When Congress heard that the United States is “reclaiming” the Panama Canal, President Jose Raul Mulino accused his American counterpart, Donald Trump, of lying.
Mulino claimed that Trump and the US government are not currently working on a plan to restore the man-made waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in a statement posted on X on Wednesday.
President Trump is lying once more, Mulino wrote on X.
“I reject this new affront to the truth and our dignity as a nation in the name of Panama and all of Panamanians,” Mulino continued.
Trump stated that Washington would “further enhance” US national security during his annual address to the US Congress on Tuesday.
He made reference to a consortium’s announcement on Tuesday to acquire a controlling stake in the US-based operation run by a Chinese company that runs ports on both ends of one of the world’s busiest water channels.
In a deal worth nearly $ 23 billion, including $5 billion in debt, CK Hutchison Holding announced in a filing that it would sell all shares of Hutchison Port Holdings and Hutchison Port Group Holdings to BlackRock.
The government of Panama must approve the agreement.
Trump has been discussing taking back control of the Panama Canal since his campaign, claiming that the US was being overcharged for using it.
He has also begun to complain that China controls the canal and does not support a military invasion to retake control of it since coming back to the White House.
Panama maintains that it has complete control over the canal and that the Hong Kong-based group’s port operations did not amount to Chinese maritime control, so the private sale to a US-based company would not result in any US “reclaiming” of the canal.
Mulino and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met in February and asserted that China was having an impact on the operation of the canal.
Panama disputed China’s claim that it controlled canal operations. Beijing has also consistently denied entering the canal.
In an effort to facilitate the passage of commercial and military vessels between its coasts, the US constructed the canal in the early 1900s.
In accordance with a 1977 treaty signed by President Jimmy Carter, Washington gave control of the waterway to Panama on December 31, 1999. Trump has alleged that Carter “foolishly” gave the canal away.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict appears to have reached its pinnacle over the past few days, not in the battlefield but in the halls of power. At the White House on February 28, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was confronted verbally by Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump. It appeared to be staged and scripted.
Trump seemed to be trying to break up with Ukraine using a pretext. On March 4, the decision to freeze military aid actually took effect, and on March 5 the intelligence sharing was suspended, which will have an immediate impact on Ukrainian military operations.
While European leaders rushed to a summit and declared their unwavering support for Zelenskyy, he appeared to stand his ground. They vowed to keep providing Ukraine with military and financial aid.
It might be tempting to attribute Trump’s tendencies to the recent events. However, what we are seeing is a political production intended to appeal to the Western public, who has been fed the idea that Russia is weak and capable of being defeated or weakened to the point of irrelevance.
The West, which was once ruled by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has actually exhausted the available resources and willingness to engage in what he claimed was a “proxy war” against Russia. Damage control and a blame game are hidden behind the rhetoric and theatrics, preparing the public for the unavoidable.
Russian hawks who want to keep insisting that Russia can still be defeated, such as Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, and military industrial lobbyists. However, nothing has changed on the ground since they’ve been selling this story and a number of magical solutions, such as the supply of F16 fighter planes or long-range missile strikes into Russian territory. Ukraine’s men, population, and infrastructure are all being lost.
Under the current circumstances, it is improbable that Ukraine could reach a better deal than the one it rejected in Istanbul in the spring of 2022 or as it might have done before thanks to the Minsk agreements. The separatist-controlled regions of the Donbass region, which Russia has now formally annexed, would remain under the control of Ukraine under the latter framework, which was agreed upon in 2015-2016.
The outcomes of the conflict have been based on Kyiv’s experience. Oleksiy Arestovych, a former adviser to Zelenskyy’s administration and Ukraine’s main talking point at the start of the war, once said in March 2022, “getting less than we had before the war means our defeat.”
In other words, if the outcome was worse than what Ukraine would have experienced under Minsk, the conflict is not worthwhile to fight. With all the terrible losses it has suffered over the past three years, Ukraine is even further away from achieving this objective. The blame game has already begun because of this.
Trump’s version of it involves blatant indolence and a waste of Western aid, according to Trump. He also blabs some of the nations in Europe for not helping Ukraine, which is false.
He is not the only one who is playing this game, though. Politicians in Europe may be expressing lofty opinions about Ukraine’s unwavering support, but the message is that the US must always support them. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer acknowledged that “strong US support” will be essential in order to help Ukraine obtain a much better deal than Minsk when he mentioned a “coalition of the willing” to assist it with “boots on the ground and planes in the air.”
At their upcoming summit, the EU is unlikely to agree on the 20 billion euro ($21. 6 billion) aid package for Ukraine despite proverbs. In the absence of US support, Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, has proposed a bold plan to “re-arm Europe” and assist Ukraine, but Hungary and Slovakia, which are allies of Trump, have declared they will veto any additional aid to Kyiv.
