Trump 2.0

[IFocus]

He certainly has aligned himself with China, so I doubt he is fond of Trump at the moment and as is the want of Australian ex P.M's he doesn't shy from speaking his mind.

Keating describes Taiwan as 'Chinese real estate' as he hits out at Albanese

Former prime minister Paul Keating accuses the government of bending to the will of the United States over AUKUS, while defending China's right to its "real estate" in Taiwan.

www.abc.net.au

Keating says Australians ‘utterly at odds’ with Labor on US-China

The former prime minister leapt upon poll results showing most Australians want to avoid picking sides in any conflict between the United States and China.

www.smh.com.au

What’s Paul Keating’s Problem With Taiwan?

Once again the former Australian prime minister has made headlines, this time by making the ahistorical claim that Taiwan is “sitting on Chinese real estate.”

thediplomat.com

Paul Keating takes on Nancy Pelosi, after she accused him of ‘ridiculous’ comment about Taiwan

A war of words has broken out between Australian and US political veterans over whether the status of Taiwan is a key Western security interest.

theconversation.com

That's Keating the realist knowing Taiwan for better or worst is a Chinese asset not saying its a good thing or right just reality.

 

[moXJO]

That's Keating the realist knowing Taiwan for better or worst is a Chinese asset not saying its a good thing or right just reality.

I think he's smart enough to realise the US will let Aussies die defending Taiwan. Or at the least bear the brunt.

 

[Knobby22]

I think he's smart enough to realise the US will let Aussies die defending Taiwan. Or at the least bear the brunt.

Yes, if you want to make a statement to the US, let their ships go through but torpedo the Aussie cruiser.

No one important gets hurt that way.

 

[basilio]

Understanding Trump.
Well and truly on the mark IMV. This all about Trump becoming the richest most powerful person in the world before he turns 80.

What you need to know about Trump’s tariffs and the rest of Trump’s madness​

The art of the deal, with him as dealer​

Robert Reich Feb 3

Friends,
Understand this: The reason Trump has raised tariffs on Canada and Mexico is not to have more bargaining leverage to get better deals for the United States from Canada or from Mexico.

Hours before the Canadian tariffs went into effect, Trump was asked if there was anything Canada could do to stop them. “We’re not looking for a concession,” Trump said, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon. “We’ll just see what happens, we’ll see what happens.”

The real reason Trump has raised tariffs on Canada and Mexico is to show the world that he’s willing to harm (smaller) economies even at the cost of harming America’s (very large) economy.

The point is the show — so the world knows it’s dealing with someone who’s willing to mete out big punishments. Trump increases his power by demonstrating he has the power and is willing to use it.

The same with deporting, say, Colombians or Brazilians in military planes, handcuffed and shackled. If, say, Colombia or Brazil complains about their treatment, so much the better. Trump says, without any basis in fact, that they’re criminals. Then he threaten tariffs. If Colombia backs down, Trump has once again demonstrated his power.

Why did Trump stop foreign aid? Not because it’s wasteful. In fact, it helps stabilize the world and reduces the spread of communicable diseases. The real reason Trump stopped foreign aid is he wants to show he can.

Why is he disregarding (or threatening to tear up) treaties and agreements (the Paris Agreement, NATO, whatever)? Not because such treaties and agreements are bad for America. To the contrary, they’re in America’s best interest.

The real reason Trump is tearing up treaties is they tie Trump’s hands and thereby limit his discretion to mete out punishments and rewards.

Don’t think of these as individual “policies.” Think of them together as shows of Trump’s strength.

If Canada or Mexico retaliates, he’ll retaliate against them with even bigger tariffs.

If some senior Republican members of Congress object that he’s stepping on congressional prerogatives, so what? It’s an opportunity to show them who’s boss.

If a federal court temporarily stops him, so what? He’ll go right on doing it and demonstrate that the courts are powerless to stop him.
Look behind what’s happening and you’ll see that Trump is employing two techniques to gain more power than any U.S. president has ever wielded.

The first is to demonstrate that he can mete out huge punishments and rewards.
It doesn’t matter if the punishment or reward is justified. A 25 percent tariff on Canada? Hello?
It’s a show of strength.

If prices skyrocket in America for oil and lumber from Canada or for fruits and vegetables from Mexico, no problem for Trump. Most Americans don’t understand how tariffs work, anyway. Trump will blame Canada and Mexico. And then threaten them with, say, 50 percent tariffs. Kabam!

