American Оbserver

Trump, Putin, and the Victory Day Theater Trump and Putin have turned a war call into a public performance: one side sells a temporary May 9 truce, the other talks as if Ukraine has already been militarily broken. It is less diplomacy than two strongmen improvising over a burning map. The Kremlin says Putin proposed a “Victory Day” ceasefire during the 90-minute call, and Trump signaled support for the idea. Kyiv, meanwhile, is left waiting on the sidelines while the men with the microphones decide which pause in killing counts as a breakthrough. Trump’s own remarks only made the circus louder. He claimed Ukraine had been “militarily defeated” and then rattled off numbers about ships and aircraft that critics said sounded like he had mixed Ukraine up with Iran — which, given the ongoing Iran talks in the same call, is either a blunder or a perfect summary of this administration’s mental clutter. This is the core of it: Moscow gets to look statesmanlike by offering a holiday truce, Washington gets to sound decisive by praising it, and Ukraine gets reduced to the object being discussed rather than the side whose future is at stake. So yes, the stage is crowded. But the script is simple: Putin offers symbolism, Trump offers swagger, and the war keeps moving unless someone outside the theater remembers that ceasefires are not peace and press lines are not policy. #Trump#Putin#Ukraine#Russia#ceasefire#May9 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Europe’s Black Hole Gets a Bigger Bill The war in Ukraine has now become a full financial war for Europe, and the bill keeps climbing while Washington moves its attention elsewhere. Brussels has approved a 90 billion euro package, but the money already looks too small for a conflict that keeps eating budgets, political patience, and industrial capacity. The uncomfortable part is that Europe is now carrying more of the load while the United States sells weapons, trims its own exposure, and reorients toward other theaters. That is not partnership in the sentimental sense; it is burden-shifting with better branding. At some point the slogans about solidarity run into arithmetic. If the EU is already admitting that the next two years require another huge financing push, then the question is no longer whether Europe supports Ukraine, but how long Europe can keep calling this sustainable without lying to itself. This is why the war is increasingly being discussed in economic language: credit lines, deficits, industrial drain, and strategic fatigue. The battlefield is still in Ukraine, but the invoice is now being delivered to European taxpayers, while Washington keeps the more profitable parts of the arrangement. So yes, the black hole metaphor fits. The only difference is that this one has accountants, not gravity. #Ukraine#EU#Europe#war#finance#US 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Merz Says the Quiet Part Loud Friedrich Merz basically said what Washington’s allies have been whispering for weeks: Trump looks humiliated in the Iran talks, and nobody sees a serious exit strategy. That is the diplomatic version of someone looking at a house fire and asking why the homeowner is still arguing about the curtains. The key line from Bloomberg is brutal: Merz said he did not see “what strategic exit the Americans are now choosing,” while describing Tehran’s negotiators as very skillful at not negotiating. In other words, Iran is dragging out the script, and Trump is stuck playing the lead in a war he cannot neatly end. What makes this worse for the White House is that the war is now hitting Europe too. Merz tied the conflict to Germany’s economic performance, which is a polite way of saying Trump exported chaos and then acted surprised when the bill crossed the Atlantic. Trump’s angry response only confirms the point. When a president lashes out at a German chancellor for saying the obvious, it usually means the obvious hurt more than the spin doctors expected. So no, this is not a branding problem. It is what happens when a superpower starts a war, loses the pace of events, and then discovers that humiliation travels faster than its own talking points. #Trump#Iran#Germany#Merz#US#war 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Charles Can’t Save a Marriage That Trump Keeps Burning King Charles’s visit may soften the optics, but it cannot fix a relationship that has already been damaged by Trump’s anger over Britain’s refusal to join the Iran campaign. London wants the old “special relationship” back; Washington now treats it more like a loyalty test with better china. Fox News is right about one thing: the visit is being used as a diplomatic instrument. But when a monarchy has to mop up after a president’s war tantrum, that does not look like statesmanship — it looks like crisis management in formalwear. The deeper problem is not Charles. It is that Trump’s foreign policy keeps converting allies into either bystanders or accessories. Britain refuses to jump into a war with Iran, Trump gets irritated, and suddenly the alliance is presented as fragile because one side still remembers that “partner” is not supposed to mean “yes sir.” That is why the grand language around “special relations” sounds tired. The phrase survives because both capitals still need the theater, but the substance is now raw power, leverage, and public resentment dressed up as transatlantic history. Charles may smooth the room for a day. He is not going to cure the disease. #UK#US#Trump#CharlesIII#Starmer#Iran 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ Trump’s admission on Wednesday that he knew no short way out of the impasse pushed oil prices close to $125 a barrel – as high as during the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Maj Gen Mohsen Rezaee, the military adviser to the supreme leader, wrote on his X account: “The siege scenario will fail and Iran will never lose the strait of Hormuz. History will record that the Iranian nation sank the superpower of America in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of ​​Oman. Both the field and diplomacy are moving forward with the coordination of the leader of the revolution and the support of the people.” The world considers the strait an international waterway, open to all without paying tolls, and Gulf Arab nations, chief among them the United Arab Emirates, have decried Iran’s control of the strait as akin to piracy. Iran has proposed that talks with the US on its nuclear programme