Statecraft in Action: Recent State Policies & Actions and Their Impact

 

• Donald Trump, as expected, has up the ante in his campaign to oust Venezuelan president Maduro by using US forces to seize a Venezuelan tanker loaded off the Venezuelan coast loaded with over a million barrels of crude oil. Is this legitimate state action, backed by international law or just simple piracy? We'll wait for more details to emerge.

 

• A day after Ukrainian president Zelensky meets European leaders in London to discuss a US peace plan, proposed to end the war between his country and Russia, president Trump describes Europe as "decaying", European leaders as "weak", and threatens to scale back US support for Ukraine. Two days earlier, the president's son had hinted at a possible US withdrawal from the process.   

 

• Tensions return between Cambodia and Thailand after cross-border clashes and air strikes.  Each country is blaming the other for breaching a peace deal reached just a week before.

 

• A tit-for-tat seems to be developing between Elon Musk and the European Union, as X now bans all European Commission ads just days after the EU Regulator fined the social media platform 120m Euros over it's Blue Tick Badges.

 

• The G20 Summit was held in South Africa in November, where leaders and state representatives of the world's 20 most important economies met and discussed global strategies to strengthen the global economy.  But it was notable that probably the two most important men who have the greatest impact on this desired outcome were both absent: US president Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. 
  

 

• Since the peace deal was agreed between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza, Israeli settlers have increase attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank.  They continue to do this without the state of Israeli applying any sanctions for their actions.  The Palestinians are powerless to defend themselves or their property or to respond in any realistic way. Unlike Jewish settlers, they are barred by Israel from carrying guns and other weapons used by Israel settlers.

 

• US president Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping announce agreement in trade dispute between the world's two superpowers.

 

• The US continues it's  military buildup in the Caribbean and provocation of Venezuela, seeking an excuse to invade.  For some time, Venezuelan president Nicolas Vadura has been warning that the US is trying to fabricate an excuse for a military attack and to start a war with the South American nation.  There seems to be mounting evidence supporting his claim with the US military's recent deliberate targeting of Venezuelan civilian vessels in either Venezuelan or international waters resulting in death and destruction, seems designed to incite a reaction from which the US could retaliate and declare war. The Venezuelans have shown incredible restraint and refrained from and form of military response, so now the US has deployed a massive warship to the region in another deliberate provocative act, and a clear sign of preparation for war.  

 

• Since the start of the war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly met Europen leaders including UK prime minister Keir Starmer, king Charles, the French president, the German Chancellor, and other European leaders to shore up support for his war effort with Russia.  These meetings have produced promises of military aid with long-range weapons and additional sanctions on Russia's oil industry to try and choke off funding for Russia's war effort.

 

• Plaid Cymru has won a by-election in Wales, upsetting the fancied Labour Party and Reform.  Labour had held the seat in Caerphilly for the last 100 years! But on this occasion, they could only finish third behind Nigel Farage's Reform in second!

 

• In October, the US imposed sanctions on Russia a day Donald Trump suspended proposed meeting with Vladimir Putin to discuss end of war in Ukraine. Had he finally realized that the Russian leader had been playing him all along?  The previous week, Donald Trump had made a surprise announcement about plans to meet Vladimir Putin in Hungary to discuss end of Ukraine war! Looked like a president pushing hard for his Nobel prize! But then that meeting was dramatically called off.   Was Putin again playing his American counterpart and just playing for time, as the threat of Ukraine receiving Tomahawk missiles forced him to the negotiating table, which he could now shun since that threat was withdrawn?  It is believed Ukrainian president Zelensky did not get the supply of US Tomahawk missiles he expected when he met Trump earlier because of Putin's promise to meet and negotiate a truce.

 

• King Charles makes historic public prayer with Pope Leo, becoming the first British monarch to do so in 500 years! 

 

• The integrity of the UK's Inquiry of Grooming Gangs has comes under threat as the 4 survivors on the panel quit.  A number of panel members are at loggerheads with the minister, but at the moment she still retains the confidence of the Secretary and the Cabinet.

