The Longest Speech, The Deepest Divide
Trump’s marathon State of the Union mixed spectacle, self-congratulation & campaign messaging - while Democrats answered with a single question echoing across America: is life actually getting better?
President Trump delivered the longest State of the Union address in American history on Tuesday night, insisting that he had overseen a “turnaround for the ages” during his first year back in office, even as voters lose confidence in his handling of the economy. In his remarks, which clocked in at one hour and 47 minutes, Mr. Trump introduced few new policies and instead appeared to relish the theatrics of the moment. He used the opportunity to berate Democrats as “crazy” for not standing or applauding for his priorities, especially on crime, immigration and the economy. Mr. Trump’s tone shifted throughout his address, seesawing between soaring descriptions of the country’s gains, including gold medals at the Olympics, and strikingly graphic stories of overseas conflicts and crime in the United States. It was all a preview of his arguments ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Mr. Trump has never had a short speech to Congress. Every time he has addressed the chamber, he has talked for more than an hour, including last year’s defiant, 100-minute speech, which was the longest in modern history — until Tuesday - NYT
Gov. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia framed the Democratic Party’s rebuttal to President Trump’s State of the Union address around three questions: Is he making life more affordable? Is he keeping Americans safe? And is he working on Americans’ behalf? Ms. Spanberger, who took office last month, argued that on all three counts, the answer was no. “Is the president working for you?” she asked before a supportive crowd in Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. “We all know the answer is no.” Ms. Spanberger’s speech — and the selection of her to deliver it — signaled how Democratic leaders want the party to be viewed in Mr. Trump’s second term: sober and serious officials who understand voters’ economic plight.
A moderate woman who is coming off a landslide election victory in Virginia, Ms. Spanberger gave a safe speech that struck the political notes Democrats are aiming to press — that Mr. Trump has hurt the economy and sowed chaos with his policies - NYT
President Donald Trump had some exceptionally kind words for Secretary of State Marco Rubio as he listed what he claimed as his foreign policy achievements. The praise for Rubio — Trump said he might go down as the “best” in his job — could boost the Florida Republican should he choose to pursue a bid for the presidency in 2028. Rubio has suggested he’s not interested in running, especially if Vice President JD Vance runs, but there’s still plenty of time to change his mind. In the foreign policy section of his speech, Trump reiterated that he wants to try to resolve America’s differences with Iran through diplomacy, but hinted that military action remains an option. He said Iran won’t renounce any desire to have a nuclear weapon. In fact, Tehran has stated for years it has no intention of building such a weapon, but U.S. leaders have long been skeptical of such promises. Trump also repeated his claims to have ended eight wars — some of which were not wars and some of which continue. He nodded to Russia’s war on Ukraine, saying only he’d keep working to end it. He also praised the U.S. operation that removed Venezuelan autocrat Nicolas Maduro from power but kept on most of his regime, whose current leaders are coordinating a number of their moves with the U.S. Tuesday night’s dramatics involved the presence in the chamber of Enrique Marquez, a freed Venezuelan political prisoner, who reunited with his family in the U.S. - Politico
Hong Kong has formally complained to the government of Panama after it took control of two ports on the Panama Canal. It accused the Panamanian authorities of taking them over by force. The ports had been run by a Hong Kong-based company, CK Hutchison, for more than two decades. Last month, Panama’s Supreme Court annulled the contracts which allowed the firm to operate the container ports, saying they were “unconstitutional”. The ruling followed claims by US President Donald Trump that China was operating the canal. There is no public evidence to suggest this. Hong Kong’s government said, in a statement, it was lodging a “strong protest” after Panama’s “blatant act” undermined both the “spirit of the contracts” and “international trade rules”. Last year, the Hong Kong-based company agreed to sell most of its stake in the two ports to a group led by the US investment firm BlackRock. The move by the Panamanian government could disrupt the $22.8bn (£20.75bn) sale, according to the Reuters news agency. CK Hutchison, founded by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, described the move as “unlawful”. President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Central American canal is under Chinese control. During his inauguration address last January, he said: “China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back.” The following month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also demanded that Panama make “immediate changes” to what he called the “influence and control” of China over the canal. There is no public evidence to suggest China exercises control over the canal, though Chinese companies have a significant presence there. Up to 14,000 ships use the 51-mile (82km) Panama Canal each year as a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific - BBC
