Welcome again to International Coverage’s State of affairs Report, the place considered one of your co-authors managed to safe FIFA World Cup tickets for subsequent 12 months however is refusing to take the opposite one alongside.
Alright, right here’s what’s on faucet for the day: Australia’s chief prepares to fulfill with U.S. President Donald Trump within the shadow of an AUKUS evaluation, Trump resumes his balancing act on the struggle in Ukraine, and a key U.S. authorities advisor is arrested.
Third time’s the attraction for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who will lastly get a bilateral sit-down with Trump on the White Home on Monday, after two missed alternatives that had been extensively perceived as snubs from Trump again dwelling. The 2 leaders had been scheduled to fulfill on the G-7 summit in Canada in June, however Trump left the gathering early to take care of an escalating safety state of affairs within the Center East. Trump additionally left Albanese off his bilateral assembly schedule on the United Nations Basic Meeting final month, although the duo did meet at a bigger reception that Trump hosted on the sidelines and took a selfie collectively earlier than scheduling Monday’s White Home assembly.
The delay in securing a gathering with Trump, whereas the topic of countless headlines, could not essentially harm Albanese domestically. Trump stays massively unpopular among the many Australian public, with a new ballot this week by the College of Sydney’s United States Research Centre indicating that solely 16 p.c of Australians really feel the second Trump administration has been good for Australia.
Nevertheless, that ballot additionally reveals overwhelming help for the U.S.-Australia alliance and a recognition of Washington’s significance, illustrating the political tightrope that the Australian prime minister should stroll on Monday.
“Kissing the ring goes to backfire domestically,” mentioned Nishank Motwani, a senior fellow and director of alliance technique at ASPI USA, an Australian government-funded suppose tank. On the similar time, Albanese will need to go away Trump with an appreciation of Canberra’s worth to Washington whereas avoiding the Oval Workplace discomfort—or worse—that another leaders have endured.
There are lots of potential avenues for discomfort. Albanese has solely dedicated Australia to growing protection spending to 2.3 p.c of its GDP from its present 2 p.c degree, regardless of the Trump administration’s demand that that quantity be 3.5 p.c. The Australian chief has additionally sought to fix ties with China from their low ebb below his predecessor, Scott Morrison, a recognition that Beijing is an indispensable financial associate regardless of being additionally seen as a major safety risk.
However the greatest thorn by far is submarines.
AUKUS awkwardness. The Trump administration prompted appreciable consternation in Canberra this summer time when it confirmed that it was conducting a evaluation of the AUKUS settlement, a pact amongst Australia, the UK, and the USA to offer Australia with U.S. nuclear-capable submarines beginning in 2032 along with collectively creating extra submarines and cooperating on crucial defense-related applied sciences.
Whereas many specialists say it’s customary and never unreasonable for a brand new authorities to evaluation such an vital deal, Australian worries stem from Trump’s ambivalence towards conventional U.S. alliances and his disdain for offers negotiated by his predecessors. U.S. Undersecretary of Protection for Coverage Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon official overseeing the evaluation, has additionally publicly questioned AUKUS previously.
Colby’s feedback apart, “AUKUS is so vital to Australia and the UK that any evaluation would get lots of consideration,” mentioned Abraham Denmark, who served as senior advisor on AUKUS to the Pentagon in the course of the Biden administration.
Current studies recommend that the deal has handed muster, and an announcement to that impact might occur throughout Albanese’s go to. Nevertheless, a Pentagon official overseeing the area had a far much less definitive evaluation earlier this month, saying that the evaluation was ongoing.
Australians have proven ambivalence about AUKUS as effectively, notably its estimated price ticket of $240 billion over three many years. A ballot launched in July confirmed that 60 p.c of respondents doubt that Washington will finally ship the submarines.
“The Australian public hasn’t purchased into AUKUS absolutely, and that’s as a result of the federal government hasn’t executed a superb job of explaining why it issues,” Motwani mentioned.
AUKUS additionally takes up lots of oxygen in what’s a broader partnership. “AUKUS was generally a little bit of a stalking horse for broader debates in Australia in regards to the alliance with the USA and about China,” mentioned Denmark, who’s now a associate on the Asia Group, a Washington-based consultancy.
Deal sweeteners. Albanese has loads to supply that might attraction to Trump’s transactional nature, notably Australia’s stockpiles of uncommon earths and demanding minerals that energy key applied sciences and navy purposes. China dominates the mining and manufacturing of uncommon earths and has proven a willingness to weaponize it, because it has repeatedly executed throughout commerce negotiations with Washington. Australia is reportedly making ready an settlement to supply traders in associate nations entry to the nation’s crucial minerals. That might give Trump a hedge, if not a full-blown different, to China.
However the massive query stays whether or not will probably be sufficient. “Trump seems at the entire alliances as leverage,” mentioned Motwani. “If you happen to give away an excessive amount of in your first assembly, he’s going to come back again for extra.”