 

• The UK government remains under some fire over it's handling of the China spy case. Criticism have come in from various opposition groups for the dropping of the case brought against two Britons accused of spying for China.  Prime Minister Starmer has promised to release papers.  In the meantime, approval for Chinese super embassy in London has been put on hold as a result and relationships between the two states set to get complicated. 

 

• Fragile peace deal between Israel and Palestine holding for now after challenges and alleged breaches.

 

• On Wednesday, October 8, Colombian President Gustavo Pedro claimed that the latest civilian boat bombed by the US military in Venezuelan waters was actually Colombian and killed innocent, unarmed Colombian citizens.  He insists that the strike has nothing to do with drug trafficking but was all about political economy. That the US policy "wasn't a war against smuggling, but a war for oil". This claim adds powerful confirmation of what Venezuela's president has been saying all along.  This is now coming from a Caribbean leader with much closer relationship with the American government.   Of course the Americans might not have known that the vessel was Colombian as it was in Venezuelan waters when it was struck

 

• On October 1, Israeli navy intercepted boats carrying aid intended for Gaza and arrested hundreds of human rights campaigners, including renowned human rights and environment activist Greta Thunberg and took them to Israel.  Why is Israel still blocking food and medical aid to Gaza whilst the Gazans are starving and dying?

 

• The peace plan presented to Hamas at the beginning of October had already been discussed and agreed between US president Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  This plan clearly covered Israeli interests extensively, and left serious doubts as to how adequately it addressed the interests of the Palestinian people.  However, the Palestinians had no choice at the moment. They are displaced, suffering, and their children are sick, hungry, starving and dying from hunger, bombs and malnutrition. They had to accept whatever peace deal they can get.  

 

• On Sunday, September 21, the UK, Canada and Australia formally recognized the Palestinian state.  On Monday France and Portugal announced their official recognition as well.  This is highly significant.  But why is this so significant when some over 150 of the 193 (more than 3/4) UN member states have already recognized it?  The significance here is not in the how many but the who?  Despite so many states recognizing Palestine many of the most powerful states, including over half a dozen of some of the most powerful ones in the West hadn't. So the announcement  of this quintet significantly reshapes that configuration. Some important Western states are still holding back though. These include the United States, Germany and Italy.

 

• The recognition by the UK and others of the Palestinian state didn't seem to influence Israel's behaviour as it continued it's daily bombing in spite of the announcements.

 

• It is correct for us to ask what the recent state visit to the UK by the US president actually achieved.  Has it improved the lives of anyone, anywhere? How?

 

• US President Donald Trump recently completed a controversial 2-day state to the United Kingdom which began on Tuesday, September 16th.  Though the visit gave a lot of pleasure to the monarchy and government, it rub many ordinary people up the wrong way.   

 

• The recent deal reached between the UK and France on migrant returns have faced many challenges but the UK government is still determined to enforce it. A High Court ruling in September upheld a legal challenge to the deal but by the following day the government was insisting that the policy will still go ahead.  Less than 24 hours after the High Court ruling, Technology Secretary, Liz Kendall, said the last-minute injunction which effectively put an abrupt halt to the attempted deportation "would not scupper the “one in, one out” scheme for ever.   We now wait to see whether politics or the law will prevail or if a common space can be found to accommodate the two. 

 

• According to a UN Commission of Inquiry held in September 2025, Israel has been commit genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.  The findings were immediately rejected by the Israeli government who made no effort to adjust their behaviour.  Over 60,000 Palestinians are estimated to have been killed by the Israel's military forces since they began their offensive in the strip nearly 2 years ago, and most of the territory's vital infrastructure including hospitals, schools, roads and homes have since been destroyed.  Now that a peace deal has finally been reached to end the conflict, we hope this tragedy will end once and for all.  

