DAWN
Monitoring Desk
Monitoring Desk
Published February 18, 2025 Updated about 13 hours ago
US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff looks on, at the White House, in Washington, US on February 3, 2025. — Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz/File
WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS: When US President Donald Trump wanted someone to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin last week to open negotiations for a potential deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, he didn’t dispatch his secretary of state.
The man he sent to the Kremlin to handle a titanic geopolitical challenge does not even have a diplomatic background, the BBC reported.
Instead, Trump picked his personal friend, golf buddy and billionaire real estate developer Steve Witkoff. The president has made Witkoff his Middle East envoy.
But last week the Bronx-born businessman found himself in discussions about ending a conflict in Eastern Europe — having been “with [Putin] for a very extended period, like about three hours”, in Trump’s words.
Witkoff was in Moscow to help facilitate a deal that saw the US and Russia swap prisoners, which was seen as signalling a possible thaw in relations between the two countries. Witkoff also played a part in brokering the current ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, for which both Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden took credit.
Witkoff is now returning to the region — specifically Saudi Arabia — for the first US-Russian face-to-face talks over the war in Ukraine after Trump had his own call with Putin, according to BBC news.
So, who is Witkoff — dubbed by US media as “the man in the room”, taking centre stage as more potentially consequential international talks take place?
He was one of Trump’s first picks for his top team after his presidential election win in November. Trump wrote: “Steve will be an unrelenting voice for PEACE, and make us all proud”, the BBC reported.
“The president sees Steve as one of the world’s great dealmakers,” a White House official told Axios.
Witkoff’s preferred negotiating tactic was to use charm, according to another associate, but he could also turn up the pressure. The 67-year-old was raised in Long Island, New York and trained as a real estate developer in one of America’s most cut-throat markets.
Ukraine deal
US envoy Keith Kellogg on Monday said that he would not tell Ukraine to accept whatever deal is negotiated by President Donald Trump to end Russia’s war, ahead of a visit to Kyiv.
Kellogg is set to arrive in Ukraine on Wednesday for three days of talks that will include a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
His visit to Kyiv will come after top US officials, including Wikoff, meet Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first time since Trump blindsided allies by agreeing to launch peace efforts with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Kellogg said US officials were engaged in parallel efforts to bring Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiating table — with him spearheading the outreach to Ukraine. Trump’s envoy insisted that it would ultimately be up to Zelensky to decide if Ukraine accepts any deal that the US leader brokers.
“The decision by Ukrainians is a Ukrainian decision,” Kellogg told journalists after talks with US allies at Nato headquarters in Brussels.
Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2025
Opinion
WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS: When US President Donald Trump wanted someone to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin last week to open negotiations for a potential deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, he didn’t dispatch his secretary of state.
The man he sent to the Kremlin to handle a titanic geopolitical challenge does not even have a diplomatic background, the BBC reported.
Instead, Trump picked his personal friend, golf buddy and billionaire real estate developer Steve Witkoff. The president has made Witkoff his Middle East envoy.
But last week the Bronx-born businessman found himself in discussions about ending a conflict in Eastern Europe — having been “with [Putin] for a very extended period, like about three hours”, in Trump’s words.
Witkoff was in Moscow to help facilitate a deal that saw the US and Russia swap prisoners, which was seen as signalling a possible thaw in relations between the two countries. Witkoff also played a part in brokering the current ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, for which both Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden took credit.
Witkoff is now returning to the region — specifically Saudi Arabia — for the first US-Russian face-to-face talks over the war in Ukraine after Trump had his own call with Putin, according to BBC news.
So, who is Witkoff — dubbed by US media as “the man in the room”, taking centre stage as more potentially consequential international talks take place?
He was one of Trump’s first picks for his top team after his presidential election win in November. Trump wrote: “Steve will be an unrelenting voice for PEACE, and make us all proud”, the BBC reported.
“The president sees Steve as one of the world’s great dealmakers,” a White House official told Axios.
Witkoff’s preferred negotiating tactic was to use charm, according to another associate, but he could also turn up the pressure. The 67-year-old was raised in Long Island, New York and trained as a real estate developer in one of America’s most cut-throat markets.
Ukraine deal
US envoy Keith Kellogg on Monday said that he would not tell Ukraine to accept whatever deal is negotiated by President Donald Trump to end Russia’s war, ahead of a visit to Kyiv.
Kellogg is set to arrive in Ukraine on Wednesday for three days of talks that will include a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
His visit to Kyiv will come after top US officials, including Wikoff, meet Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first time since Trump blindsided allies by agreeing to launch peace efforts with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Kellogg said US officials were engaged in parallel efforts to bring Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiating table — with him spearheading the outreach to Ukraine. Trump’s envoy insisted that it would ultimately be up to Zelensky to decide if Ukraine accepts any deal that the US leader brokers.
