Trump can only play both sides against the middle so long
Substack columns like The Turbulent World are essential reading in a world of sharply diminished coverage of international affairs by mainstream media. The Turbulent World offers fact-based, in-depth, and hard-hitting reporting and analysis of the Middle East and the Muslim world as global power shifts and the region’s relationship with Asia emerges as a pillar of a new world order.
Paid subscribers of The Turbulent World gain access to the column’s extensive archive, exclusive posts, and polling. They can leave comments, join debates, and know they are supporting independent writing, reporting, and analysis that lets the chips fall where they fall.
The Turbulent World can only sustain and expand its independent coverage free of advertisements and clickbait with the support of its readers.
So, please consider pledging your support by choosing one of the subscription options.
The Turbulent World takes its mission of empowering and giving the members of the public the tools to form their own opinions.
Please get in touch if you can’t at this moment afford a fully paid subscription. We’ll find a way to accommodate you to ensure that no one is left behind.
Second-guessing US President Donald J. Trump is a tricky business.
Earlier this month, Mr. Trump took many by surprise when he seemingly handed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu the ethnic cleansing of Gaza on a silver platter.
Mr. Trump’s gift to Mr. Netanyahu on his visit to Washington came out of left field. Many had expected the president to force the prime minister to agree to a second phase of the Gaza ceasefire in which Israel would relinquish control of the Strip and completely withdraw its troops.
Instead, Mr. Trump asserted that the United States would take ownership of Gaza and turn it into a high-end beachfront real estate development project. Gazan Palestinians would be resettled in Egypt, Jordan, and other countries willing to accept them.
At face value, Mr. Trump’s gift robs Israel and Hamas of any incentive to negotiate a second phase of the ceasefire if the president and Mr. Netanyahu have already decided that there was no place for Palestinians in Gaza’s future.
Even so, Hamas this week agreed to speed up the ceasefire’s first phase of prisoner exchanges. Hamas also proposed to release in one go all remaining 59 hostages scheduled to be swapped in drips and drabs in the ceasefire’s second phase, provided Israel declares a permanent end to the war and pulls its forces out of Gaza.