European leaders can point fingers at Trump and attribute his role in the Ukraine-related disaster because getting the US back on board is a prerequisite for that.
Zelenskyy, for his part, is attempting to persuade the Ukrainian people that he has done his absolute best by endured reprimands and outright humiliation in an effort to win the support of the West and advance Ukrainian interests.
Given the circumstances on the battlefield and the uncertainty of NATO membership, he presented a maximalist “victory plan” to the Biden administration last fall, knowing that it was going to be rejected.
Given that Ukraine is a victim of brutal Russian aggression, what he is doing is continuing to promote maximalism from the position of moral superiority.
Zelenskyy keeps clamoring for “security guarantees” from the West, knowing for a fact that pressure was put on the West to refuse to do so in Istanbul in exchange for them.
The Ukrainian public should be the subject of all of this public shaming and maximalism. When he doesn’t receive what he demands, Zelenskyy will be able to claim that Ukraine has been betrayed and that there is nothing left to do but negotiate with Russia.
The ruling elite and the president of Ukraine have been very objective in their discussions of the prospects for the country in private. At a secret parliamentary hearing in late January, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, told lawmakers that Ukraine should start talks on peace by the summer or face “dangerous” consequences for the Ukrainian state. The HUR lacked a warm response to the media reports that an MP was present at the meeting.
In the US, Europe, and Ukraine, all this arguing on the verge of the unavoidable is a sign of a political culture that prioritizes neatly packaged messaging over substance. Since 2014, the Western strategy for the conflict with Russia has been predominated by this political culture.
In terms of information, The West has successfully defeated Moscow (and perhaps some truth) on a variety of media platforms aimed at various audiences. But Vladimir Putin, a brutal and criminal who prefers substance over form and whose decisions are based on reality rather than wishful thinking, is undoubtedly going to win the fight on the ground.
Australia’s eastern coast is currently awash with a rare tropical cyclone that could cause destructive winds and dangerous storm surges.
Late on Friday or early on Saturday, Tropical Cyclone Alfred is forecast to make landfall close to Brisbane, Australia’s third-largest city.
The city of 2.5 million people have been hit by a cyclone for the first time in more than 50 years, raising concerns about severe flooding and damage in a region that is accustomed to direct cyclone impacts.
What we are currently aware of about Alfred and its potential impact:
What exactly is Cyclone Alfred?
A Category 2 tropical cyclone is robbing toward Queensland’s sparsely populated southeast coast.
The storm, which originated in the Coral Sea east of Australia, unexpectedly turned in the Pacific Ocean, heading straight for the mainland, bringing destructive winds, heavy rain, and potentially life-threatening storm surges.
This route has the potential to travel through densely populated areas that are unfamiliar with cyclone-assisted direct hits.
Although cyclones typically form in tropical northern Australia, Alfred is only recently hitting the cooler eastern coast, which is unusual. Cyclone Zoe, the last cyclone to strike Brisbane in 1974, brought severe flooding.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated to reporters in Brisbane that a tropical cyclone is unusual to occur in a region that is not a part of the tropics, such as southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales.
Alfred is anticipated to make landfall when and where?
According to Queensland’s Bureau of Meteorology, the cyclone is forecast to hit land on Friday night or Saturday morning.
The Bureau of Meteorology reported that Alfred was 225 kilometers (140 miles) east of Brisbane and 210 kilometers (130 miles) east-northeast of the Gold Coast at 8:54 GMT on Thursday.
The slow-moving system is stalled over warm waters off the Queensland coast, according to experts, which has caused Alfred’s arrival to take longer. Low vertical wind shears and ocean waters, which could strengthen the storm further before it reaches the coast, are both attracted to this system, giving it more time to intensify.
anticipated impact
Alfred is scheduled to travel to the coast between Brisbane and the state’s further south, which has more than 3 million residents.
⚠️Issued 4: 46pm AEST
225 kilometers east of Brisbane is the mythical #CycloneAlfred (Cat 2).
As it approaches the coast today and tomorrow, Alfred is a category 2 cyclone, and it is expected to stay that way. This evening’s impact is anticipated to increase. https://t.co/abjo0qiR5X pic. twitter.com/ZoG046uSE6
Will Alfred survive forever?
Floodwaters are expected to rise after the cyclone moves inland, according to forecasters, and Alfred’s impact will last for a number of days.
Strong winds and heavy rain are expected through the entire week, but the worst weather is expected from Thursday evening through Saturday morning.
What kind of a name does Alfred have, and what might it do?
Alfred is currently categorized as a Category 2 storm, which translates to strong winds of 89 to 117 km/h (55 to 73 mph) capable of causing power outages, tree removal, and damage to homes. Additionally, forecasts call for dangerous storm surges and heavy rain.
