Fugitive Netanyahu in Washington with protests on his arrival many have called for him to be arrested. Moving on to the megalomaniac Elon Musk takes body blow with a huge deal that has been cancelled because of President Trump’s tariffs – All explained in today’s World News Briefing.
ICJ Fugitive Netanyahu in Washington gets a red carpet treatment
ICJ Fugitive Netanyahu in Washington gets a red carpet treatment instead of handcuffs. Whilst Israel continues to bomb the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in the United States for meetings with President Donald Trump and others in his administration to discuss the Gaza ceasefire deal and his Middle East plans.
On his arrival at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Sunday, ( he should have been arrested) but instead Netanyahu received a red carpet welcome from senior Israeli officials and an honour guard bearing US and Israeli flags.
The definition of warmongering: The Israeli prime minister has repeatedly said he aims to return to fighting soon, while expressing his intention to maintain Israel’s military occupation of parts of Syria and Lebanon.
Israel continues to bomb the West Bank
There’s a ceasefire agreement in Gaza is holding on by a thread but Israel continues to bomb the West Bank and is butchering palestinians at every chance it gets.
Israel has destroyed multiple buildings in the Jenin refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank, hours after its forces killed a 73-year-old man, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
A spokesperson for the Israeli army said 23 buildings were destroyed on Sunday in Jenin “to prevent terrorist infrastructure from being established there. Which also means destroying peoples homes, so more settlements can be built.
Why does Elon Musk want to kill USAID?
Elon Musk has taken an issue with USAID being autonomous enough to disregard and undermine his orders. Musk and President Trump want to make sure aid is given as a token of subservience. After USAID failed to give Elon Musk access to confidential information, the website of the aid agency was shut down and the Twitter account was deleted.
It has since seen been put under the purview of the state department and Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he is now the acting director the U.S. Agency for International Development, taking away its independence.
The aid agency was created in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy to provide relief and prevent the epidemics and contagians reaching US shores and significantly be independent from politics and the military.
Trump’s Tariffs is a risky gamble
U.S. President Trump’s tariffs are no longer a threat but a reality. They cap off a wild January in Washington. ‘Tariff is a beautiful word’, only Trump would say something so Ron Burgundy.
But this is his typical misdirection with BS to control the narrative. Donald Trump is a bully, he has a plan to renegotiate certain aspects of the US relationship with its neighbours and China. He is using these tariffs to assert more authority over these trading partners and at the same time, put up taxes, without using the word TAX.
However, the cost implications for the US will be significant, if he continues to make these threats and they will eventually start filtering through to the likes of Apple, Google and Facebook.
He has a honeymoon period that is allowing him to be make such emphatic policies, but should a resolution not be reached soon, the big lobbies will soon start turning the screws to Trump.
Effects of Trump’s tariffs on Financial markets
President Trump’s tariffs have rocked the financial markets and U.S. stock futures tumbled on Monday morning as traders digested the implications of tariffs. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 666 points, or 1.49%. S&P 500 futures dropped 1.92%, while Nasdaq-100 futures lost 2.44%.
Prices of U.S. crude climbed nearly 2% and the international Brent benchmark rose more than 1%. However, analysts think oil prices could fall in the long run if tariffs trigger a global recession. Bitcoin fell around 3.9% to $94,174.61 as of 2:20 p.m. Singapore time.
Nearly $600bn has been wiped off global crypto markets since Saturday.
Starmer will be doing Trump’s dirty work in Europe
Keir Starmer is the first PM since Brexit to join EU talks and will be tasked by Trump to bring the EU countries inline with what the US wants especially on US produced food.
Leaders of the European Union, the 27 member states are gathering for what is described as an “informal retreat” at the Palais d’Egmont in Brussels – Whilst Macron tells the world that Brexit was a failure.
Ultimately Trump wants the UK’s food and market, GM Chicken and hormone infused beef. The EU and Brits are generally adverse to American food imports especially after the scandals around the quality of American merchandise.
In a dramatic shift the significance of NATO has plummeted from the US and will become less relevant unless more countries spend more money, that, however depends on Russia.
This debacle will probably be settled by all countries increasing NATO spending to 5% which is his goal as that would add almost a trillion dollars to the US economy.
What is the end game Trump?
What is the end game Trump, well if we look at the history we can get an idea. He did a similar thing to Columbia, when he said he was going to tariff them for not taking back Colombian illegal immigrants. So he threatened them with Tariffs to which the Columbians yielded and have now accepted the Presidents terms.
However, in this instance, he’s been deliberately vague, he’s referring to Fentanyl which is a deliberate ploy to throw people off guard.
This is a power play for President Trump to turn up the pressure on his adversaries in world politics to get Mexico and Canada to pay for border security and significantly tax more products that come into America, via Canada and Mexico through the NAFTA agreement.
Mexico crumble but Canadians fight back
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum says US tariffs are on hold for one month after a conversation with Donald Trump, which means concessions have been made.
However, Canada has hit back as Elon Musk takes body blow. Canada released a statement just before the scheduled call with Trump, with a statement saying they will cancel a 100 Million dollar contract with Elon Musk.
That is a brave and good move by the Canadians as once Trump’s people start feeling the pressure they will then exert the same onto the administration.
The conflict between the DRC and Rwanda
Large parts of the city are now under rebel control in what’s considered the worst escalation of a long-running conflict in more than a decade. The M23 have been financed and armed extensively to take on a country the size of the DRC.
The world media would have you believe that this is just the workings of Rwanda, but Rwanda is a poor country, rebuilding itself after the genocide in 1994. They can’t support their own population, nevermind fund an second army.
On the one side you have the RDF and the M23 rebel group and on the other you SADC and the DR Congo army.
The SADC has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the DRC amid M23 & RDF advance.
DRC is rich in mineral wealth, a gold mines and minerals for future tech industry. But maintaining control over the supply of these minerals is key for growth.