Which brings us to the second technique Trump is using to expand his power: unpredictability.

What makes an abusive parent or spouse, or an abusive dictator, or Tump, especially terrifying? They’re unpredictable. They lash out in ways that are hard to anticipate.

So, anyone potentially affected by their actions gives them extra-wide berth — vast amounts of obedience in advance.
Trump keeps everyone guessing.

He demands that Denmark sell Greenland to the United States. He chews out the CEO of the Bank of America at Davos for allegedly discriminating against conservatives. He fires independent inspectors general. He purges the Department of Justice of career civil servants who prosecuted cases against him. He attacks birthright citizenship.

What’s next? Who knows? That’s the whole point.

How else to explain the bizarre deference — cowardice — we’re seeing among CEOs, the media, almost all Republican and even some Democratic lawmakers? Presumably, they’re all saying to themselves: “He could do anything, so let’s be especially careful.”
Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg kiss his derriere. Bill Gates is “frankly impressed” with him. Jamie Dimon, chief of JPMorganChase, decides he’s “not all wrong.”

Nearly 50 House Democrats support a bill targeting undocumented immigrants charged with nonviolent crimes for deportation. What?
In 1517, Niccolò Machiavelli argued that sometimes it is “a very wise thing to simulate madness” (Discourses on Livy, book 3, chapter 2). In his 1962 book, Thinking About the Unthinkable, futurist Herman Kahn argued that to “look a little crazy” might be an effective way to induce an adversary to stand down.

The “rule of law” is all about predictability. We need predictability to be free.
But much of what Trump is doing is either illegal,31sd yet will take months or years before the courts decide so, or is in the gray area of “probably illegal but untested by the courts.” Which suits his strategy just fine.

The media calls it “chaos,” which is how various people and institutions experience it.
The practical consequence is that an increasing number of so-called “leaders” — in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, and around the world — are telling their boards, overseers, trustees, or legislatures: “We have to give Trump whatever he wants and even try to anticipate his wants, because who knows how he’ll react if we don’t?”

Together, these two techniques — big demonstrations of discretionary power to reward or punish, and wild uncertainty about when or how he’ll do so — expand Trump’s power beyond the point any president has ever pushed power.

Which brings us to the obvious question: Why is Trump so obsessed with enlarging his power?
Hint: It’s not about improving the well-being of average Americans and certainly not about making America great again (whatever that means).
Yes, he’s a malignant narcissist and sadist with an insatiable lust for power who gets pleasure out of making others squirm.
But there’s something else.

The bigger his demonstrable power and the more unpredictably he wields it, the greater his ability to trade some of that power with people with huge amounts of wealth, both in the United States and elsewhere.

I’m referring to America’s billionaires, such as Elon Musk and the 13 other billionaires Trump has installed in his regime, as well as the 744 other billionaires in America, and the 9,850 Americans with at least $100 million in net worth.
Together, these individuals have a huge storehouse of wealth. Many are willing to trade some of it to gain even more, and to tie down what they have more securely.

They give Trump (and his family) business deals, information, campaign money, and positive PR (propaganda). In return, he gives them tax cuts, regulatory rollbacks, and suspensions of antitrust.

I’m also referring to oligarchs in Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia. He gives them special trade deals, energy deals, intelligence deals, access to global deposits of riches; or he threatens to hold them back. In return, they give him (and his family) business deals, information, support in political campaigns, and more covert propaganda.

This is Trump’s game: Huge demonstrations of power that’s wielded unpredictably. They’re eliciting extraordinary deals for Trump and his family, domestically and worldwide.
Trump says he’s doing this for American workers. Nothing could be farther from the truth. He’s doing this for himself and for the world’s oligarchy, which, in turn, is busily siphoning off the wealth of the world.
How to stop this? The first step is to understand it.

 

[DB008]

​

 

[JohnDe]

After talks with Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mr Trump said: “Canada will implement their $1.3 Billion Border plan, and as per Prime Minister Trudeau, will be, ‘reinforcing the Border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl.​

​

Earlier on Tuesday (AEDT), Mr Trump said he’d agreed a similar deal with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after a “very friendly conversation”.​

​

“She agreed to immediately supply 10,000 Mexican Soldiers on the Border separating Mexico and the United States,” Mr Trump said. “We further agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period.”​

​

“These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our Country,” Mr Trump added.​

Canada, Mexico send troops to the border, win 30 days reprieve on tariffs​

Canada and Mexico have been granted a one month reprieve from Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs after both countries agreed to deploy 10,000 troops to their borders with the US to stop crossings of migrants and illicit drugs.

