World
Trump fails to secure Russian ceasefire. New Zealand shelves big tech tax. Far right make gains in Europe. By Jonathan Pearlman.
Australia joins calls for Israel to lift aid limits in Gaza
Great power rivalry
Ukraine: Donald Trump signalled this week he may abandon his efforts to end the war in Ukraine after holding a two-hour phone conversation with Vladimir Putin – their third since Trump’s inauguration – that failed to secure backing for a ceasefire.
Despite the United States president’s claim the call on Monday “went very well”, Trump was unable to persuade Putin to back a proposal for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. The Russian president said he would not agree to a ceasefire without Ukrainian concessions and called for both sides to draft a “memorandum” that specified their terms of a future deal.
“There is no timeframe and can be none,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Tuesday.
Putin’s position was rejected as a delaying tactic by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, who has called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations.
“If the Russians are not ready to stop the killings, there must be stronger sanctions,” he said in a tweet. “Pressure on Russia will push it toward real peace.”
President Trump later appeared to back away from further involvement in talks, reportedly telling Zelensky and European leaders that Kyiv and Moscow should negotiate alone. As his peacemaking efforts faltered, the European Union and the United Kingdom imposed new sanctions on Russia this week.
Trump faces growing calls to also impose new sanctions, including from prominent Republicans such as Lindsey Graham, who backed a bill to impose 500 per cent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas.
US Vice President J. D. Vance told reporters on Monday that efforts to persuade Putin to negotiate had hit an “impasse”.
“I think honestly that President Putin, he doesn’t quite know how to get out of the war,” he said.
The neighbourhood
New Zealand: A plan by New Zealand to impose a tax on global technology giants was shelved this week amid concerns about the risk of retaliation by US President Donald Trump.
Simon Watts, the revenue minister, announced on Tuesday that the Nationals-led government was not proceeding with the proposed Digital Services Tax bill, which would impose a 3 per cent tax on revenue earnt from search engine, social media and content-sharing services in New Zealand by firms such as Google, Meta, Microsoft and Apple. The tax, introduced by the previous Labour government, was expected to generate about NZ$140 million a year.
The US president has condemned moves by countries such as the UK, France, Italy and New Zealand to tax technology firms. The UK has a 2 per cent tax but is in discussions with the White House about amending it as part of a wider deal to remove tariffs.
Watts said in a statement he would prefer for New Zealand to act as part of an internationally agreed approach.
“A global solution has always been our preferred option, and we have been encouraged by the recent commitment of countries to the OECD work in this area,” he said.
War zone
Gaza: Israel came under pressure this week from allies such as the UK to end its escalated offensive in Gaza, while more than 20 countries – including Australia – demanded Israel lift limits on aid flows.
As ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas ended without a deal, Israel proceeded this week with a new military campaign aimed at seizing and holding territory in Gaza while forcing residents to move to the south. The campaign, which began last Sunday, included heavy air strikes that killed 144 people in its first two days, according to local officials.
In a joint statement on Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney threatened to take “concrete actions” against Israel if it did not halt the campaign and address the need for aid. British Foreign Affairs Secretary David Lammy later suspended negotiations with Israel over a new trade deal, saying Israel’s actions were an “affront to the values of the British people”.
“The planned displacement of so many Gazans is morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and utterly counter-productive,” Lammy told parliament.
Aid agencies have warned that stocks of food, medicine and fuel are running out and that Gaza, which has 2.2 million residents, is at risk of famine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week he would allow a “basic amount of food” into Gaza, ending a blockade that began in early March. On Tuesday, Israel said 93 trucks had been allowed to enter, but the United Nations said the Israeli military had not cleared aid workers to collect and distribute the supplies. A group of 24 countries – including the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Australia and New Zealand – demanded this week that Israel allow unlimited aid flows and enable humanitarian groups to operate.
“The Israeli government cannot allow the suffering to continue,” Australia’s minister for foreign affairs, Penny Wong, said in a statement.
Spotlight: Europe’s new MAGA populism
Romania: In 2006, Nicușor Dan, a Romanian maths prodigy who has a PhD from the Sorbonne, started an organisation to protect Bucharest’s architectural heritage from rampant development. He eventually became mayor of Bucharest, gaining prominence for his battles against corruption.
Last December, Dan decided to run for the presidency after an election in 2024 was annulled over concerns that Russia had meddled to favour a far-right populist.
In a second-round ballot last weekend, Dan, a centrist who supports the European Union and backs aid for Ukraine, defeated George Simion, a far-right anti-EU populist and Donald Trump advocate, by 53.6 per cent to 46.4 per cent. “It’s a moment of hope,” Dan told supporters after his win.
Dan’s victory was welcomed with relief by centrist leaders across Europe. France’s Emmanuel Macron said Romanians had chosen “democracy, the rule of law and the European Union”.
But the election – and Simion’s strong showing – also confirmed the growing popularity of MAGA-style right-wing populists across Europe.
In Portugal, the centre-right Democratic Alliance increased its vote at parliamentary elections last weekend and is on track to form a minority government. But the far-right Chega party is set to be the second-biggest party, winning at least 58 seats in the 230-member parliament. Chega competed in its first election in 2019, when it won one seat.
André Ventura, Chega’s leader, an anti-migration Trump devotee, told supporters: “I am not going to stop until I become the prime minister of Portugal.”
In Poland, the pro-EU mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, secured a narrow first-round victory in the presidential election last weekend, winning 31.4 per cent of the vote. A nationalist, Karol Nawrocki, won 29.5 per cent, and two far-right candidates were in third and fourth positions, together receiving 21 per cent of the vote. Trzaskowski and Nawrocki will hold a second-round election on June 1.
Though pro-EU centrists have been holding on to power, the three elections indicated that right-wing insurgents – often inspired by Trump – are on the rise.
Commenting on Dan’s victory in Romania, Dimitar Bechev, from Carnegie Europe, told the Financial Times: “This time we pulled it off, but what about next time?”
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on May 24, 2025 as "Australia joins calls for Israel to lift aid limits in Gaza".
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