World Briefing: November 7, 2024

The morning after. It’s a new dawn in the world. Here’s the quote of the day, compliments of the New York Times: “In the end, Donald J. Trump is not the historical aberration some thought he was, but instead a transformational force reshaping the modern United States in his own image.”

Here in Kyiv, air raid sirens were triggered just hours after Donald Trump was confirmed as the next president-elect: it was in response to a large swarm of Russian drones which caused fires, damage and injuries in many districts of the capital. Asked by Politico earlier what I thought the Biden administration should do for Ukraine in its remaining weeks in office, I said it wouldn’t surprise me if Washington quietly gave the green light for Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia using western made missiles. Pushing Russian President Vladimir Putin as far back as possible would be a way for President Joe Biden to cement his foreign affairs legacy.

• In an interview on Fox News, a Trump spokesperson said that the president-elect plans to launch “the largest mass-deportation operation of illegal immigrants” on his first day in office.

• A renowned German newspaper responded to Donald Trump’s electoral victory in a four letter headline: “F--k.” The crassly titled article was published Wednesday in Die Zeit, a Hamburg, Germany newspaper that often features longform reporting, essays, and columns - Daily Beast

• Vice President Kamala Harris urged supporters to not give up during her concession speech. “Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win,” she said to a crowd at Howard University. “Don’t ever give up.” She urged supporters: “Don’t ever stop trying to make world a better place.” She then told “everyone watching” to not despair. “This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves. This is a time to organize, to mobilize and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together,” she said - CNN

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• President Joe Biden spoke with President-elect Donald Trump today to congratulate him on his victory and invited him to the White House, according to a White House official. The president is also planning to address the nation on Thursday, the official said. “President Biden expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition and emphasized the importance of working to bring the country together,” the official said. “He also invited President-elect Trump to meet with him in the White House. The staff will coordinate a specific date in the near future.” Biden also spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris and “congratulated the Vice President on her historic campaign,” the official said - CNN

• The president-elect’s team has already zeroed in on some contenders for top appointments. Billionaire hedge fund investor John Paulson and economic adviser Scott Bessent are contenders for treasury secretary, according to sources cited by The Washington Post. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), who was a finalist to become Trump’s running-mate, and former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell are under consideration for secretary of state, people familiar with the deliberations said. Another vice-presidential finalist, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), is expected to join the Cabinet, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, a primary rival-turned-ally to Trump, said people familiar with the deliberations. And people in Trump’s orbit have floated Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) for defense secretary, according to a Trump adviser.

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• Its becoming clearer what role conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would play in a second Trump administration. Kennedy spoke to NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard and pointed to existing federal agencies he intends to target. He said that he would address the corruption by clearing out departments of federal workers who he believes haven’t been doing their jobs — ‘entire departments’ in some cases. Kennedy said the nutrition departments at the Food and Drug Administration ‘have to go’ because its workers are ‘not doing their job.’ In the same interview, he added, “I think fluoride is on its way out.'“ - MSNBC

• Ukrainian officials’ congratulations of President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday were fast and effusive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it an “impressive election victory.” He reminded Trump of the “great meeting” they had in September in the United States and talked about “ways to put an end to Russian aggression against Ukraine.” Andriy Yermak, head the presidential office and Zelensky’s main adviser, echoed his boss’s congratulations, adding that it was “essential that Ukraine has bipartisan support in the U.S.” - WP

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• Taipei will help Taiwanese firms relocate their China-based production plants if President-elect Donald Trump carries out his threat to impose a 60 percent tariff on Chinese-made goods, the island’s economic ministry said Thursday. “We will come up with some assistance very soon to our Taiwanese business people on how to transfer their production bases so they would not be subjected to a 60 percent tariff,” Taiwan Economic Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told a parliamentary committee - HKFP

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked his finance minister on Wednesday and said he will hold a parliamentary confidence vote in the government in January, triggering political chaos in Europe's largest economy hours after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election. After sacking Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats (FDP) party, Scholz is expected to head a minority government, either alone with his Social Democrats or with the Greens, the second-largest party, relying on cobbled-together parliamentary majorities. Germany's Free Democrats (FDP) said Wednesday all its ministers will quit the crisis-wracked coalition after Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked the party's rebellious Finance Minister Christian Lindner. "The other FDP ministers in the federal government have declared that they will hand in their resignations," said senior party lawmaker Christian Duerr, with four cabinet minister set to leave. The collapse of Scholz's three-way coalition caps months of wrangling over budget policy and Germany's economic direction, with the government's popularity sinking and far-right and far-left forces surging - France 24

