Saturday, February 22, 2025

BRITISH TABLOID PRESS
Daily Star praised for front-page that shows Trump as Putin’s poodle

20 February, 2025
Left Foot Forward

“Well done Daily Star, at least one media outlet telling it how it is.”




The Daily Star has been praised for its front-page which shows President Donald Trump as Putin’s poodle, after the Republican attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Tensions between Zelensky and Trump burst out in the open yesterday, after Zelensky slammed Trump for living in a ‘disinformation space’ fuelled by Russia, with Trump retaliating, falsely calling the Ukrainian President a ‘dictator’.

Trump has upended U.S. foreign policy, cosying up to Putin and going above Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s head to negotiate a ceasefire, while at the same time agreeing to give Ukrainian territory to Russia and ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine.

That has led to anger and frustration in Kyiv and amongst European allies, with Trump repeating the Kremlin’s talking points.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has stood by the Ukrainian leader, calling him on Wednesday evening and telling him it was “perfectly reasonable” for Ukraine to “suspend elections during wartime as the UK did during World War Two”, Downing Street said.

The US president had earlier criticised Zelensky, saying he had done a “terrible job” and claiming “he refuses to have elections” in Ukraine.

The Daily Star took aim at Trump with its front page, with a picture of a leash around Trump’s neck on the body of a poodle, with Putin holding it.

The headline reads: “PUTIN’S POODLE. Orange manbaby blames UKRAINE for being invaded.”

One social media user wrote on X: “Whoever does the front page of the Star has hit another home run…”

Another added: “Well done Daily Star, at least one media outlet telling it how it is.”



Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward



Trump excludes Europe from peace talks, despite US giving less aid than Europe

17 February, 2025


Despite European nations contributing more financial support since the Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, they have been excluded from peace talks


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Trump has excluded Europe from Russia-Ukraine peace talks, despite European countries providing €18 billion more in aid than the U.S. since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Despite European nations contributing more financial support, Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy, General Keith Kellogg, announced on Saturday that Europe will be excluded from negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Speaking today from the United Arab Emirates, where peace talks between the U.S. and Russia are set to take place, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Kyiv has not been invited and will not participate in the talks.

Analysis by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, an economic research institute, has found that Europe has provided €132 billion in aid to Ukraine since 2022, compared to €114 billion from the U.S.

Europe has allocated €70 billion in financial and humanitarian aid as well as €62 billion military aid since 2022.

This compares to €64 billion from the US and €50 billion in financial and humanitarian allocations.

European leaders have stressed that there will be no lasting peace in Ukraine without European involvement in the talks.

According to the institute, the U.S. role in aiding Ukraine began to decline in mid-2023, as aid flows dropped sharply for nine months when Congress blocked new funding aid bills.

Despite this, the analysis notes that the sum of aid given to Ukraine is comparatively low when measured as a share of donor GDP.

Germany, the UK, and the US, for example, have mobilised less than 0.2% of their GDP per year to support Ukraine, while other rich donor countries like France, Italy, or Spain only allocated about 0.1% of their annual GDP.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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