The US President posted on his Truth Social platform the breakthrough in the looming North American trade war after talks with both countries’ leaders.

After talks with Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mr Trump said: “Canada will implement their $1.3 Billion Border plan, and as per Prime Minister Trudeau, will be, ‘reinforcing the Border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl.

‘Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are, and will be, working on protecting the Border. In addition, Canada is making new commitments to appoint a Fentanyl Czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the Border, launch a Canada-US Joint Strike Force to combat organised crime, fentanyl and money laundering. I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organised crime and fentanyl, and we will be backing it with $200 million.”

Mr Trudeau confirmed the deal on X, writing: “I just had a good call with President Trump.”

Earlier on Tuesday (AEDT), Mr Trump said he’d agreed a similar deal with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after a “very friendly conversation”.

“She agreed to immediately supply 10,000 Mexican Soldiers on the Border separating Mexico and the United States,” Mr Trump said. “We further agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period.”

“These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our Country,” Mr Trump added.

During the next four weeks there would also be ongoing “negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and high-level Representatives of Mexico.

“I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a ‘deal’ between our two Countries,” Mr Trump said.

Ms Sheinbaum said that Mexico would “immediately reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, particularly fentanyl.”

he also made clear that the United States had committed to “working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.”

“Our teams will begin working today on two fronts: security and trade,” she said. “They are pausing tariffs for one month from now.”

Ms Sheinbaum had reacted furiously to the White House a few days ago when it explained its imposition of 25 per cent tariffs by saying that “Mexican drug trafficking organisations have an intolerable alliance with the government of Mexico.”

She blasted this as “slander against the Mexican government” and strongly rejected the notion of any alliance with criminal organisations.

“Problems are not resolved by imposing tariffs, but by talking and dialoguing,” she said. “Nothing by force; everything by reason and right.”

The breakthrough with Mexico was reached less than 24 hours before the tariffs were due to commence, although Canada still faces the prospect of 25 per cent tariffs entering into force from midnight on Monday local time.

Responding to the US tariffs, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the province would immediately ban American companies from winning provincial contracts. The Ontario government would also rip up its $100m contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink aimed at providing high-speed internet.

“Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30bn on procurement, alongside our $200bn plan to build Ontario. US-based businesses will now lose out on tens of billions of dollars in new revenues. They only have President Trump to blame,” he posted on X.

“We’re going one step further. We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy,” Mr Ford said. “Canada didn’t start this fight with the US, but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”

Elon Musk responded to the decision, by posting on X: “Oh well.”

Mr Trump also posted about Canada on Monday morning, saying that it didn’t “even allow US Banks to open or do business there. What’s that all about?”

“Many such things, but it’s also a DRUG WAR, and hundreds of thousands of people have died in the US from drugs pouring through the Borders of Mexico and Canada. Just spoke to Justin Trudeau. Will be speaking to him again at 3:00 P.M.”

The previous day, Mr Trump made clear that if Canada agreed to become the 51st state of America it would not face the prospect of tariffs. “Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!” he said.

Responding to Mr Trump’s tariffs over the weekend, Mr Trudeau acknowledged that Canadians would suffer but also warned that US citizens would be harmed, their jobs placed at risk, factories potentially shuttered and prices forced upwards unnecessarily.

“Tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto-assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities,” he said. “They will raise costs for you, including food at the grocery store and gas at the pump. They will impede your access to an affordable supply of vital goods crucial for US security such as nickel, potash, uranium, steel and aluminium.”

 

[mullokintyre]

Whether the 'deal" to put 10,000 trops on each border has a real affect on either the flow of immigrants or drugs is a yet to be seen.
Stopping the flow of immigrants is probably easier than stopping the flow of drugs, and there are some financial reasons why Trump is so keen on it, and other countries on the receiving end are not.
According to World Migration report ,
The US has been at the top of the sending list, and these figures would have been significantly booted since 2022.

There are some countries that receive 20% of their GDP as remittances from Western Countries.