“The decision by Ukrainians is a Ukrainian decision,” Kellogg told journalists after talks with US allies at Nato headquarters in Brussels.
Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2025
Opinion
Middlemen Are Trump’s ‘Alternative’ for Statesmen
Eyad Abu Shakra
Tuesday - 18 February 2025
US President Donald Trump’s engagements, as well as his statements to the media, have sparked concern in many corners of the world, including Western Europe, where most countries are NATO allies. This alliance had been established on the basis of a "military doctrine" to counter the Soviet Union, which Western nations saw as antithetical, ideologically and economically, to Western values, culture, and interests. A powerful communist rival that sought to expand its influence and export its model globally.
NATO was one of three alliances that Washington formed to "contain" the communist threat posed by the Soviet Union and Communist China: NATO in Europe, the Baghdad Pact in the Middle East (which later became the Central Treaty Organization, CENTO), and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
Over the years, and throughout most of the Cold War, the countries of these three regions, and others, were split between the "allies" of Washington and its "adversaries" who relied on Soviet and Chinese support. Even after the establishment of Israel, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of a major nationalist state in its place, the Russian Federation, the historical alignments of the period broadly remained the same.
In the Middle East, President Trump’s recent positions, most notably his state intention to displace the people of Gaza to Jordan, Egypt, and other countries, have shocked many of Washington’s allies and friends in the region.
It is well known that the Democrats lost the last elections due to their cowardice and lack of scruple in the face of a fanatical, ideological, and religious Republican populist campaign, which was orchestrated by some of the staunchest supporters of "Greater Israel" behind the scenes: Sheldon Adelson and his family, Rupert Murdoch’s vitriolic media empire, and the oligarchs of the new media...
However, Donald Trump did not merely return to the White House; under his leadership, the Republicans also regained control of both houses of Congress, and he has built a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. As a result, Trump feels that the American people have given him an absolute mandate to do what he wants: even restructuring institutions, violating laws and norms, and dismantling the issues of broad foundations that underpin a sound democracy and ensure accountability and the peaceful transfer of power.
That is the domestic scene, where the disoriented Democratic opposition seems to still be reeling from its defeat in November. Globally, things are no less alarming following the flood of Trump’s unrestrained executive orders.
The Arab world was shocked not only by the cruelty of Trump’s proposal for Gaza, but also by his insistence on it, even after it was met with universal rejection from every actor concerned - with the exception, of course, of his Likudist partner and instigator. Several Arab countries are now taking action in the face of an increasingly worrisome situation that threatens an avalanche of regional complications.
Washington’s relations with the Arab world are part of a broader global pattern. Responsible figures from within the American institutions, particularly in defense and intelligence, have begun to sound the alarm, warning of the threats that the administration’s new course poses to Washington’s relationships and long-term strategic interests.
Some Americans were stunned by Trump’s unprovoked "antagonization" of their two neighbors, Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. This began with his stated desire to annex Canada and launch a new "economic war" against Mexico, after his presidency’s opening act had been the "border wall." As we have seen and continue to see, economic warfare through tariffs has become a weapon from the past that Washington wields in the present against any leader or state that insists on independence.
Equally shocking was Trump’s unilateral insistence on acquiring Greenland, a vast island belonging to Denmark, despite the fact Denmark, both a trade partner and a NATO ally of the US, has categorically rejected the idea. He also turned his attention to Panama, making a claim to the Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
At the same time, lawmakers in Congress, generals at the Pentagon, experts in research centers, and officials in military alliances (including NATO) have condemned several recent Trump appointments. One is Peter Hegseth, a right-wing commentator on Murdoch’s Fox News who was appointed Secretary of Defense. Another is former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a defender of Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was appointed Director of National Intelligence!
Adding to the "absurdity," US Vice President J.D. Vance made hostile remarks about the European Union last week. Meanwhile, the Trump administration, particularly through billionaire Elon Musk, has been openly supporting far-right parties in Europe, including the neo-Nazi Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the anti-immigrant Reform Party in Britain, antagonizing Washington’s two most strategic allies in Europe.
The European picture was made even more bleak as Trump and his administration reversed course on Ukraine. He stressed that he trusted Putin and that he wanted to make a deal, even if it meant forcing Ukraine to cede some of its territory to Russia.
In Asia, Trump took a coercive and domineering posture when receiving his guest, India’s hard right Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is supposed to be among the closest allies of the US on the continent and whose role would be particularly relevant in the event of a major confrontation with China over trade or Taiwan. Modi was "forced" to agree to purchase more US oil (!), American-made cars, and advanced F-35 fighter jets (which New Delhi had not sought), along with modifications that would allow India to buy more US nuclear reactors.
In light of the above, there can be no doubt Ishaq al-Mawsili was right: "Every era has its state and its men."
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