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to Donald Trump to visit Kyiv, in a video address on the fourth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion, and said Ukraine would not betray its people in any negotiations with Russia. Zelenskyy said Putin had not achieved his original war goals or “broken the Ukrainian people”. “He has not won this war,” he said. “We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to achieve peace. And to ensure justice.” Zelenskyy said his country had survived a “terrible” winter and was grateful to its allies for a delivery this week of an air defence package. In comments to state media, Putin claimed Ukraine had sabotaged the peace process with the help of western intelligence agencies. He said Kyiv and its allies were so determined to defeat Russia they were pushing themselves to the edge, something he said they would regret. Zelenskyy’s 18-minute video address included footage released for the first time from the underground bunker in Kyiv’s Bankova Street where Zelenskyy and his advisers worked and slept during the first hours after Putin’s 2022 attack. Zelenskyy recalled receiving a phone call from Joe Biden, who offered to help him leave the country “urgently”. “Here I replied that I need ammunition, not a ride,” Zelenskyy said, recalling one of the best-known moments of his presidency. Zelenskyy said: “I really want to come here with the president of the United States one day. I know for certain: only by coming to Ukraine, and seeing with one’s own eyes our life and our struggle, feeling our people and the enormity of this pain – only then can one understand what this war is really about.” A trip to Ukraine might make it clear to Trump “who the aggressor is here and who must be pressured”, Zelenskyy suggested. He continued: “This is not a street fight – it is an attack by a sick state on a sovereign one. [Putin] is the cause of its beginning and the obstacle to its end. And it is Russia that must be put in its place. So that there can be real peace.” - The Guardian
Four years ago, President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine with the stated goal of “denazifying” and “demilitarizing” the country. But this has not stopped the Kremlin from tolerating far-right paramilitary groups fighting on its side, despite occasional criticism. Away from the front lines, experts say Kremlin-loyal nationalist groups have become increasingly active since the invasion of Ukraine — and the views they espouse have become more visible in the public discourse.
“The war itself has not made such views, the Nazi ones in particular, more widespread, but it has made people feel more like expressing them publicly,” an expert on far-right movements in Russia told The Moscow Times on condition of anonymity. “The state is generally willing to tolerate almost any view, as long as a person actively supports the war,” he said. The Rusich Telegram channel, named after a neo-Nazi paramilitary unit battling alongside Russian troops in Ukraine that has earned a reputation for brutality, currently has around 243,000 subscribers. It has repeatedly posted calls to kill Ukrainian servicemen instead of taking them as prisoners of war; to rape Ukrainian women serving in the army; and once asked for one Ukrainian POW, preferably a Crimean Tatar, to be provided “for a ritual sacrifice to the Slavic gods.” - Moscow Times
World Briefing is reader-supported. No institutional sponsors. No Olympic committees. No corporate guardrails. If independent, on-the-ground reporting matters - please consider upgrading or encouraging a colleague or friend to do so. You can also support World Briefing with a one-time suggested donation via this link.
An AI-induced stock slide subsided on Tuesday as traders grew more confident that the tech can augment, rather than replace, traditional software businesses. AI startup Anthropic — whose Claude tools sparked the rout earlier this month — announced partnerships with software firms on Tuesday, a message that amounted to: “We’re here to help, not hurt,” one analyst said. The relief rally spurred some strategists to temper their expectations of a broad meltdown at the hands of AI, with a JPMorgan Chase expert arguing, “The catastrophizing seems overdone.” But investors are so skittish that a recent viral blog post imagining a bleak AI future was enough to spark a selloff. The market is “looking for an excuse to fall,” a Financial Times columnist wrote - Semafor
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will mark his second visit to Israel, with the two countries having deepened ties under the Hindu nationalist PM. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said there is a “tremendous alliance between Israel and India, and we are going to discuss all sorts of cooperation”. Last year, Israel and India signed an investment agreement to expand mutual trade during far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s trip to New Delhi. In 2024, bilateral trade stood at $3.9bn, while current mutual investments are worth about $800m, according to official figures. Modi’s visit comes as Israel’s war continues in Gaza where it has killed at least 72,073 people and wounded 171,756 since October 2023 - Al Jazeera
Israel was responsible for the killing of two-thirds of a record 129 journalists and media workers killed worldwide last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. The CPJ noted an increase in the use of drones to kill journalists last year, with 39 journalists killed by drones, including 28 in Gaza by the Israeli army. It said that the rising number of journalist deaths “is fueled by a persistent culture of impunity”, with very few transparent investigations conducted into the 47 cases of targeted killings of journalists in 2025.
The journals….