According to the WEF , excluding China, remittances are the largest source of external finance in low and middle-income countries, exceeding the value of foreign direct investment and official development aid

Mick

 

[Knobby22]

Whether the 'deal" to put 10,000 trops on each border has a real affect on either the flow of immigrants or drugs is a yet to be seen.
Stopping the flow of immigrants is probably easier than stopping the flow of drugs, and there are some financial reasons why Trump is so keen on it, and other countries on the receiving end are not.
According to World Migration report ,
The US has been at the top of the sending list, and these figures would have been significantly booted since 2022.
View attachment 192543
There are some countries that receive 20% of their GDP as remittances from Western Countries.
View attachment 192544
According to the WEF , excluding China, remittances are the largest source of external finance in low and middle-income countries, exceeding the value of foreign direct investment and official development aidView attachment 192545
Mick

No.1 Tonga would be from Australia and New Zealand....and 50% of GDP isn't that much for a tiny island nation.

 

[JohnDe]

Every country should have its own savings, rather than continually borrowing and printing on an empty.

“I think in a short period of time, we’d have one of the biggest funds. And you know, some of them are pretty large,” Trump said, referring to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.​

​

“I think it’s about time that this country had a sovereign-wealth fund.”​

Trump signs order to create US sovereign wealth fund

President Trump on Monday signed an executive order to create a US sovereign-wealth fund, and suggested the fund could be used in unlocking a deal to keep TikTok operating.

“I think in a short period of time, we’d have one of the biggest funds. And you know, some of them are pretty large,” Trump said, referring to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

“I think it’s about time that this country had a sovereign-wealth fund.” Trump didn’t explain what role the fund would play in a potential purchase of TikTok.

“TikTok, we’re going to be doing something, perhaps with TikTok, and perhaps not, if we make the right deal, we’ll do it,” Trump said.

“But I have the right to do that, and we might put that in the sovereign-wealth fund.” Trump allowed TikTok to stay live in the US and has been pressing for a deal to put the Chinese-company’s US operations into a joint venture with American owners. He’s said he wants the US government itself to have a 50 per cent-ownership in the venture, though it is unclear how that would work.

The White House said the order instructs the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department to begin a process to examine the creation of a sovereign-wealth fund.

The president was joined in the Oval Office with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, Oracle’s Larry Ellison and billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch is the controlling shareholder of Wall Street Journal parent News Corp.

“We’re gonna stand this thing up in the next 12 months,” said Bessent. “We’re going to monetise the asset side of the US balance sheet for the American people.” Bessent said they planned to study “best practices” of other funds, and it would hold a combination of liquid assets and other US assets.

On the campaign trail, Trump at times mentioned the idea. He called for one that would “invest in great national endeavours for the benefit of all of the American people,” such as infrastructure and medical research.

Sovereign-wealth funds, a catchall term for an investment fund owned by a national government, have become prominent players in global markets. They are particularly dominant investors in private markets such as private equity, private credit and infrastructure, where their long investment horizons and deep pockets have made them sought-after partners.

It isn’t clear where the money for a US sovereign-wealth fund would come from. Most sovereign-wealth funds are made up of surplus revenue generated by natural resources, such as in oil-rich Saudi Arabia. But the US has significant budget and trade deficits. It also has robust private markets, which allow investors to back many of the kinds of initiatives Trump says he wants the new fund to invest in.

In the past, Trump said he would build the fund using revenue from his planned tariffs.

Former president Joe Biden’s White House worked earlier this year on a similar idea of setting up a fund that would provide capital to bolster strategic interests such as early-stage technology and energy security as competition with China heats up.

The Wall Street Journal

 

[mullokintyre]

Hopefully Trump, via the DOGE team, will look at the effectiveness of borrowings.
However, I have my doubts.
From Zero Hedge we get the rather startling calculation that for every 1Billion in GDP increase, it takes 5.8 billion in Borrowings.

 

[mullokintyre]

No.1 Tonga would be from Australia and New Zealand....and 50% of GDP isn't that much for a tiny island nation.

The problem is not Tonga, its Mexico, The Phillipines, and a bunch of South American countries, as can be seen by those countries
who remit the most in money terms. I doubt Tonga has a total GDP of a billion.

Mick

 

[JohnDe]

 

[JohnDe]

 

[Knobby22]

Yea Ukraine agreed. Not that they had a choice.

 

[DB008]

And the missing billions Zelensky can't find?

​

 

[moXJO]

This was always going to happen. I talked about this long before. Trump just does it out in the open. It's not hidden like it was before

 

[IFocus]

Mean while you have to wonder what it is that Trump actually wants

Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social)

Collins: He said that Canada is going to be implementing a $1.3 billion border plan, where they talk about reinforcing the border. I should note that's actually something that was announced back in December

bsky.app

 

[JohnDe]

If this works, the world will be changed and a better place. If it fails, it will be more of the same.

