Who has the upper hand in China-US relations? | The Bottom Line
The United States and China have declared a truce in the trade war launched by US President Donald Trump in April, argues Evan Medeiros, former US National Security Council director for China. Medeiros tells host Steve Clemons that the deal reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump resolves the urgent trade issues between the two sides - tariff rates, soya beans and rare earth minerals - but China “remains committed to ensuring that Russia doesn't lose” in Ukraine. The US has more than 200,000 soldiers surrounding China, Medeiros adds, but Washington knows that “nobody wants to choose between the US and China.”
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Does Trump’s Gaza plan stop Israel’s genocidal agenda? | The Bottom Line
Trump’s Gaza plan is in danger of going the way of the Oslo Accords, argues US journalist Chris Hedges: Never to be implemented beyond the first phase. Hedges tells host Steve Clemons that there are no guarantees that the US-brokered deal “will actually thwart the genocidal project that Israel is intending to carry out in Gaza and … the West Bank”. While a parade of US officials visited Israel to signify commitment to the ceasefire, Israel continued to restrict food and medicine to millions of Palestinians, and Israeli forces continued to occupy more than half of the Gaza Strip.
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Can the Gaza ceasefire hold? | The Bottom Line
The US has forced Israel to end its war on Gaza, but now the challenge is “to be engaged every single day, several times a day” to make sure the ceasefire holds, says Israeli American activist Gershon Baskin, the cofounder of Alliance for Two States. Baskin tells host Steve Clemons that President Donald Trump was convinced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel could force the Palestinians to surrender, but over time, it became obvious that “Hamas will never surrender.” Baskin predicts “there will be an awakening in Israel that we can’t keep doing this ... military strategies don’t work any more.”
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Why is Trump deploying forces to US cities? | The Bottom Line
Arguing that some places in the United States – primarily those governed by Democratic officials – are rampantly crime-infested, President Donald Trump has been deploying military forces to cities from Los Angeles to Washington, DC. Former National Security Council official Kori Schake tells host Steve Clemons that Trump is trying to enlist the US military to get involved in his culture war issues, such as immigration and political dissent. She warns that US forces should be kept out of politics “so that the American public continues to have confidence and trust in the military”.
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Can a ‘one-sided, unserious’ US plan deliver peace to Gaza? | The Bottom Line
The US plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza is designed, supervised and administered “primarily by people who are very staunchly pro-Israel,” and has little chance of delivering peace, argues Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard University. “We’ve seen this movie before,” Walt tells host Steve Clemons. According to the terms announced by US President Donald Trump, Israel can argue at any time that the Palestinian side isn’t fulfilling its obligations and thus resume the war. Increasingly seen as a threat by other countries in the region, Israel “is in for a very troubling future”, Walt says.
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