World Review: Ukraine Plan, Kashmir Crisis, Pentagon Chaos
A brief synopsis of this week's show
Each Friday morning, I host a video podcast called “World Review with Ivo Daalder” where three journalists from major news outlets around the world join me to discuss the latest global news stories of the week.
This morning, April 25, we discussed the latest on the Ukraine peace talks, the crisis in Kashmir, and turmoil in the Pentagon. Joining me for this conversation were Carla Robbins of the Council on Foreign Relations, Ravi Agrawal of Foreign Policy, and Steven Erlanger of the New York Times.
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While I encourage you to watch or listen to the episode (and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!), here are a few interesting things I took away from our discussion:
President Trump is running out of patience in securing a peace in Ukraine. Having promised to end the war in 24 hours, once in office he set an informal deadline of succeeding in his first 100 days. It doesn’t look like that will happen. Russian President Vladimir Putin has strung the President and his administration along, gaining one concession after the other but still not enough to end the war. In fact, he set off Trump’s ire with a massive bombing campaign of Kyiv earlier this week, prompting the president to post: “Vladimir, STOP!” But the pressure is being put on President Zelensky and Ukraine rather than on Russia. A one-page framework agreement tabled a week ago is now being touted as a “take-it-or-leave-it” proposal that Ukraine must accept or the US will walk away from the talks. The flaw in the US position, Steve argued, is that Trump seems to believe that Russia is winning the war. When Trump was asked what concessions he has exacted from Russia, he answered that Russia agreed not to take all of the country. But it has tried and failed for three years to conquer all of Ukraine. Russia has expanded enormous resources—as much as $200 billion and nearly 1 million casualties—to control less than 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory. It’s nowhere near winning the war. Neither is it willing to accept a sustainable peace.
On Tuesday, four armed men started shooting at civilians and tourists visiting a city in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian controlled part of a region whose control is disputed with Pakistan. It was the worst attack on civilians in years and came after Indian Prime Minister Modi had promised that the region would be more peaceful and accessible following his 2019 decision to end the special autonomous status of the state. India reacted with fury, promising to hold the perpetrators to account. Fingers were immediately pointed at Pakistan, and New Delhi suspended a key treaty regulating water access rights. Islamabad escalated the rhetoric—saying that any diversion of water would be an act of war. While in earlier crises between the two countries the United States often played a key role to help diffuse them, Ravi noted that today’s India is different—more confident and more nationalistic than before. With the press calling for blood, Modi will be looking for a response that he can claim as a win. But what is a win in a confrontation between two nuclear-armed advisaries?
Finally, a “full-blown meltdown” in the Pentagon. That is how one senior communications aide described the situation in the building headed by Pete Hegseth, the Fox News anchor who is now responsible with overseeing the largest military and civilian bureaucracy in the world. Aides have been fired and reassigned. Leaks about unsecure communications are rampant. And the building appears to be at war with its secretary. Carla emphasized that this war was started by Hegseth, who seemed to believe that the fundamental problem at the Pentagon and with the US military was its “wokeness.” He fired ten flag officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of Naval Operations, most of whom were black or female. He got rid of the lawyers who made sure the military abided by the rule of law, including the laws of war. And he castigated much of the existing leadership for having supervised a military and department that was not fit for purpose. The building, as the Pentagon is known, has begun to fight back. Leaks about infighting, unsecure communications, and concerns about morale have been the result. It’s an ugly mess. But not one without major consequences for US security. Our allies are worried. Our enemies are taking notice.
That’s it for my quick takes of this week’s episode here on America Abroad. To get the full flavor, please listen to the episode itself.