It has been tried before, in the 1970's, but the UN failed.

What choice do we have, but to wait and see.

‘The US will take over Gaza’: Trump digs in over Palestinians after talks with Netanyahu

President Trump s called for nearly two million Palestinians to permanently leave Gaza for neighboring countries and for the US to take long-term control of the territory, a sweeping break with decades of US policy that left the idea of a Palestinian state in tatters.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip,” Trump said during the press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. “I do see a long-term ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East, and maybe the entire Middle East.”

The proposal, if implemented, would deeply involve the U.S. in a massive development project that Trump officials said earlier in the day could take 10 to 15 years. He left unaddressed how the U.S. would persuade Palestinians to voluntarily surrender their land and whether Israel would ultimately exercise sovereignty in the territory.

Trump cited the devastation in Gaza for why the enclave’s two million Palestinians had to move.

“I hope we can do something where they wouldn’t want to go back,” Trump said. The president added that he would like to see “really good quality housing” built for Palestinians outside Gaza while the strip undergoes reconstruction, which Trump administration officials said Tuesday could take 10 to 15 years.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll love it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous bombs and other weapons on the site… and get rid of the destroyed buildings [and] create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing,” he told reporters

“Everyone I’ve spoken to loves the idea,” he said. “Hamas has made it so bad, so dangerous. By (taking over Gaza) I think we will bring great peace.”

He added: “This is not just for Israel. This is for everybody in the Middle East. Somewhere they can partake in terms of jobs, living.

“Other countries in the Middle East love the idea.”

Netanyahu, asked whether Israel would accept the US taking over land that has such historical importance for them, said it would “change history,” and was “worth pursuing.”

Trump also didn’t rule out supporting Israel if it decides to strike Iran to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon. “We just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon,” he said, adding, “we’ll see what happens.”

Trump also signed an order to reimpose “maximum pressure” on Iran, a first step toward toughening enforcement of sanctions on Iranian oil exports and other parts of its economy imposed during his first term.

Trump’s plans for Iran are perhaps the murkiest part of his Middle East agenda, at one moment appearing to encourage Netanyahu to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, something that could certainly trigger a broader war, while simultaneously saying he wants to avoid a war and cut a deal with Tehran.

Before meeting Netanyahu, he signed an order to reimpose “maximum pressure” on Iran, a first step toward toughening enforcement of sanctions on Iranian oil exports and other parts of the Iranian economy imposed during his first term.

The president said he was “torn” about signing the memorandum, adding: “Everybody wants me to sign it.”

Right-wing Israeli politicians have called for resettlement of Gaza. But that option would remove a significant portion of Palestinian territory that US presidents — including the first Trump administration — have said for decades would form part of a Palestinian state.

Trump has yet to publicly address whether he has any plan to revive the moribund process aimed at achieving a Palestinian state alongside Israel, a goal that would be all the harder if the US pressures Gaza residents to abandon their land.

The future of the precarious Gaza ceasefire was expected to dominate much of the closed-door discussion between Trump and Netanyahu in the Oval Office Tuesday.

A commitment from Netanyahu to negotiate an extension and potentially a long-term cessation of hostilities in Gaza would give Trump a diplomatic win, and could secure the release of remaining hostages, including some Americans.

Trump has floated the idea of moving the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza out of the territory so it can be rebuilt, a suggestion that has been rebuffed by Arab states even as it has been welcomed by far-right Israeli politicians.Top diplomats from Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar rejected “evictions” of Palestinians “in any form or under any circumstances or justifications,” in a statement after a meeting in Cairo on Saturday.

White House officials argued Tuesday that mass relocation from Gaza was the only viable option and that they could persuade Egypt and Jordan to accept displaced Palestinians. Trump has invited Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi to the White House for talks later this month.

Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the three- to five-year timeline called for in the ceasefire agreement for reconstruction of Gaza’s shattered housing and infrastructure isn’t realistic. A more accurate estimate is 10 to 15 years, a senior official said.

“At some point, we have to look realistically. How do you rebuild Gaza,” said White House national-security adviser Mike Waltz. “What does that look like? What’s the timeline? These people are sitting with literally thousands of unexploded ordnance, in piles of rubble”.