Ashley Tellis, a senior State Division advisor on South Asian affairs and a senior fellow on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace, has been arrested and charged with illegal retention of nationwide protection data. Tellis, who additionally labored as a Pentagon contractor and beforehand served on the Nationwide Safety Council below President George W. Bush, allegedly had over 1,000 pages of secret or top-secret paperwork at his dwelling in Virginia.
“We’re conscious of the allegations in opposition to Ashley J. Tellis. He’s now on administrative go away, together with from his position as Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs,” Katelynn Vogt, Carnegie’s vice chairman for communications, mentioned in an announcement supplied to SitRep.
In different information, dozens of reporters turned of their press badges to the Pentagon this week after rejecting Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth’s restrictive new guidelines for the media. The brand new coverage threatens to revoke credentials of journalists who search and report data not authorised for public launch (a key facet of the job). The overwhelming majority of reports retailers—together with Hegseth’s former employer, Fox Information—refused to conform to the brand new restrictions. Even right-leaning retailers reminiscent of Newsmax wouldn’t signal on.
The Pentagon Press Affiliation mentioned a majority of its members rejected Hegseth’s coverage “over its implicit risk of criminalizing nationwide safety reporting and exposing those that signal it to potential prosecution.” The Pentagon has referred to the brand new guidelines as “primary, commonsense tips to guard delicate data.”
Adm. Alvin Holsey, head of the U.S. navy’s Southern Command, will step down on the finish of this 12 months after 37 years of service, Hegseth confirmed in a tweet Thursday. Holsey was overseeing the Trump administration’s controversial operations in opposition to what it claims are drug trafficking boats off the coast of Venezuela, and the New York Instances reported that he had expressed reservations about these operations.
What ought to be excessive in your radar, if it isn’t already.
Gaza truce on shaky floor. Hamas on Wednesday mentioned it has returned the entire stays of lifeless hostages that it’s able to retrieving and that it’s going to want particular tools to realize entry to the remaining deceased captives.
Since a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas started final week, the group has returned 20 residing hostages and the stays of 9 out of 28 deceased hostages. The delay within the return of all of the hostages, an important facet of the primary section of the peace deal orchestrated by Trump, might forestall the method from transferring to the subsequent section and doubtlessly upend the truce.
Trump on Thursday additionally issued a risk to Hamas, which has been engaged in a crackdown on rivals in current days. “If Hamas continues to kill folks in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we could have no alternative however to go in and kill them,” he mentioned in a submit on Reality Social. It’s not clear if Trump meant that U.S. forces would enter Gaza to struggle Hamas. The White Home didn’t instantly reply to SitRep’s request for remark.
Trump chats with Putin. Trump on Thursday mentioned he held a “very productive” cellphone name with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the 2 are actually set to fulfill in Budapest at an unspecified date for additional talks on ending the struggle in Ukraine. The decision got here forward of a gathering between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, throughout which they’re anticipated to debate whether or not Washington will present Kyiv with long-range Tomahawk missiles.
As our FP colleague Sam Skove has written, Tomahawks have a variety of roughly 1,500 miles and would enhance Ukraine’s functionality to strike targets deep inside Russia—together with in Moscow. The Kremlin has warned that offering Ukraine with Tomahawks could be seen as a serious escalation.
Trump has expressed impatience with Putin over the dearth of progress towards a peace deal and has repeatedly signaled that he’s open to offering Tomahawks to Kyiv to place extra stress on Moscow. However Putin additionally has a historical past of efficiently pulling Trump to his aspect on numerous points. Even when Trump does conform to ship Tomahawks to Ukraine, he might impose restrictions on their use.
The CIA in Venezuela. Trump on Wednesday mentioned he has approved the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. Such operations are usually not sometimes made public, and Trump’s acknowledgment was one more instance of his unorthodox strategy to the presidency.
Trump mentioned he approved the operations for 2 causes. “No. 1, they’ve emptied their prisons into the USA of America,” he mentioned. “And the opposite factor, the medication, now we have lots of medication coming in from Venezuela, and lots of the Venezuelan medication are available by way of the ocean.” Trump’s announcement got here because the U.S. navy continues to conduct strikes on boats off the coast of Venezuela that he alleges belong to drug traffickers. Critics have condemned the strikes as an pointless and unlawful use of navy power.
The president on Wednesday additionally signaled that the USA might quickly strike targets on land in Venezuela. There are various open questions on Trump’s goals in Venezuela and whether or not the last word aim is regime change. The Trump administration has supplied a $50 million reward for data resulting in the arrest and conviction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on drug trafficking expenses.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he stands earlier than a household image in the course of the greetings ceremony of the Gaza peace summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on Oct. 13.Yoan Valat/AFP through Getty Pictures
Monday, Oct. 20: Trump is about to fulfill with Albanese on the White Home.
The Central Committee of the Chinese language Communist Celebration is scheduled to convene in Beijing for its annual plenum.
The EU International Affairs Council is about to start a multi-day assembly.
Wednesday, Oct. 22: The European Council chief summit is scheduled to be held in Brussels.
“I consider that we should always uphold arrest warrants by the Worldwide Prison Courtroom.”
—New York Metropolis mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, telling Fox Information in an interview that he would help arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he got here to New York whereas Mamdani was mayor.
