set by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in handling the ethical considerations of accepting a retired presidential aircraft.

The Reagan Library boasts a 90,000-square-foot exhibit hangar that permanently displays a Boeing VC-137C aircraft with the tail letters SAM 27000, which entered service as Air Force One under President Richard Nixon.

Though the plane was used by each president until George W. Bush, it is best known in relation to Reagan and was gifted to his library when it was decommissioned in 2001. Reagan died in 2004.

The difference between the use of the two gifts that could pose a challenge for Trump is that the Reagan Library immediately installed it for permanent display while Trump is reported to be planning to continue using it for personal travel.

Trump currently owns a Boeing 757 that dates to the early 1990s. The jet was originally operated by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen before Trump purchased it in 2011.

Two new Air Force One planes have been in the works since at least 2018 when the Air Force awarded a $3.9 billion contract for two modified Boeing 747-8 planes that were expected for delivery by 2024.

Trump told ABC News in 2019 that he wanted to change up the traditional baby blue and white pattern chosen by former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1960s to a new color scheme that resembled that of his private jet.

Boeing started modifying the first of the two aircraft in February 2020 and the second in June 2020. According to a 2022 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the company had completed major structural modifications on the first aircraft and is now preparing it for wiring installations.

However, at the time, Boeing struggled to find workers to complete the modifications because of a “competitive labor market” and “lower-than-planned security clearance approval rates.” The Air Force later lowered security clearance standards to make it easier to find workers.

Last week, Defense One reported that Boeing has told the Air Force it can deliver the new jets by 2027 if the government loosens some requirements.