#us-diplomacy

#us-diplomacy

The agreement builds on a truce reached three months ago when Trump used the threat of higher tariffs against both countries to persuade them to end five days of fighting that resulted in dozens of deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands. The first phase of the agreement involves Thailand releasing 18 Cambodian soldiers, and the removal of heavy weapons from the border region, with Malaysian troops to be deployed to ensure fighting does not restart.

A US president, after months of tacit encouragement, has finally intervened to end an Israeli military offensive that has reduced swaths of a Middle Eastern city to rubble, leaving thousands dead and prompting global outrage. For months, the UN has looked on, impotent, as Israeli air raids and artillery shelling has pummelled apartment blocks and refugee camps beside the Mediterranean.

The terror group abducted more than 1,200 people which then triggered the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take retaliatory military action and as a result the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) literally flattened the Gaza Strip resulting in thousands of Palestinians being caught up in the fighting ending up being killed. Donald Trump has flown to Israel, and the US President is due to make a speech at Israel's parliament on Monday in the Knesset.

It'll last a couple of days,

The veteran negotiators Hussein Agha, representing Palestine, and Robert Malley, an American diplomat, played instrumental roles in that long effort, including the critical Camp David summit of 2000. But, in their new book, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday," they conclude that they were part of a charade. "A waste of time is almost a charitable way to look at it," Malley notes bitterly. "At the end of that thirty-year-or-so period, the Israelis and Palestinians are in a worse situation than before the U.S. got so heavily invested."

He nevertheless conceded he should have been more tolerant in his remarks to the reporters who shouted questions after he met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun earlier this week. Animalistic' was a word that I didn't use in a derogatory manner. I'm just saying: Can we calm down? Can we find some tolerance and kindness? Let's be civilised, said Barrack, who serves as ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria and Lebanon.

A U.S. official noted a pattern: the progress was made without much personal intervention by Trump, but by envoys invoking his name and convincing countries they'll improve their standing by making a deal. "2025 is a year of opportunity for Trump to make peace, because leaders around the world see Trump as super strong and want to be on his good side. Now, Trump can be the most effective in his diplomacy. But every day that passes, this superpower diminishes," the official said.

The peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia, brokered by the United States, is a significant development after nearly four decades of conflict and creates new business opportunities.

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a peace agreement at the White House, ending decades of conflict with US involvement, including key transportation routes.

A State Department spokesperson stated that mission-critical functions will be integrated elsewhere in the department, indicating that many offices eliminated had an outdated or duplicative purpose.