Storms are categorised using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which is used by authorities. According to the scale’s sustained wind speeds, hurricanes are classified into five different strength categories. Category 5 has the highest level of “catastrophic damage.”
According to the Bureau of Meteorology in some places, the total rainfall from the cyclone could exceed 800 mm (31. 5 inches) in comparison to the typical March rainfall.
Additionally, wind gusts of up to 155 kilometers per hour (96 mph) are anticipated, which could damage buildings, obliterate trees, and obstruct electrical service.
The storm surge could worsen, causing thousands of homes to be flooded in low-lying areas, because the Queensland coast has already experienced strong waves in recent days.
Schools, hospitals, airports, and public transportation are all closing as the area prepares for the storm.
The Gold Coast Seaway has a no-skimming area [Jono Searle/AAP Image via AP].
What regions will Alfred’s effects be?
A 300-kilometer (190-mile) stretch of coastline between Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast and Byron Bay in New South Wales will be affected by the cyclone.
Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and northern New South Wales are some of the areas that are thought to be the worst-affected.
Up to 20 000 homes, according to Brisbane’s chief executive, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, could experience some form of flooding.
How should I make the storm’s path home?
Local authorities have recommended a number of precautions and measures, including:
Installing shutters or boarding up windows and doors to withstand the winds and debris.
Buy enough emergency supplies, including water, food, batteries, medications, and batteries for at least three days. Essential items are already running out on supermarket shelves.
In a waterproof bag, pack first aid supplies, battery-operated radios, and important documents.
Evacuation planning: Look for official alerts and determine safe routes to the closest evacuation centers.
Avoid the coast: Beaches are already crashing down by five meters (16 feet) of waves.
There are now a number of things you can do to protect yourself from Tropical #CycloneAlfred. Keep in mind that weather effects can be anticipated to last for more than just the crossing. Follow the advice of the emergency services. Follow weather forecasts at https://t.co/nrtdU01P1q https://t.co/xazFQT9diR
Will the environment be impacted by public transportation?
Yes, southeast Queensland’s public transportation system will experience significant disruption. Up until further notice, all bus and train services have been suspended from Wednesday’s final service.
Due to risky conditions on the Brisbane River, Brisbane’s CityCat ferries have also stopped operating.
What other delays and closures exist?
From Thursday through Friday, more than 700 schools in Queensland and northern New South Wales will be closed.
Additionally, the Gold Coast Airport was shut down from Wednesday afternoon and major airlines like Qantas and Virgin have already canceled flights.
What steps are being taken by authorities?
Albanese claimed that his administration has distributed 250, 000 sandbags to Brisbane and the Gold Coast residents who are in flood-prone areas. These can serve as barriers to preventing flooding and directing water away from buildings.
Additionally, the military has provided 80 000 more sandbags to flood-prone regions.
For those who can’t find safe shelter, the Brisbane Showgrounds will be a cyclone refuge center.
In Queensland, evacuation centers are also being established to provide residents with long-term housing who have lost their homes to flooding or storm damage.
[Jono Searle/AAP Image via AP] Filling sandbags on the Gold Coast is done by council employees and residents.
Three European foreign ministers have stated in a statement that the blockade of aid to the Gaza Strip could be considered a violation of international humanitarian law.
The governments of Israel must abide by its international obligations, according to the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, in a joint statement released on Wednesday to “ensure full, rapid, safe, and unhinged provision of humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza.”
Israel thwarted Gaza’s aid shipment on Sunday, just after the first phase of its ceasefire with the Palestinian group Hamas expired, causing fears of hunger and additional hardships during the holy month of Ramadan, which started over the weekend.
According to the three ministers, “a halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza, such as that announced by the Government of Israel, would risk violating international humanitarian law.”
[File: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu] Palestinians who have been living in makeshift tents in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, receive food aid.
Calling on all parties to support the ceasefire, “humanitarian aid should never be dependent on a ceasefire or used as a political tool,” the statement continued.
Five European members of the UN Security Council, including the UK and France, also urged parties to “find a way forward to the next phases of the ceasefire agreement and hostage release agreement.”
Israel has allegedly harmed Palestinians by blocking aid, violating international law, and by committing crimes against humanity. After 15 months of relentless Israeli bombardment, nearly 50 000 Palestinians have died and 70 percent of Gaza’s buildings and roads have been damaged.
Israel violated the ceasefire that brought the Gaza War to an end, according to Hamas. Instead of going through the second phase as originally agreed, Israel now wants to extend the first phase by 50 days. At the conclusion of the first phase on March 1, Israel was scheduled to leave the Philadelphi Corridor, but it has since refrained. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, is reportedly scheduled to visit the area in the coming days to break the deadlock.
desperate need for assistance
The Palestinian enclave will receive food supplies from the World Food Programme (WFP), which announced on Wednesday that it had received them.
Hani Mahmoud, a journalist from Gaza, reported on how the aid embargo had “a significant negative impact across the Gaza Strip.”
