Do not be deceived by the smiles exchanged between the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Keir Starmer, and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, after signing the agreement together. There are deep disagreements between the two country leaders, and Trump's visit to Great Britain did not resolve this problem.
The main disagreement between the two leaders is their views on the Palestine and Ukraine issues. Great Britain intends to recognize Palestine as a state to deliver a devastating blow to the US Middle East policy. The US, however, is trying to prevent this at all costs.
In my opinion, the main reason Trump was brought to the feet of King Charles III of Great Britain was this issue. I do not believe the talks yielded a positive result for the US. This is also understood from the statements made by Trump at the press conference he held at the end of his visit. In his speech, he sincerely admitted "there is a serious disagreement between him and Starmer on this issue" and said: "This is actually one of the several disagreements we have."
Regarding different attitudes towards the Ukraine-Russia war, you may recall that after Ukraine’s President Zelensky was insulted during his famous visit to the White House, the magnificent King Charles III handed a note to Prime Minister Starmer to send to Washington. The note contained a letter from the modern king of Great Britain to Trump. This letter, which Trump received indifferently, invited the US president to London. Yesterday’s visit was precisely the execution of that invitation. Naturally, one of the main topics of talks between the king and the president was, logically, the Ukraine-Russia war.
At the post-visit briefing, the question directed to Trump was also related to Russia. Although Trump evaded answering this question, he did not hide that Putin "left him in the middle" and expressed that he was hurt by his Russian counterpart. He also repeated that when the Ukraine war started, Biden was in office. No, if Biden was not in office and Trump was, there would have been no war at all. However, he did not give a direct answer to the specific question about what action he would take in the current situation.
Nevertheless, for the first time, he was forced to admit that Russia is the aggressor in the Ukraine war.
One of the main unresolved issues despite all of Trump’s requests was that official London did not eliminate customs duties on some US goods. According to "1News," "British officials did not agree to remove the digital services tax and internet regulation to secure a deal, the details of which have not yet been disclosed."
Perhaps for the first time since the War of 1812-1814, when the US escaped the yoke of London, serious differences in approaches have arisen between these two states. It is interesting that one of the main breaking points is the Palestine issue and the other is the Ukraine issue. In such a time, it is no coincidence that Arab and other Muslim countries have begun discussions about an "Islamic NATO." Apparently, with London’s encouragement and Israel's provocative actions, Middle Eastern countries are on the verge of moving away from the US sphere of influence. It is no coincidence either that at such a moment, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in Turkey, Devlet Bahçeli, spoke about a Turkey-Russia-China alliance.
In short, we are witnessing the emergence of a new geopolitical configuration in the world. Turkey and our country are at the very center of this new configuration. In a word, in the near future, we will witness very serious and complex processes.
Heydar Oguz
