Why on earth was Peter Mandelson appointed in the first place?

The decision to appoint Lord Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to Washington was always a mistake. It showed that Keir Starmer wasn't satisfied with any of the potential candidates from within the Foreign Office. The Washington job is the pinnacle appointment for anyone serving as a diplomat and normally goes to someone who has worked his or her way up the diplomatic ladder. Appointing a politician or former politician is always going to be risky and is seen as one in the eye for the senior diplomats who have proved their worth at home and broad. Mandelson has been axed for the increasingly embarrassing revelations about his relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein, convicted girl sex trafficker. But his appointment in the first place demonstrated unwise judgment by the prime minister. Mandelson's predecessor, Karen Pierce, excelled as ambassador. She was a career diplomat. Now the Foreign Office is in a bad way. Redundancy notices are flying around. Key people holding top director jobs are being dismissed or leaving. The head of the Foreign Office, Sir Oliver Robbins, isn't a career deiplomat but a favoured Downing Street figure after he served as the main Brexit adviser. Too many good people in the Foreign Office are leaving. Now, all the rumours are that Starmer will double-up on his mistake with Mandelson by replacing him with another politician, such as George Osborne, rather than a diplomat who has served in key capitals, such as Moscow or Beijing or Paris. Big mistake!

Has Trump given up on Ukraine and Gaza?

For months there was so much diplomatic activity going on between the United States and all the participants and players and backroom negotiators involved in resolving the wars in Ukraine and Gaza that at any moment the world was expecting to hear about a major breakthrough in both conflicts. Peace at last. I don't know how close it came but we were all expecting the wars would be resolved soon because of Donald Trump's eternal optimism. We believed he could do it. He believed he could do it. Every time his special envoy Steve Witkoff came back from his latest trip to Moscow or Tel Aviv or Qatar, the White House vibe was that there would be good news very soon. But nothing materialised. Putin kept on bombing and killing and destroying and ignoring Trump's entreaties, and Benjanmin Netanyahu did the same and kept on bombing and killing and destroying and ignoring Trump. Peace deals are further away now than they have ever been. Does this mean Trump has finally given up hope of ending either conflict? If that's the case, then it will be a defining legacy for his second administration. Total failure, despite all the effort and hand-wringing. Putin and Netanyahu are basically doing what they want whatever the White House or Europe or anyone else says. There is no world order anymore.

Putin laughs like a drone

Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump's old mate, really is having a laugh. He is not foolish enough to invade Poland but he is testing out Nato's response to aggression with other less threatening but still cunning ways. Cyber attacks are run-of-the-mill these days but his new venture is to send drones into Polish airspace, supposedly erring ones that should have hit targets in western Ukraine but, oops, went a dozen or so miles into Poland. Clearly it wasn't a mistake but was totally deliberate, part of a Kremlin plan to demonstrate that Moscow can do what the hell it likes when it likes and get away with it. Poland is outraged and warns it is closer to conflict with Russia than since the Second World War. That's political hyperbole but it's the response which will make Putin smile because he knows that the few drones which actually got through defences and caused damage will have scared the life out of the Polish people and put Nato on a jittery alert status. Now there's talk of setting up a Drone Watch defence system, so that no one can be caught out ever again. Why wasn't this in place a long time ago? The truth is, Putin will get away with this infringement of Polish sovereignty like he always does because Nato won't want to escalate the situation too much. Next time it will be double the number of drones and then a cruise missile or two. But still Putin will be the one to laugh. Like a drain but in this case, like a drone. This is Putin's time and unless Trump does something pretty drastic, it will remain Putin's time throughout Trump's second administration. PLEASE BUY MY NEW SPY THRILLER, AGENT REDRUTH, DESCRIBED BY THE DAILY MAIL AS MAKING JAMES BOND LOOK TAME. ORDER FROM AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, WATERSTONES, ROWANVALE BOOKS.

