Best chance of Ukraine ceasefire
There must be no similar indulgence of Putin’s perfidious tactics this time. After the uncertainty surrounding Mr Trump’s bewildering indulgence of Putin, the US President was right when he said the promised supply of billions of dollars of military equipment to Ukraine via NATO, which will pay for it, was a “big deal”. Deliveries of some of the equipment, including batteries of Patriot air defence systems, will begin within days.
No less significant is Mr Trump’s threat to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Russian exports to the US and 100 per cent secondary tariffs on countries trading with Russia, such as India and China, that keep Moscow’s budget afloat by buying vast volumes of cut-rate Russian oil.
There is no guarantee that Putin will negotiate a ceasefire. He has not flinched in his determination to make Ukraine a Russian province in his plan to re-create the Soviet empire. But it is encouraging that Mr Trump has declared himself “very, very unhappy” with Putin and praised Ukraine, which he said had “no chance” when the war began but had fought “with tremendous courage”. Mr Trump said Tuesday was a “big day” in his presidency. It will be if it represents a durable change within the White House, ensuring Putin does not emerge victorious in a war that is vital not only to Ukraine’s freedom but that of democratic nations everywhere. It won’t be if Mr Trump changes his mind yet again.
China cannot change who we are
The Prime Minister must devote more time and effort to the US relationship. Regardless of Australia’s current warmer relationship with China, the latter’s strategic ambitions in Asia are fundamentally different from Australia’s view.
Energy transition that is becoming an end unto itself
High costs and inefficiency are the opposite of productivity. But there’s a growing danger that an overly ambitious net-zero transition will become the key performance indicator for government.
Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will send “top-of-the-line” weapons to Ukraine and his threat that Vladimir Putin will face 100 per cent tariffs if there is no ceasefire within 50 days hopefully is a sign the US President finally has understood the Russian tyrant’s despicable role in the war. Mr Trump must remain resolute in trying to force Putin to negotiate. But in May, after French, German, British and Polish leaders laid down a similar ceasefire ultimatum to Moscow during a meeting in Kyiv, Putin averted the threat by offering “direct talks” with Ukraine in Istanbul. Mr Trump ordered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to attend. But Putin did not show up and the initiative went nowhere.