News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine …

Today President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff had a three hour meeting with President Putin of Russia. There is no announcement yet of the outcome of the talk.

But shortly after the meeting was over President Trump amended this Executive Order:

ADDRESSING THREATS TO THE UNITED STATES BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

I have received additional information from various senior officials on, among other things, the actions of the Government of the Russian Federation with respect to the situation in Ukraine. After considering this additional information, among other things, I find that the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066 continues and that the actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

To deal with the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066, I determine that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil. In my judgment, imposing tariffs, as described below, in addition to maintaining the other measures taken to address the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066, will more effectively deal with the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066.

Sec. 2. Imposition of Tariffs. (a) I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.

(b) Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 percent.

How a total 50% tariff on products from India is supposed to counter alleged threats to the United States by the government of Russia is hard to explain.

The increased tariff on India will come into force in 21 days.

India's President Narneda Modi has not yet commented on it. He will however visit China at the end of this month:

Cont. reading: By Punishing India Trump Is Creating More Tariff Damage For The U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump is now largely following his predecessors hostile policy towards Russia.

If the war in Ukraine continues on its current path Russia will end it with an outright victory. The U.S. and its European vassals are trying to impose a ceasefire to prevent that. It would give time to rebuild the Ukrainian army and to restart the war at a more convenient time. But Russia won't budge until its war aims are met.

A hoped for countermeasure is to pressure Russia's oil customers, to thereby decrease its income and prevent it from finishing the war in its favor.

When the war started in 2022 the European Union cut its own access to Russian oil and gas supplies. It started to buy more oil from Gulf countries and other producers. India and China were thus suddenly cut of from their traditional suppliers. They started to buy Russian oil. Then U.S. President Joe Biden encouraged that. He did not want global gas prices to rise. Global supplies continued on an unchanged level and the change in the routes of oil around the globe had only a minor effect on prices.

One side-effect though was noticeable in some European refineries. Several of them were specialized in processing heavy Ural oil. They eventually had to go idle. Their business were picked up by Indian refineries which processed Russian oil and exported the resulting diesel fuel to Europe.

But now the U.S., and its European vassals, are trying to impose sanctions and/or tariffs on China and India for their continued buying of Russian oil. This would disturb the new market balance and eventually lead to higher oil prices for everyone.

China has successfully rejected U.S. pressure. In response to tariff threads it withheld minerals the U.S. needs. Trump had to pull back.

India is Trump's new target:

Cont. reading: The Secondary Sanctions Squeeze

China's long term planning has allowed it to acquire some serious advantages which it now uses to counter economic and other attacks on it.

The refining of rare earth metals and the production of magnets from them is only one of several advantages it gained. These metals are not really rare. They are usually byproducts of large extractions of other minerals. But their refinement was considered to be environmentally dirty. It is only profitable at a large scale. Over the last two decades China has managed to create a near monopoly in it.

Rare earth magnets, while small in size, end up in a myriad of products. They are cheap but essential and difficult to replace.

As soon as the Trump administration tried to put high tariffs on China the country hit back. The export of rare earth products were stopped until a licensing process had been put into place.

The products are now considered to be dual-use items. China will allow the export of them for civilian purposes but it denies their use for the production of weapons. It wants to prevent to be hit by U.S. missiles which have 'Made in China' labeled parts in them. It is difficult to blame it for that.

Today's Wall Street Journal has nice write up on the issue:

China Is Choking Supply of Critical Minerals to Western Defense Companies – WSJ via MSN

Cont. reading: China Does Not Want To Be Hit By Missiles Produced With Its Parts

News & views related to the war in Palestine …

News & views related to the war in Ukraine …

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

• Jul 28 – 'Blind Ideological Zealotry' Let EU Agree To This Trump Deal
• Aug 2 – Uncertainty Increases As Real Tariffs Reach Higher Levels
  Related:
  – The cost of Europe’s great capitulation to Trump – Asia Times
  – Vague trade deal allows new US attacks on EU tech rules – Politico
  – Europe’s trade deal with the US was dead on arrival – it needs to be buried. Here’s how to do it – Guardian
  – Tariff roulette: inside Trump’s chaotic trade negotiations (archived) – Financial Times