The Biden administration is planning to rush the last of over $6 billion remaining in Ukraine security assistance out the door by Inauguration Day, as the outgoing team prepares for the weapons flow to end once President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The plan, described by two administration officials who were granted anonymity to discuss internal matters, is the only option the White House has to keep sending equipment to Ukraine to fight off continued Russian offensives. But the problems are immense. It normally takes months for munitions and equipment to get to Ukraine after an aid package is announced, so anything rolled out in the coming weeks would likely not fully arrive until well into the Trump administration, and the next commander in chief could halt the shipments before they’re on the ground. Meanwhile, managed to seize about $48 billion in interest from frozen Russian assets to give to Ukraine as loans for reconstruction and buying weapons. The Biden administration has pledged about $20 billion in loans for Kyiv out of that fund, but the fate of that pledge, like so much else, is now up in the air - Politico

Donald Trump’s promise to end the war in Ukraine by Inauguration Day now puts him in a position of having to choose between competing proposals from advisers united by a common thread—a sharp break from President Biden’s “as long as it takes” approach to arming Kyiv.  Throughout his campaign for the White House, Trump bashed Biden’s handling of Ukraine, warning that it made World War III more likely and that Kyiv fleeced the U.S. by obtaining weapons worth billions of dollars free of charge. He said he could resolve the conflict quickly, bringing both sides to the negotiating table. Trump’s team “peace plan” for Ukraine could include: a proposal to delay Ukraine's NATO membership for 20 years, establishing a 1,200 km demilitarized zone along the current front line, and leaving 20% of occupied Ukrainian territory under Russian control—while the U.S. would continue arms support under these conditions. Trump previously claimed he could end the war in 24 hours. The new president elect reportedly hasn’t made any decisions yet - WSJ

South Korea is not ruling out providing weapons directly to Ukraine, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday, signaling a possible shift in Seoul's stance on the issue. South Korea has a long-standing policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict but indicated that could change in light of Pyongyang's deployment of troops to Russia to aid its war efforts in Ukraine. “Now, depending on the level of North Korean involvement, we will gradually adjust our support strategy in phases," Yoon said at a press conference in Seoul. "This means we are not ruling out the possibility of providing weapons." North Korea has become one of the most vocal and important backers of Russia's full-scale offensive in Ukraine - News wires

Israel has launched an airstrike against a site linked to Hezbollah within yards of the runways of Beirut airport. The IDF (Israel Defence Force) fired up to three missiles at a building located between two runways at Lebanon’s only civilian airport in the early hours of Thursday. Footage posted on social media appeared to show several explosions at a site near the airport in Beirut, after the IDF had warned nearby residents to evacuate. All scheduled passenger flights to and from Beirut airport had already departed or landed by the time Israel struck the site - The Telegraph

Prime Minister Viktor Orban will gather European leaders at a stadium billed as the biggest political event in the history of Hungary. The Summit of the European Political Community will bring leaders of 40 countries to discuss, in particular, what Donald Trump's victory in the US elections will mean for Europe. There are rumors that Orbán will arrange for Trump to address the participants of the summit via video link. Hungary currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will also attend in his first visit to Hungary since the full-scale invasion of Russia - RFE/RL

An opposition rally was under way yesterday in Tbilisi outside Georgia's Appeals Court, the fourth protest in as many days against the results of parliamentary elections claimed by the ruling Georgian Dream party amid allegations of widespread fraud. The opposition, which has refused to recognize the result, has been holding large protests in Tbilisi after the Moscow-friendly Georgian Dream party, which has been in power for the past 12 years, claimed victory with 54 percent of the vote. Georgia's pro-European president, Salome Zurabishvili also refused to recognize the validity of the results, alleging massive fraud and Russian interference - RFE/RL

Scientists are now “virtually certain” 2024 will be the hottest year on record. So far this year, global average temperatures have been 0.71C above the 1991 to 2020 average. This is the highest on record for this period and 0.16C warmer than the first 10 months of 2023, according to the latest data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). C3S says that average temperatures would have to drop to almost zero in the remaining months of 2024 for it not to break the record. “After 10 months of 2024, it is now virtually certain that 2024 will be the warmest year on record,” says Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.- Euronews

This Briefing is reprinted with the author's permission. Please find the original here.