But U.S officials have yet to outline how they will remove Palestinians from Gaza if they don’t leave voluntarily. Moving forward with the plan could undercut Trump and Netanyahu’s larger goal of a reaching a normalisation agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said in an interview Tuesday she was “open” to Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians out of Gaza, saying it was worth “discussion.”

Netanyahu is under crosscutting pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas militants in Gaza and from other Israelis who want the remaining hostages freed and an end to the 15-month conflict.

Indirect talks on extending the 42-day fighting pause were supposed to begin Monday in Qatar, but Netanyahu was in Washington, delaying a decision on engaging with Hamas until after his meeting with Trump.

Trump seems intent on not letting the Gaza war drag on, bogging down his presidency in prolonged negotiations the way the Biden administration was — a message he repeated Tuesday.

“Fundamentally, this is about laying down a marker for Netanyahu that he is going to have to be much more accommodating to Trump’s preferences than he was to Biden’s,” said Jonathan Panikoff, a former senior intelligence official who is at the Atlantic Council think tank.

Netanyahu has said he is prepared to restart the fighting in Gaza and the country’s military is seeking to further isolate Hamas from the civilian population, military analysts said. He is under pressure from many in his own Likud party and members of his governing coalition not to accept a complete halt to the conflict.

But he might be willing to extend the ceasefire in return for a commitment from Trump to diminish Iran’s regional influence and prevent the regime from moving closer to becoming a nuclear-weapons state, a goal that would require intensified US economic pressure and possibly military action.

For Netanyahu the Oval Office meeting with Trump was one of the most important for an Israeli prime minister in years, said Amir Avivi, a former senior security official and founder of the Israel Defense and Security Forum think tank. “It revolves around building an overall strategy for how the Middle East will be shaped for decades.”

Tehran hasn’t made a decision to build a nuclear weapon, according to US intelligence assessments. They are within weeks of being able to make enough nuclear material for a bomb, though it would take longer to make an actual nuclear device.

Trump and his national-security team have discussed the possibility of striking Iranian facilities, though the president has said little to indicate he is eager to use force and is open to negotiations over Tehran’s program and proxy network. Netanyahu has long tried to convince Trump that military force is the most effective way to disarm Iran.

The two leaders share a vision of normalising ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a diplomatic goal that could reshape the Middle East and end Israel’s isolation by Arab states. But a hurdle remains because Riyadh has made establishing a clear pathway to a Palestinian state a condition for recognising Israel.

On Monday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would oppose normalisation with Saudi Arabia if Israel had to recognise Palestinian national rights, if Israel’s ability to topple Hamas was impaired, or if the deal strengthened the Palestinian Authority. The PA governs Palestinians in the West Bank and is favoured by Riyadh to lead Palestinians into statehood in Gaza and the West Bank.

But Netanyahu may not be a captive to his current coalition since opposition parties have vowed to keep his government alive as long as he pursues the release of Israeli hostages.

Netanyahu might even prefer to shake up his coalition or go to early elections, said Abraham Diskin, professor emeritus at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. “Coalition considerations are secondary,” Diskin said.

Despite Netanyahu’s pressures back home, in the Oval Office, Trump will aim to persuade the Israeli leader to adopt his vision, or at least reframe his own.

“I’d be shocked if Netanyahu leaves without a promise to Trump that he will honour the second phase of the ceasefire,” said Bilal Saab, a former Pentagon official in the first Trump administration. “Trump will give him hell if he doesn’t.”

Dow Jones

More Coverage

 

[Knobby22]

Mean while you have to wonder what it is that Trump actually wants

Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social)

Collins: He said that Canada is going to be implementing a $1.3 billion border plan, where they talk about reinforcing the border. I should note that's actually something that was announced back in December

bsky.app

He completely blinked.
I am a bit surprised. Don't know if he is going to have any real tariffs now. I think the article from the Wall Street Journal calling it the dumbest trade war ever has had an effect.

He needed them to help pay for the $US4.6 trillion of tax cuts to wealthy Americans and companies.
What will he do?

 

[Knobby22]

If this works, the world will be changed and a better place. If it fails, it will be more of the same.

It has been tried before, in the 1970's, but the UN failed.

What choice do we have, but to wait and see.

Believe his son in law is going to get the best beach location for a development! Win win.
Just got to get rid of the inhabitants. Maybe they could set a Palestinian State in the desert region of Egypt adjacent?