 

• More evidence that US president Donald Trump is determined to continue to use the US military against his political enemies at home and abroad was again on show on Monday September 15th, as the US Air Force was again used to strike and destroy a Venezuelan commercial boat in international waters, that the president claims was carrying illegal drugs.  The vessel was destroyed and three civilians on board were killed.  No evidence was given to back up this claim of drugs trafficking.  The Venezuelan government condemned the strike.  US president Trump and the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro have been very public about their mutual enmity. It is interesting that despite the most recent US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Report (2025) identifying Columbia as the country that most of illegal drugs arriving in the US comes from (84%) - and describing the threat from Venezuelan drugs traffickers in comparison as "small-scale drug trafficking activities", not a single Colombian vessel has been hit since the president introduced this policy a few months ago!  Yet, this is now the second Venezuelan commercial vessel to have been targeted in as many weeks, resulting in many innocent civilian deaths with no evidence as yet submitted to substantiate claims of drug trafficking, advanced to justify the strikes!  Is this really about drug control or political bullyism and murder?

 

• The United states is continuing it's policy of summary justice as part of it's official policy against drug trafficking. This is increasingly been employed on the high sees, and in manner that blatantly flaunts international law.  On Monday September 15, the US Air Force was again used to strike and destroy a Venezuelan boat accused by president Trump of transporting illegal drugs, intended for the US.  The act was in clear breach of international law, and could even warrant criminal prosecutions if the suspicions of the president's personal motives for the actions are found to be accurate.  The strike took place in international waters, not US waters or jurisdiction. The strike did not result from "high pursuit".  Three innocent civilians were executed without any opportunity to offer a legal defence.  No real evidence was provided by the US to corroborate the claim of drug trafficking.  There has been no similar strikes against Colombian vessels, despite evidence held by the US DEA that that country is the origin of the majority of illegal drugs into the US.  US president Donald Trump and Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro have been at loggerheads for months. 

 

• On September 2nd, the US military carried out a strike on a commercial Venezuelan vessel which it claimed was carrying drugs and drug traffickers.  11 civilians were killed in the strike.  President Donald Trump went on social media to boast about the strike.  Two days later, speaking in Ecuador, US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio made it clear that this was now official US policy, threatening that the US will "blow up" foreign crime groups if needed.  But is this legal?  We believe that it is not.  In our view this type of action is not allowed under international law.  There seems to us to be clear violations of humans rights law as well as maritime law during the lethal actions taken on Tuesday. The vessel was clearly not a military vessel.  If the US was convinced that the vessel carried illegal drugs or criminals, it had the option of intercepting the vessel - by force, if necessary, if it tried to enter its waters.  This option was ignored.  There was no report of violence from the vessel to warrant a case of using lethal fire as self defence either. This was clearly summary justice and this is not allowed either in domestic nor international law of progressive societies.

 

• The United Nations Security Council has for once secured unanimous condemnation for an Israeli atrocity, but there is a glaring catch. On Friday all 15 members of the security council supported a resolution condemning Israel's military strike in Qatar this week which killed half a dozen innocent people.  On face value, this is very significant because this number includes Israel's powerful supporters on the council such as the United States, the UK and France.  But what many people might have missed is that this wide support for the resolution was only secured because this so called "condemnation" did not one name Israel at all!  This is ridiculous!  Who or what are they condemning?  Hypocrites!!

 

• In September, the UK government slapped additional sanctions on Russia as punishment for it's ongoing military aggression in Ukraine. We welcome this decision as a just way to punish Russia's actions in Ukraine, despite their claims of justified cause. Russia did have grounds that needed addressing but we do not think that killing thousands of innocent and sometimes defenceless people is the right way to address these  grievances.  And we believe that powerful nations like the UK have a duty of taking strong action to both punish and deter illegal and cruel bullyism by powerful nations against especially weaker peoples.  

 

• A military strike carried out by the Israeli Défense Forces (I.D.F.) in Qatar in September targeting peace negotiators whom they had agreed to meet to negotiate and sign off on peace proposals, called into question how genuine Israel was about a genuine peace.  The deliberate strikes in Qatar aimed at the assassination of the very Palestinian peace negotiators that were ready to deliver that peace agreement, and therefore cast doubt on whether peace was Israel's priority after all.

