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Ali Miraj reacts as Trump eases sanctions on Russia in a bid to reduce diesel prices.
The agreement was announced while a Ukrainian delegation was in the US to discuss how to seek a resolution of the war with Russia.
Zelenskyy dismissed the accord as "a weak decision on the part of strong partners".
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
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0:00
Hope I find you very well this Saturday afternoon, or at least better than Vladimir Zelensky
0:06
who's basically been done over. Yeah, he's been done over because Donald Trump has agreed a major deal to buy diesel from
0:14
Vladimir Putin. Always lovely to be having people negotiate with you to supposedly have a peace agreement
0:20
and then stab you in the back whilst they're doing exactly that
0:24
U.S. President attempts to lower file prices ahead of crucial midterm elections, condemned as a gift to Russia by Zelensky
0:35
Donald Trump has agreed to buy hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel from Vladimir Putin in a move that has blindsided Ukraine
0:45
The US president's announcement prompted a furious response from Wladimir Zelensky, who said the deal was a gift to Putin, who would fund further terror and perfidy in his country
0:58
Diesel prices for Americans and indeed the world will be coming down in record numbers and fast, declared the president in a post on his truth social platform
1:09
Now, Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, as you know, been talking about it for long enough, haven't we
1:15
Saudi Arabia's closure of its crucial east-west pipeline and Russia's diesel export ban have all choked off diesel supplies in recent months, sending living costs soaring
1:26
You can feel that at the pump here as well. It's not just a US thing. I mean, we're all suffering this, aren't we, Mr. President
1:33
Thank you for taking inflation up in this country. Thank you for mortgage rates now heading 6%
1:39
And thank you for the price of petrol that we have to pay at the pump
1:43
It's all going rather swimmingly, isn't it? The deal marks a significant change, apparently, in the strategy from the president
1:50
who on September the 18th signed sweeping sanctions legislation to ratchet up pressure on Moscow
1:56
by targeting the top five buyers of Russian energy. Right. So he's imposing sanctions on one in one minute
2:04
And then the other hand he essentially taking a view that he wants to do a deal with Putin to bring out more diesel on world markets Presumably also the US is going to buy some of this because its own consumers are hurting And in case any of you hadn noticed the midterm elections are now
2:21
just a few weeks away. Now, Mr. Trump is widely expected to lose control of Congress in the
2:27
midterms amid dire approval ratings, which fell to a record low over the weekend with inflation
2:33
and fuel prices surging. Mr. Zelensky condemned Mr. Trump's deal, which was announced while
2:38
wait for it, top Ukrainian and European officials were in Miami for talks with the US on ending
2:45
the conflict. I mean, just wonderful, wonderful with friends like this, eh? And he said this, this only fuels Putin and gives him the ability to wage even more war
2:57
And at this very moment, this is Zelensky, at this very moment, while we are talking about peace
3:02
America is allowing Russia to export diesel, allowing Russia to sell petroleum products
3:08
is an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged
3:13
I believe our team is simply being used as a cover, a smokescreen, dot, dot, dot
3:19
This is a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners
3:26
Vladimir Zelensky, you want to be careful coming out with that kind of stuff. You don't want another slap down in the White House, do you
3:31
Dear, oh, dear, oh, dear. It's all kicking off, isn't it? What do you make of this
3:35
Actually, before I ask you what you make of this, let me just chuck one other thing
3:40
let me just chuck one other thing for you before I ask you my question it just gets better all the time
3:45
Trump administration, this is in the Daily Mail not exactly a paper that you would expect
3:50
to be particularly hostile to the US even the Daily Mail puts this out
3:54
Trump administration announces sweeping sanctions on ICC this is the International Criminal Court
4:01
hours after former judge Navi Pillay taunts US President with Nobel Peace Prize win
4:09
If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump
4:14
The Trump administration has announced sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court, the ICC
4:19
as part of its campaign to dismantle the tribunal. It comes as a US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio
4:26
labelled the ICC a rogue court and demanded that America allies reign in the court threatening that otherwise the US would continue the campaign to end the ICC This is after the South African jurist
4:43
this is Navi Pillay, and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights joked that she
4:49
might share the prize with the US president if people kept applauding. Okay, you've got a couple
4:56
of examples there of what's going on. One, Trump's basically doing over Zelensky again
5:03
and you've got the ICC basically being vilified by the US government, Marco Rubio et al. He
5:11
wouldn't exactly be acting on anything other than the instructions of his boss, would he
5:16
Let me ask you this. It's a pretty straightforward question, really. Has the US become a rogue state
5:21
Has the US become a rogue state? 03456060973. You can also text 84850. It's interesting this because on the sanctions against the ICC, 180 day, I don't know what general licenses authorizing certain activity involving the ICC, including for the maintenance of its operations
5:48
a general license authorizing certain IT-related activities, including cloud and software services
5:55
also something relating to the pension plan, and also certain activity related to ICC detainees
6:01
I mean, the details are sort of secondary here. It's a signal that this sends out
6:06
Look, this is all rather interesting, isn't it? There's a piece here in the Telegraph
6:13
And again, the Telegraph, let's just put it in context. not exactly a paper that would typically do anything else than, pardon my French
6:25
suck up or lick the backside of the US president. Let's just put it bluntly, shall we? Sorry if
6:32
that visually has conjured up images while you're munching on some sort of burger or whatever you're
6:36
eating. I hope there's something healthier than that. But let's face it, right? The Telegraph
6:40
is very, very partial to the US Let just put it that way Let just put it politely Even there Iona Cleave in the Telegraph of all places is writing this Trump backstabbed Zelensky
6:56
for five minutes of midterm relief. The deal with Putin for Russia
7:03
for Russia's oil, might soften the oil markets, but Ukraine will pay the price
7:09
It was late Friday afternoon, with about an hour to go, before the US markets closed for the weekend
7:13
And naturally, it was time for Donald Trump to make a big announcement. I've just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin of Russia
7:20
where it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the American and global marketplace
7:28
He wrote, as Mr. Trump desired, diesel futures took a small dip
7:33
She goes on to basically say Vladimir Zelensky, whose negotiating team, was talking to U.S. officials in Florida at the time of the announcement called the deal weak
7:42
and a gift to Putin, a spokesperson said the Ukrainian leader was blindsided by the announcement
7:49
Well, that's putting it politely, isn't it? Look, let's just cut the nonsense around here
7:53
shall we? And let's get real. We're dealing in a world of might is right, the law of the jungle
7:59
unilateralism, or you can go down a different path and you can have a world of order cooperation
8:05
and multilateralism. So I've got two questions for you, really. One, has the US become a rogue
8:10
state. And number two, a supplementary, if you don't mind, if it has, some people might think
8:16
this is no revelation. What should we do about it? What should we do about it? Because Mark Carney
8:23
is flirting with associate membership of the EU. Now, that might not happen in my lifetime. I'd
8:28
probably be departed from this world by the time the EU and Canada agree on that. But it does show
8:35
a direction of travel. It does show an intent, doesn't it? And it follows what Mark Carney said
8:39
in Davos in January that middle powers should club together quite openly and quite proudly
8:45
to try and retain some semblance of decency and normality when it comes to the international
8:51
global architecture. So what should we do? Should we go for associate membership of the EU? Should
8:55
we do more than that? We know that Andy Burnham only this week was meeting Friedrich Merz
9:00
talking about deeper cooperation with the EU to tackle Russia. What do you think
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