Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, announced last week that the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” will provide Ukraine with additional long-range missiles in response to new Russian strikes across the country, all while peace talks between Moscow and Washington have stalled.
Governments across Europe are holding out hope that their effort to spend billions of dollars on new weapons production over the perceived threat of war with Russia will result in an economic boom.
Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, made no indication that he would be bullied into submission by the Trump administration for buying discounted Russian oil, despite U.S. tariffs, and last week even went so far as to praise his relationship with Moscow.
A Turkish court determined last week that the outcome of the 2023 Istanbul provincial congress election should be annulled over shady cash payments, which was seen as a win for Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan because the ousted leader was the head of the main opposition party.
Deadly protests have broken out across Indonesia as the country’s population—suffering under the strain of economic hardships, despite the country’s financial gains—expresses anger over what they see as a widening level of inequality.
Ray Dalio, the hedge fund billionaire, said in an interview with the Financial Times last week that the U.S. under President Donald Trump, and considering the wealth gap in the country, is “analogous to what happened around the world in the 1930-40 period.”
Mark Rutte, the arrogant “Son of Rut” (i.e. son of a rat) who was the longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history and now the NATO secretary general, told reporters last week that Russia and China are preparing their militaries and domestic weapons production for a “long-term confrontation” because they are “producing weapons and heavy military equipment at a remarkable, staggering rate,” according to Bloomberg.
Ukraine informed the Trump administration that it will use European money to buy $100 million in American-made weapons in return for security guarantees if there is ever a peace deal with Russia, according to a report last week.
Taiwan announced last week that it will try to increase military spending by 22.9 percent—or 3.3 percent of its GDP—to enable it to stand up against any aggression by China.
Another week, another Donald Trump “this or that.”