 

• The UK is trying to bully and pressure other countries into signing up to their immigration policies. On Monday September 8th, new UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that the UK was considering suspending visas from countries that refuse to sign up to return deals for migrants.  If this is not blatant bullyism, then I don't know what is!

 

• Political theatre was on show last week in Beijing as China's President Xi Jinping hosted a number of notable world leaders - including some regarded by the West as global pariahs, as part of a military parade held in the infamous Tiananmen Square on Wednesday September 3rd to commemorate  the 80th Anniversary of "Victory Day", which marks Japan's surrender and the end of World War II. The guest list makes significant reading.  Whilst there weren't any major western leader in attendance, a long list of notable non-Western invitees included Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean President Kim Jong-un, Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hliang, as well as the Indonesia President and the Malaysian Prime Minister. On show were some very sophisticated, advanced new and powerful weaponry likely to worry the West, including nuclear-capable missile that can be launched from sea, land and air, lasers, hypersonic anti-ship missiles, and the latest airborne and water-based drones with sophisticated spying capabilities.  Xi made a show of deliberately seating Putin and Kim to flank him on either side, and this arrangement lasted throughout the entire parade.  These very public images were not very welcome in western capitals and US President Donald Trump responded very angrily to the defiant images on his Truth Social accusing the three leaders of conspiring against America.  But the question is, "what is Xi Jinping's game plan here?  Is China sending a public message to the world that It can offer not just an alternative global economic path and leadership to rival the US-Led Western hegemonic order that currently dominate the world, but also a potential military alternative and leadership.  What happened in the days leading up to this parade also lends some strength to this argument. On Monday and Tuesday, Xi was very visible in Beijing with some very telling photo ops with Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which seemed choreographed to publicize the growing friendship and alliance between arguably the three most powerful non-Western states.  They should be taking notice in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin!

   

• On Tuesday September 02, 2025, Belgium became the latest country to declare it's intention to formally recognize the Palestinian state, with the Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot, warning that the Belgian government would introduce "firm sanctions" against the Israeli government.

 

• In August, Israel announced plans to occupy all of Gaza.  While the United States seems relaxed about Israel's plan to take over Gaza, other Western states including the UK and Germany are very unhappy about it.  UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the plan and Germany later announced that it will suspend some arms exports to Israel as a result of the decision.

 

• The United Nations has warned that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and famine breaking out In Gaza as a result of Israel's continuing policies of blockade, occupation and military action. Officials in Gaza are claiming that more than 100 people are killed daily in the strip from starvation, malnutrition or bullets or bombs of the IDF!  On a single morning in August, some 7 malnutrition deaths were reported and over 90 reported killed by the Israeli military while seeking food aid.  And this has become the new normal in the strip!  Is the "free" world going to just sit by and do nothing but watch silently as this catastrophe unfolds?

 

• In August, the UK government joined France in recognizing Palestine as an independent state.  Prime Minister Keir Starmer made the announcement.  The decision was criticized by both the American President Donald Trump and Jewish leaders, who argue that  the action risks rewarding terror.  More than 100 countries, including European Neighbours Ireland and Spain Have Already Recognized the State of Palestine.

 

• In July, French President Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to recognize Palestinian statehood and the UK and other Western nations were put under pressure to follow suit. Eventually the UK did.  But will this induce any significant change in the attitudes or behaviour of either Israel or the United States - the two countries that really matter?

 

• In July, the United Nations declared that there was starvation in Gaza and pointed the finger firmly at the state of Israel for creating this condition through their military action and blockade of the territory, which prevents the UN and other aid agencies from delivering the aid which the people - men, women and children, so desperately need. Medics in Gaza report multiple deaths from starvation daily, many of them children.  Of course, Israel denies this. Can you comprehend why humans would do this to other humans?

 

• Along with the thousands that have died from starvation or malnutrition, many others continue to to be killed daily by the Israeli military as they seek food. In July, the UN reported that more than 1,000 people had been killed by Israel while seeking aid.  The numbers have more than doubled since Isn't this worse than a prison?