Editor’s Note: There will be no Daily News Brief on Monday, November 11, in observance of Veterans Day. |
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Putin, Zelenskyy Weigh in on Trump’s Pitch to End War in Ukraine |
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately responded to U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump’s ambitions to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to a close yesterday, with Zelenskyy calling for “a fair ending” to the war and Putin saying that Trump’s desire to restore relations with Moscow and help end the war “deserves attention.” Trump has spoken with Zelenskyy but not Putin in his initial phone calls since his victory. He previously claimed he could end the war within twenty-four hours, but did not give details of how he would approach this in an interview with NBC yesterday.
Zelenskyy met with European leaders at a Budapest summit yesterday, where he told reporters a “quick ending” to the war “will be a loss.” Many of Zelenskyy’s European counterparts voiced backing for Ukraine against Russia’s aggression, but Hungarian President Viktor Orbán said that U.S. and European aid that had already been agreed for Kyiv is now an “open question.” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre yesterday said that Washington was focused on making sure Ukraine had what it needed for its defense. (Bloomberg, AP)
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“As the United States and its allies continue to arm Ukraine, they must take the uncomfortable step of pushing Kyiv to negotiate with the Kremlin—and laying out a clear sense of how it should do so,” CFR President Emeritus Richard Haass writes for Foreign Affairs. “It is the only way to end the hostilities, preserve Ukraine as a truly independent country, enable it to rebuild, and avoid a dire outcome for both Ukraine and the world.”
“European leaders should meet with Kyiv to discuss and coordinate strategy. Then, they make an offer to Trump: Europe will take over all financial support for Ukraine if the United States maintains its military support, which Europeans are not able to provide themselves. Upping their investment in Ukraine, which caters to Trump’s shareholder logic, could also provide Europeans a chance to secure a seat at the table in any potential Ukraine peace negotiations,” the Carnegie Endowment’s Sophia Besch and CFR’s Liana Fix write for Carnegie’s Emissary blog.
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Biden Calls to ‘Bring Down the Temperature’ as Peaceful Transition Moves Forward |
U.S. President Joe Biden said he would work for a “peaceful and orderly transition” of power in a speech yesterday, urging Americans to cool political discussions and praising the integrity of the U.S. election system. Federal Reserve leader Jerome Powell said yesterday he plans to complete his term and stressed that the new president cannot legally remove him. Trump, for his part, named his top campaign official Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. She will be the first-ever woman to hold the role. (CBS, CNBC, WSJ)
CFR expert Charles A. Kupchan writes that Trump now faces a tall task to overcome divisions at home to project strength abroad.
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China Announces $1.4 Trillion in Support to Regional Governments |
The bonds will be issued over the next three to five years and are aimed at addressing a local government debt crisis. Despite the high value of the relief package, it was not designed at addressing other issues ailing China’s economy, namely lagging household revenues. (Nikkei, FT)
CFR expert Brad W. Setser explains why Beijing still has fiscal space.
China/Indonesia: Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto is beginning his first international trip as president with a stop in Beijing today; he will go on to visit the United States, the United Kingdom, and South America. Prabowo has said he aims to play an active role on the world stage; he already traveled to twenty-one countries in his time as president-elect. (Reuters)
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UN Warns of Famine Risk in Myanmar’s Rakhine State |
Two million people in the state could face starvation by 2025 if current conditions continue, a UN official said yesterday. The UN Development Program cited in a new report that the ongoing war and humanitarian aid restrictions were blocking access to support. (The Guardian)
Pakistan: An altercation with militants near Pakistan’s northwest border with Afghanistan killed four Pakistani soldiers and five militants, Pakistan’s army reported. (Reuters)
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CFR’s Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins discuss world leaders’ reactions to Trump’s election comeback, Israel’s pending deadline to increase humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Azerbaijan preparing to host the twenty-ninth UN climate summit, and more. |
| Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images |
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Middle East and North Africa |
Israel Reports Strikes Across Dozens of Sites in Lebanon |
Israel has widened the geographic scope of its targets from southern Lebanon in recent weeks, yesterday reporting it struck dozens of targets across the country. Dozens of people were killed, Lebanese officials said. Hezbollah launched more than forty projectiles across the border with Israel yesterday, Israel’s military said. (NYT)
Israel/Netherlands: Israeli and Dutch authorities condemned attacks on Israeli soccer fans after a match in Amsterdam yesterday that caused five people to be hospitalized. Dutch authorities detailed sixty-three people and launched an investigation into what the mayor said were antisemitic incidents. (CNN)
In a YouTube Short, CFR expert Farah Pandith connects the rise of antisemitic, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim hate around the world.
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Duma Boko Goes From Botswana Opposition Leader to President |
Boko was inaugurated today in Gaborone as the country’s sixth president. He announced plans to legalize undocumented Zimbabwean workers in the country as one of his first policy steps. Boko is a human rights lawyer whose main pledges focus on reviving the country’s economy. (SABC, BBC)
Mozambique: Security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrations yesterday against the result of an October 9 presidential election. Human Rights Watch said that the internet is being restricted in the country, while Amnesty International said Wednesday that at least twenty people have died since the start of protests in late October. (Africanews, AP)
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Red Cross Holds Fundraiser for Disaster Insurance After ‘Unprecedented’ 2024 Payouts |
Today’s fundraiser in Geneva is for an insurance policy that provides payouts in times of disasters, the first of its kind for the humanitarian sector. Asia’s typhoon Yagi triggered payouts in September; the Red Cross leader said this year’s needs “hit the trigger set at a relatively high level.” (Reuters)
The Why It Matters podcast explores whether climate change could break the traditional insurance model.
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Category 3 Hurricane Knocks Out Cuba’s Power Grid |
Hurricane Raphael is the seventeenth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season; on average an Atlantic hurricane season produces fourteen named storms. Cubans were left without power after already experiencing a string of blackouts in October due to underinvestment in the grid. (The Guardian)
Mexico: The country’s economy minister warned at a press conference yesterday that new U.S. tariffs on Chinese exports could hurt U.S. companies operating in Mexico. He added that the U.S. auto sector’s reliance on Mexico was one of the reasons it “has survived this century.” (Bloomberg)
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The Associated Press looks at the mark of sports as soft power in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a stalwart boxing community thrives fifty years after two U.S. boxers famously faced off in Kinshasa. |
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