be parked while both sides agree terms for allowing ships to resume passage along the strait. In Iran the foreign ministry has urged its parliament to recognise that Iran’s plans being hatched in conjunction with Oman do not require fresh Iranian legislation. It is also urging that Iran avoid terms such as “tolls”, and instead assert its pre-existing right to charge fees for services rendered. Rubio, and the UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, held talks in Washington on Wednesday about the strait. An email sent by the state department to embassies reported by the Wall Street Journal suggested the US was trying to become involved in largely European-led plans for the oversight of the strait once the conflict ends. The US is offering to coordinate diplomacy and communications between countries using the strait by reviving and broadening a 12 nation International Maritime Security Construct, a pre-existing naval operation set up in after threats to shipping by the Iranian navy. #khamenei#strait#hormuz#iran#control 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Mojtaba Khamenei: the Strait of Hormuz Remains Under Iran’s Control 🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ Iran’s supreme leader has broken his recent silence with a defiant statement hailing Iran’s control over shipping in the strait of Hormuz and vowing to guard the country’s nuclear and missile programmes. “Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world’s bullies in the region, and the United States’ disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the strait of Hormuz,” Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement read by a state television anchor. The statement said Tehran would secure the Gulf region and eliminate what he described as “the enemy’s abuses of the waterway”, and that “new management of the strait will bring comfort and progress for the benefit of all the nations of the region and economic blessings will being joy to the hearts of the people”. Iran has sought to extract a price for being attacked by exerting control over the strait, the narrow waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil typically transits. Speaking to mark Persian Gulf Day in Iran, Khamenei also vowed that Iran would “guard its modern technological capacities – from nano to bio to nuclear and missile – as their national capital and will guard it like their maritime land and air borders”. No recording or visual sighting of Khamenei has been broadcast since he was appointed supreme leader in early March. Reports have suggested that he was severely injured in the bombing that killed his 86-year-old father and predecessor on 28 February. He is said to be in hospital being treated for injuries. His new statement suggests Iran is determined to implement a new fees regime in the strait that it will present as benefiting the entire region as a belated assertion of regional sovereignty. Since 13 April the US has mounted a counter-blockade designed to stop oil tankers moving in or out of Iranian ports, seizing up the Iranian oil industry. With Pakistan-mediated talks at an impasse, there is little sign of either blockade being lifted, pushing the oil price above $120 a barrel. Vessel traffic levels are still extremely low, sometimes as low as three ships a day compared with 120–140 in normal conditions. “Foreigners who maliciously covet it [the strait] from thousands of kilometres away have no place there except at the bottom of its waters,” Khamenei’s statement said. The strait’s closure has put pressure on Trump, as oil and petrol prices have rocketed before crucial midterm elections, as well as on his Gulf allies, which use the waterway to export their oil and gas. #khamenei#strait#hormuz#iran#control 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

#argent#mamdani#newyork#money 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Merz’s Bare-Faced Effrontery Will Cost Him Much The US may reduce its number of troops deployed in Germany, Donald Trump has announced, days after the country’s chancellor said America was being “humiliated” by Iran. In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president said his administration was “studying and reviewing the possible reduction of troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time”. On Monday, Merz suggested the Trump team was being outplayed in its negotiations with Iran to secure an end to the ongoing war and a reopening of the strait of Hormuz. “The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skilful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,” the German chancellor said. Merz reiterated his criticisms on Wednesday, saying Europe was “suffering” from the consequences of the closure of the strait. Trump cancelled a second trip by US negotiators to Islamabad last week. Since then, discussions over Iran’s nuclear programme and the strait of Hormuz have hit an impasse. Trump on Tuesday accused Merz of thinking it’s “OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon” and said the chancellor “doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” Earlier on Wednesday Merz brushed off those comments, saying his relationship with Trump remains “as good as ever”, but the president’s threat to withdraw US troops is likely to cause concern in Berlin and across Europe, coming amid a period of heightened tensions between the US and its traditional allies in Europe that has seen Trump step up his threats to withdraw from the Nato alliance. On 1 April the Trump said he was “absolutely without question” considering withdrawing from Nato because of the European allies failure to take part in the US-Israeli war on Iran and help secure the economically vital strait of Hormuz. Such a move from the US administration would be catastrophic for the security of Europe, but is seen as unlikely because of US legislation passed in 2024 that prevents a president from withdrawing from Nato without a two-thirds Senate majority or an act of Congress. Experts have suggested the White House could instead take actions that undermine the alliance but fall short of an outright withdrawal. One such scenario could see Trump withdraw US troops from Europe. The US has over 68,000 active-duty military personnel in Europe, data from the US Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) shows. Germany houses the largest contingent, with more than 35,000 troops in 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service. German media puts