Israel strikes at Hamas in Doha

If Hamas ever thought their "political" leaders residing in Qatar's Doha capital were safe from Israeli attacks, now they know they have probably always been a potential taget. Previously, as the Hamas representatives in the often-abortive negotiations to end the war in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must have decided it was better to leave them alone, if only to keep the US on side. But now, with the war in Gaza progressing towards a new phase, all bets are off. Netanyahu is in no mood to negotiate, directly or indirectly, with Hamas, especially after the death of six Israeli citizens waiting at a bus stop in Jerusalem, shot dead by Palestinian gunmen. The attack in Doha has been universally condemned, although not by the White House which would have been tipped off prior to the strike. The possibility of peace negotations is now off the table for good. How many of the Hamas hierarchy were killed in Doha is not yet known but the Israel Defence Forces said the strike was carried out with precision munitions which means that targets had been pinpointed. Doha will from now on never be safe again from Israeli attacks. It's a new and dangerous development in the terrible war in Gaza which began after the atrocities caused by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Will Putin ever meet Zelensky and shake hands?

After three years and nearly seven months of war in Ukraine, are we any closer to seeing a meeting between Putin and Zelensky and a formal shaking of hands of the two enemies? The answer has to be no and no. In fact, I cannot see Putin and Zelensky ever meeting for a peace settlement deal, or anything at all, because the two are always going to be so far apart in what they want and need that a meeting of hands, let alone of minds, seems as far-fetched as Donald Trump persuading Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the two-state solution for Palestinians. These political objectives are just not going to happen under Trump's watch or any US president's watch. It's too late. Both wars are so entrenched that any reason for hope or optimismm has vanished. And yet Trump frequently still suggests that both wars will be resolved "soon". It's difficult to understand why he should think that when both Putin and Netanyahu are ignoring him and world opinion. Trump yesterday indicated he wasn't happy with Putin after the drone-bombing of government buildings in Kyiv which won't have disturbed Putin's breakfast. I think he thinks he knows how to play Trump very well now and is no longer bothered what the US president does or threatens to do and will just carry on regardless, and laugh at all the despairing attempts by European leaders to find a solution to the conflict.

The disastrous failure of peace efforts in Ukraine and Gaza

Nothing better sums up the disasters in Ukraine and Gaza than the current run of bombings by the Russians and the Israelis. Putin's bombers and droners have been hitting Ukraine's government buildings in Kyiv for the first time, and Israel is targeting high-rise buildings in Gaza City, literally reducing them to rubble. Why, is not absolutely clear, other than what seems to be a strategy of total destruction. Putin has decided to attack Ukrainian government buildings for obvious reasons. He wants to up the anti and hurt Zelensky as much as possible by making him even more vulnerable every day of his life. If Zelesnky can develop drones with long-enough range or missiles that can fly more than 1,000 miles, perhaps he will order strikes on the Kremlin. This is the way the war is going to go. Meanwhile, Netanyahu is doing his best to turn Gaza City into a heap of rubble, so no one can live there any more, neither terrorists nor Palestinian citizens. Attempts to stop this mindless destruction in both Kyiv and Gaza City have totally failed. No one, certainly not Donald Trump, can persuade either Putin or Netanyahu to call it a day and go for peace. One of the most gruesome issues in Gaza is that the only hostages now getting released or recovered by military action are already dead. Peace is dead.

Putin says no to European troops in Ukraine

So much has gone into a blueprint plan for sending thousands of troops from the UK and Europe to Ukraine to monitor/reassure/protect a ceasefire or peace settlement. But all to no avail because Putin has stated categorically that he would reject any such scheme. He has now said European troops would be legitimate targets. This cannot have come as a surprise to European leaders because Putin made this clear right from the start. But they are still carrying on as if it really is going to happen. I wonder whow much money has been spent getting this coalition of the willing together for a role they will never actually perform. There are now 26 countries ready to deploy troops to Ukraine. Tens if not hundreds of ohousands of pounds must have been spent in drawing this all together. It beggars belief.

Putin and Xi Zinping want immortality

Never mind world order domination, the war in Ukraine, the rising power of China and the battle with the West and democracy, what Vladimir Putin and Xi Zinping are really interested in is immortality. They are considering organ transplants to keep them alive for many more decades. Their conversation, overheard when they didn't realise the microphone was on during their meeting in Beijing, was pretty gruesome. They actually shared the same belief that if they had other's presumably much younger vital organs that would keep them alive, like for ever. Putin and Xi for ever! Heaven help us and the world. The most extraordinary thing was that both leaders admitted to each other that they had been having the same thoughts about their future. It was like a sci-fi, thinking it might be their best path to live much much longer, and presumably stay in power much much longer. It would be funny if it wasn't both distasteful and somewhat obscene. The golden rule for political leaders is that if you are going to have a conversation like this, it's better to do it in total privacy, away from microphones. Too many damaging remarks have been caught on a "hot" mic over the years, like when Obama promised Putin that if he won the election in the US, he would reset relations with the Russian leader and all would be fine.