He claimed that the market is declining and that people have been starving here.
“We see that many of the items that were once available and common, such as flour, medicine, and other basic necessities, are now either expensive or unavailable.”
The UN’s Children’s Agency’s Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson for the organization, predicted that the block of humanitarian aid, including ventilators and vaccines, “will have devastating real-life consequences” for both children and their parents.
She said, “Rutine vaccination will come to a standstill if we’re unable to do that.” This is a real-life consequence that we will have to deal with very quickly if we are unable to resume the aid supplies coming in because neonatal units won’t be able to care for preterm babies.
Existing supplies have already been largely distributed throughout the enclave, according to Bollen, who is in Gaza.
According to the US Secretary of State, Russia offers “extraordinary” economic opportunities.
Russia may once more be accessible to American businesses after three years of Western sanctions, but only if the Ukraine war is resolved.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims that there are “extraordinary” opportunities there, while US President Trump claims that he wants to see significant economic agreements with Russia.
Moscow claims to be open to economic cooperation, but its war-driven economy, high interest rates, and unpredictable business climate are all factors.
By 2025, the European Union and India hope to have reached a free trade agreement.
Germany intends to ease debt in order to boost defense spending.
As European Union leaders prepare for emergency talks in Brussels in response to the Trump administration’s position on transatlantic ties, French President Emmanuel Macron has stated that Russian aggression “knows no borders” and poses a direct threat to Europe.
Who can possibly believe that Ukraine will be the center of this Russia today? said McCarthy in a late on Wednesday televised address.
For the first time since the explosive meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, all 27 EU leaders will convene on Thursday for a summit on defense. After the Ukrainian leader’s willingness to sign a contentious mineral deal with the US, Trump has since toned down his position on Zelenskyy. Trump’s anger was heightened by Zinenskyy’s demand that Washington instead issue a security guarantee.
Washington calls for the United States to increase their defense spending, and threatens to withdraw American troops from Europe under the banner of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which was founded in 1949 to combat the threat of the Soviet Union.
Without involving his European allies in his efforts to end the Ukraine war, Trump has reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has attributed the war to Ukraine in his statements, which was sparked by Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, Washington has stopped providing military support to Ukraine, which is crucial to Kyiv’s defense against Russia.
Trump’s policy toward Ukraine
US allies have been hampered by the new policy on Ukraine, and EU leaders are openly questioning Washington’s dependability as a security partner going forward. They worry that any agreement to end the continent’s biggest conflict since World War II will not consider the interests of Kyiv and Europe.
Macron reaffirmed the importance of European unity in the face of Russian aggression. Macron reaffirmed his belief that the US will continue to support us. If that isn’t the case, we must be prepared, though.
He continued, “The fate of Europe should not be decided in Washington or Moscow.”
After any eventual peace agreement with Russia, the French leader added that he intends to convene a meeting of army chiefs from Europe’s nations the following week.
Macron added that he would talk with his European partners about expanding French nuclear disarmament to other continents, but that the president would continue to have control over the outcome.
At weekend talks in London with Zelenskyy and reiterated their support for Ukraine, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, claimed in a phone call to journalists that Macron’s televised address had been “extremely confrontational” and that it was obvious that France wasn’t thinking about peace.
According to Peskov, “one can conclude that France thinks more about war than about keeping the war.”
Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, agreed with Peskov and claimed that Macron’s remarks about discussing nuclear disarmament with European allies were a “threat” against Russia during a press conference in Moscow.
On Friday, February 28, 2025, President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in Washington’s Oval Office. [Mystyslav Chernov/AP Photo]
Europe’s very survival is in danger, it seems.
EU leaders will consider Trump’s unpredictable and transactional approach to foreign policy at the Brussels meeting. The summit will also feature Selenskyy.
Although the Brussels meeting will aim to increase European support for Kyiv, it is unlikely to result in any significant aid announcements beyond the $32.4 billion commitment the bloc has made this year. Additionally, EU leaders are expected to discuss the European Commission’s proposal to lend to member states up to 150 billion euros ($162bn) under a rearmament plan.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, unveiled a $ 800-billion ($863bn) plan to “re-arm Europe” and assume responsibility for its defense on Tuesday.
There is a real fear that the US might withdraw and leave Europe vulnerable to Russian aggression or other aggression. According to Natacha Butler, a reporter for Al Jazeera from Brussels, there is a sense that Europe’s very survival and future might be in jeopardy.
She stated that EU leaders would be discussing ways to “restore Europe, make sure that Europe could become sovereign in terms of defense, bolster and increase defense spending across the European Union, and improve military coordination.”
A peace plan proposed by France and the UK will also be discussed, according to Butler. We are aware that the intention is to prevent any potential ceasefire in Ukraine in the future by sending European peacekeepers.
