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Trump and Putin Talk Ukraine Ceasefire, M23 Continues the DRC Advance, Sudan’s Military Makes Gains

On this episode of American Prestige, headlines from around the globe.

Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison

February 14, 2025

Men ride in the back of a donkey-drawn cart moving along a muddied road in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 10, 2025, amid the current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas.(Bashar Taleb / AFP via Getty Images)

On this week’s news roundup from American Prestige: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agree to start bilateral peace talks for the war in Ukraine (1:05), with anticipated fallout for the latter nation (6:17); Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth makes some frank comments on Europe, Ukraine, and NATO (8:06); our update on the situation in Israel-Palestine includes Hamas threatening to delay the next hostage release over Israeli transgressions (12:06) and Trump continuing to push a US takeover of Gaza (16:53); in Lebanon, a new government is formed (21:22) and the IDF seeks to extend its occupation there (23:28); a Washington Post report suggests Israel might be planning to strike Iran (25:33); in China news, Trump reinstates a de minimis tariff exemption, but there is still no sign of a meeting with Xi Jinping (28:46); the Sudanese military is close to driving the Rapid Support Forces out of the Khartoum region (31:20); the so-called Islamic State group appears to be on the rise in Somalia (33:36); a regional summit demands a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo as M23 continues its advance (35:38); and back in the United States, Trump announces new steel and aluminum tariffs (38:58) in addition to presenting alarming new opportunities for corruption (40:52).

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US-Ukraine Ceasefire Proposal, Duterte Arrested on ICC Warrant, Sea Ice at Lowest Recorded Level | American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

This week on the news roundup: the Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that global sea ice fell to the lowest level ever recorded in February (1:18); Alawites in northwestern Syria have been massacred over several days (3:19) while the government and SDF cut a deal (6:49); Israel intensifies its blockade of Gaza (9:38) as the US proposes a new compromise for the Strip (10:55); Armenia and Azerbaijan look to be on the cusp of a peace agreement (14:31); the Philippines arrests former president Rodrigo Duterte on an ICC warrant (16:30); Trump and China’s Xi Jinping might hold a summit in June (19:23); the crisis in South Sudan continues to worsen (21:03); the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and M23 armed group look to hold peace talks (23:31); in Russia-Ukraine, the US and Ukraine produce a ceasefire proposal (25:15) while Russia retakes most of Kursk Oblast (29:46); Trump might be preparing to invade Panama (31:45); Canada elects a new prime minister (33:37); Trump continues to escalate the trade war (37:01); and former US national security advisor Jake Sullivan will become Harvard’s inaugural Kissinger professor of the practice of statecraft and world order (39:26).

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Daniel BessnerTwitterDaniel Bessner is an historian of US foreign relations, and cohost of American Prestige, a podcast on international affairs.


Derek DavisonDerek Davison is a writer and analyst specializing in international affairs and US foreign policy. He is the publisher of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter, cohost of the American Prestige podcast, and former editor of LobeLog.


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