Who is the most powerful leader in the world, Donald Trump or Xi Zinping?

Today at least President Xi Zinping of China looks to be the most powerful leader on the world stage. He has surrounded himself with many of the most unsavoury leaders, including Putin and Kim Jong-un, and is parading his most advanced weapons for all to see. Meanwhile, Trump has sent the mighty US Navy to blast away a small speed boat carrying drugs off Venezuela. The contrast couldn't be more dramatic. I know this is an artificial comparison and it's only today but somehow it seems to sum up how the world is going. Trump was asked whether he should be concerned about China and Russia ganging up on the US and he appeared to be very relaxed about it. He even went on to say how much he liked Xi and thought of him as a friend. But this wasn't the message the Chinese leader was giving as he rolled out new intercontinental ballistic missiles onlow loaders in Tiananman Square. He was definitely making the point that China wants to dominate the world order and push Trump to one side. It didn't help that social media yesterday was full of so-called stories claiming Trump had died. Trump was able to do a Mark Twain and say that reports of his death were premature, and he hadn't succumbed to some deadly illness. Trump is alive and apparently well. But there were no reports of Xi Zinping falling ill. He looked in sparkling health and remains leader of China for life. Again, another dramatic comparison.

Is Narendra Modi switching sides?

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, holds hands with Vladimir Putin and chats to him and Xi Zinping, the all-powerful leader of China, like they are the best and oldest of friends. Is Modi, hammered by Donald Trump's trade tariffs, demonstrating that he is changing sides, going for the would-be world-dominating, China-led option rather than the old US-dominated western alternative? He is reported to be so angry with Trump that the invitation to attend a meeting in Beijing of China's favourite leaders has given him the opportunity to turn his back on the US and Trump, in particular. It wouldn't be surprising because Trump has singled out India for the toughest tariff punishment for daring to buy Russia's cheap oil and gas. But, of course, it's all part of the game that Modi is especially clever at playing. In other words, one moment he seems to be courting China and the next he will be signing arms deals with the US and pretending everlasting friendship with Washington. Right now, in order to persuade Trump to back down over tariffs he is smooching up to Xi Zinping and, creepy creepy, walking along holding Putin's hand. I bet Putin cringed inwardly but of course he went along with it because he, too, wanted to do two fingers to Trump. So Modi is a clever politician. His smiles and affectionate embraces for Xi Zinping, Putin and others are all aimed at grabbing Trump's attention. What will Trump do? He should be able to see through all this showtime stuff in Beijing. But for the moment, he will probably feel somewhat left out as Xi, Putin, Modi and, later today, Kim Jong-un, on his way by armoured train from North Korea, all pose for pics and lovey-dovey cuddles.

Ignoring climate-change is all the rage

Donald Trump started it. He discounted climate change and global warming from the beginning, dismissing the millions of words of warnings from the world's best scientists and environmentalists, and the pictures of the Artic icecap melting, and the fantastic hot summers etc etc. All he was and is interested in is exploiting all the gas and oil the US has underground and rejecting the alternative energy sources. He hates wind turbines and is trying to dismantle them. Now other foreign politicians are following his example. In the UK, Nigel Farage, the so-called leader of the so-called party called Reform, believes whatever Trump says. The UK's opposition leader, Kemi Badenoch, doesn't like being upstaged by Farage, so she is the latest one to call for huge increases in oil and gas drilling around the the country to make sure nothing is left to waste away. She is thinking jobs and energy profits, never mind the carbon emissions. Meanwhile, the Labour government's energy policy is to go for net zero carbon emissions by 2050 which means no coal or gas or oil but nuclear, wind, solar and whatever else is going. But that policy is being dismissed as impractical even though it's supposed to be the goal set by the international community for the planet. Badenoch has jumped on the bandwagon of those saying it's all nonsense and we need to burn fossil fuel for as long as it's available. I think it's safe to say that the world, with such leaders, will bring this poor old world to an early end. It will just burn up and it will be too late to do anything about it. David Attenborough has spent most of the latter part of his long and extraordinary life warning us all about the dangers of climate change. We all listen and say what a great guy he is. But if governments don't listen we are all doomed.