• Jul 29 – Job Application à la Ukraine
• Jul 31 – Ukraine – Anti-Corruption Independence Restored, Zelenski Weakened, Four Cities Are Falling
  Related:
  – Russia’s advance in Ukraine accelerates for fourth straight month – Telegraph
  – Republican war hawks find momentum, a trust-but-verify moment with Trump (archived) – Washington Post
  – After Trump’s Ukraine pivot, Senate panel moves to fund more military aid (archived) – Washington Post
  – U.S. Will NOT Accept Ukraine Defeat / John Mearsheimer (video) – Daniel Davis

• Aug 1 – Hala Jaber – What The World Is Offering Palestinians Isn’t A State
  Related:
  – Looting, chaos and Israeli gunfire prevent aid from reaching Gazans (archived) – Washington Post
  – Starvation as Strategy: The West’s Complicity in Gaza’s Man-Made Famine – Elijah J Magnier

  – To Restore Our Humanity We Must De-Zionise The World – Nate Bear
  – Why Did Einstein Refuse the Presidency of Israel? – Princeton.edu
  – Israel’s international isolation has begun – Mondoweiss

  – Israeli soldier reveals 'strange order' to cancel Gaza border patrols on 7 Oct – The Cradle
  – WSJ promotes Israeli-backed warlord linked to aid theft as Gaza's 'future leader' – The Cradle
  – John Mearsheimer: What’s happening in Gaza is genocide. The United States should have nothing to do with it. (video, long) – Tucker Carlson

  – Serbian Firm Owned by ex-Netanyahu Aide Was Paid for Qatari PR Campaign Aimed at Israelis (archived) – Haartez
  – How the Israeli Right Explains the Aid Disaster It Created (archived) – The New Yorker
    The fiercest defenders of Netanyahu’s war in Gaza continue to insist that Palestinians aren’t starving.

—
Other issues:

Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – OT 2025-173

A few days ago this graph appeared in the Financial Times (I unfortunately have lost the link): 

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It demonstrates the worst feature of Trump's tariff mania. There seems to be no final state in it on which one could base an investment decision.

I have pointed out in previous posts that it will not only be the tariffs themselves that will damage the global economy but the uncertainty created by Trump's willy-nilly enacting of them:

The poison that still paralyses everything is the uncertainty and insecurity that comes with the 90 days limit of the deal and with no perspective of what might follow. Who will post orders for, let's say return-to-school items, if it is unknown what price will have to be paid for them?

and

Uncertainty is a poison, suppressing real economic activities.

Two days ago those who had invested (or speculated) in U.S. copper took a hard hit:

Cont. reading: Uncertainty Increases As Real Tariffs Reach Higher Levels

On which I hand the mic to Hala Jaber

Hala Jaber @HalaJaber – 13:41 UTC · Aug 1, 2025

🧵The Two-State Solution is Dead. What the world is offering Palestinians isn’t a state.

The concept of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine is often presented as a path to peace, but it has become an empty promise, a diplomatic illusion that distracts from the reality of occupation and apartheid. This thread examines why the two-state solution was and is no longer viable, analyzing its historical promises, current realities, and inherent flaws.

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All this talk of a two-state solution is delusion at best, distraction at worst.

Israel’s leadership has made it clear: it has no intention, ZERO, of allowing a sovereign Palestinian state, EVER.

Even Netanyahu has said it: “There is no post-war scenario that would lead to a Palestinian state.”

This collides with the idea of sovereignty.

This stance reveals a fundamental contradiction: a “state” without sovereignty is not a state, it’s a rebranded occupation. Israel’s actions, settlement expansion, annexation policies, & daily violence, genocidal rhetoric, demonstrate that the system is designed to prevent Palestinian statehood, not enable it. It’s not a bug, it’s the system.

The rhetoric of a two-state solution persists as a diplomatic distraction, masking the reality of apartheid while offering Palestinians a hollow promise. So what are you negotiating? A mirage? A hostage with a flag isn’t a state? Stop dressing up apartheid as diplomacy.

Let’s assume, just for argument’s sake, a Palestinian state was declared tomorrow, its functionality would be impossible under current conditions.

The proposed state would consist of two disconnected territories: Gaza in the southwest and the West Bank in the northeast, separated by a heavily militarized Israel. Israel controls all borders, airspace, and movement between these regions, rendering Palestinian autonomy dependent on Israeli permission.

A state without control over its borders, economy, or defense is not sovereign. The Oslo framework demanded a demilitarized Palestine, leaving it defenseless against blockades, settler violence, or military incursions. Even if Palestine were “recognized,” it would be a state in name only with:

Cont. reading: Hala Jaber – What The World Is Offering Palestinians Isn’t A State