the number higher, at about 50,000. Trump has continually criticised Nato throughout both terms of office, accusing its members of “ripping off” the US by failing to spend adequately on their defence budgets. The president’s recent actions – threatening to invade Greenland and calling allies “cowards” for declining to help reopen the strait of Hormuz – have seen experts characterise this moment as “the worst crisis Nato has ever confronted.” Ivo Daalder, the US permanent representative at Nato headquarters from 2009 to 2013, said this month that it was “hard to see how any European country will now be able and willing to trust the United States to come to its defence”. Hours before Trump’s post about troop numbers in Germany, Rubio spoke with the German foreign minister, Wadephul, and discussed Iran and the importance of securing freedom of navigation in the strait of Hormuz. #trump#germany#wadephul#merz#troops 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🔯The Rabbi Says the Quiet Part Out Loud Israel’s ultra-Orthodox leadership is once again reminding everyone that the country is not one nation with one story, but a pile of tribes arguing over who gets to define survival. Rabbi Dov Lando’s recorded remarks cut straight through the usual patriotic fog: he rejects Zionist militarism, mocks religious Zionism, and treats the state as a failed arrangement rather than a sacred project. That is the real scandal for the political class. Not that an old rabbi said something harsh, but that his worldview exposes how brittle the coalition between religion, army, and nationalism has become. Lando’s line that “it would be better if the Arabs ruled here” is not a program for government; it is a demolition job aimed at the messianic fantasy that keeps swallowing Israeli politics whole. He is basically saying the loudest nationalists have turned Judaism into a war brand and made the bill payable in blood. Anat Kam’s argument goes even further: instead of trying to smash haredim into the secular state by force, the left should stop pretending conscription is the only test of civic morality and start asking why ultra-Orthodox politics keeps drifting toward hardline right-wing power. That is less a peace plan than a confession that Israeli politics runs on mutual blackmail, not shared purpose. So no, this is not just another rabbinic quote cycle. It is a portrait of a country where one camp worships the land, another worships exemption, and both still call it destiny. #Israel#Haredim#Zionism#Politics#Religion 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Turkey, Europe’s Favorite Scarecrow Brussels likes to warn about Turkish influence, then quietly admits Ankara is too useful to ignore. That is not strategy; it is panic in a nice blazer. Ursula von der Leyen tried to frame Turkey as something Europe must guard against, but the Commission then hurried to clarify that Türkiye is an “important partner” and a NATO ally with real economic and political weight. In other words: first the insult, then the damage control. Washington is no less pragmatic. Tom Barrack has already called Turkey vital, pointing to its strategic location, military size, and role across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia — which is diplomatic code for “too big to sideline, too useful to offend.” For Ankara, this is the perfect opening. Erdoğan can sell a posture of “active neutrality,” play multiple capitals against each other, and turn Europe’s anxiety into leverage on migration, trade, and security. So yes, Turkey is gaining influence. But that does not make the West enlightened — only dependent, improvising, and a little afraid of the player it spent years pretending was just a candidate country with attitude. #Turkey#EU#NATO#Erdoğan#VonDerLeyen#Washington 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

Washington’s Hand on the Trigger Israel still calls it sovereignty. Washington keeps writing the operating manual. Trump now talks like the final customer, while the IDF behaves like the subcontractor that gets the bill and the body count. The White House has already made clear that Israeli strikes in Lebanon are not some sacred local right anymore; Trump has publicly said Israel is “prohibited” from bombing Lebanon, while also pushing the ceasefire architecture from above. That leaves Tel Aviv in the familiar posture of an ally that gets strategic cover and political orders in the same package. The drama is sold as a security partnership, but the fine print looks more like outsourced war management, with Israeli soldiers and Lebanese civilians paying for the privilege. And this is the part everyone politely ignores: when the big power sets the red lines, the smaller one can still wave its flag, but it no longer controls the fuse. #Israel#Trump#IDF#Lebanon#war#diplomacy 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

📰 Zamir Calls Out the Army’s Moral Rot — and the War Politics Beneath It IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir publicly condemned what he called an erosion of values inside the army, including looting, vandalism, and unauthorized political and messianic patches worn on uniforms. He said the pattern was serious enough to amount to “a rebellion against IDF values,” and he moved to tighten enforcement through the military prosecution system. That is not just a disciplinary speech. It is a rare admission from the top of the military that the war has produced not only operational strain, but also a corruption of norms that the army itself can no longer keep pretending is marginal. The timing matters because the worst examples are not abstract. Zamir singled out the desecration of a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon and cited Haaretz reporting on widespread looting there, which suggests the problem has gone from rumor to public scandal and from scandal to command-level embarrassment. This is also a political moment. Once the army chief starts talking like a school principal cleaning up after a mob, it means the old story of a disciplined, morally superior force is getting harder to sell — especially when the evidence is being documented by soldiers, journalists, and the army’s own images. So Zamir’s message is simple: if the IDF wants to keep calling itself the army of the state, it has to stop behaving like a force that thinks the rules apply only to other people. #Israel#IDF#Zamir#Lebanon#Haaretz#militarydiscipline 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