World reacts in horror to Trump and Zelenskyy’s Oval Office showdown
The confrontation made clear the Trump administration’s increasing contempt for the Ukraine war effort. Will Europe step up?
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, March 3.
In today’s edition: Survey reveals widespread impacts of Health NZ cost-cutting; new literacy and numeracy tests harming low-income students, say principals. But first, the Trump-Zelenskyy clash has horrified European leaders – and sharpened their resolve to keep backing Ukraine.
Ten fiery minutes that shook the world
It’s been called the most consequential moment in the Ukraine war since Russia’s invasion just over three years ago. The astonishing Oval Office set-to between Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump and JD Vance has all but destroyed the prospect of a US-brokered peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, while an agreement on US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals – a bartering chip for continued US aid – was left abandoned in the White House after Zelenskyy was asked to leave. US support for the Ukraine war effort is now in more peril than even a fortnight ago, when Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator” and falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war.
In Europe, where the Russia threat is most acute, the reverberations from the meeting have been profound. “The scene in the White House yesterday took my breath away,” said German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “I would never have believed that we would one day have to protect Ukraine from the USA.” Perhaps even more strikingly, European Union foreign minister Kaja Kallas said, “Today it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.”
World leaders rally around Ukraine
Immediately after the disastrous White House meeting, Zelenskyy flew directly to the UK. He was met with (literal) open arms by prime minister Keir Starmer, who said the country would stand with Ukraine “for as long as it may take”. Overnight, more than a dozen European leaders, including Starmer and Zelenskyy, gathered in London for talks on the worsening situation.
In the hours following the Trump-Zelenskyy clash, world leaders took to X to reaffirm their backing for Ukraine. Christopher Luxon was one. “New Zealand remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine as it defends itself in a war that Russia started,” the prime minister tweeted. “It's mounting the defence of a proud, democratic and sovereign nation, but also the defence of international law.” As he did with every other leader’s pro-Ukraine tweet, Zelenskyy retweeted Luxon’s message with a brief expression of thanks. Ukraine’s ambassador to New Zealand, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said he was thankful for the “outburst of support” from New Zealand in the wake of the Oval Office meeting.
Unwilling to upset US, NZ government walks a fine line
While Luxon’s tweet contained an implied criticism of Trump’s treatment of Zelenskyy, actually coming out and stating it plainly is another matter. Writing in The Conversation, Waikato University’s Alexander Gillespie says that as Trump continues to attack international norms, New Zealand’s silence is becoming less tenable by the day. “New Zealand’s vaunted independent foreign policy… has been a workable mechanism to navigate the challenges facing a small trading nation reliant on a rules-based global order,” he writes. “[But] as the old world order erodes, losing its voice for fear of offending bigger powers cannot become the country’s default position.
NZ looks to up defence spending
Gillespie’s fellow geopolitical expert Robert Patman tells Stuff’s Thomas Manch that the Oval Office blowup – and the recent tensions with China – should concentrate the minds of those holding New Zealand’s defence purse strings. The government is currently preparing a Defence Capability Plan which will include a major increase in defence spending, minister Judith Collins told 1News last week. “This is a big budget item for us, and it's going to have to be for quite a long term to make up for the 35 years of feeling that we're living in this wonderful world where nothing bad could happen.”
Read more
Helen Clark says Europe is traumatised by Trump - and describes the new international era as ‘terrifying’ (Stuff)
Fact check: 33 times Zelensky thanked Americans and US leaders (CNN)
How Donald Trump has brought a European army one step closer (The Telegraph via Sunday Star-Times)
Have thoughts? Join the conversation in the comments.
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Limelight is a new culture, content and technology newsletter by Tāmaki Makaurau-based creative and tech studio Daylight. The internet digested and served up on a shiny plate, Limelight breaks down what’s capturing audience, consumer and internet-user attention around the globe – one meme, article, video, campaign and app update at a time.
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Survey reveals widespread impacts of Health NZ cost-cutting
A survey of healthcare workers has found that 81% of respondents believe cost-cutting and restructuring has damaged the services they deliver. In the Public Service Association survey, workers said the Te Whatu Ora cuts were causing delays in cancer care and that paediatric clinics were running at 50% capacity due to hiring restrictions. One worker “said they were now treating the effects of unmet need, with patients having hospital admissions instead of preventative medicine for falls or pressure sores”, reports The Post’s Rachel Thomas (paywalled).
New literacy and numeracy tests harming low-income students, say principals
Principals from 50 of the country’s lowest-income high schools are calling for an end to the new NCEA literacy and numeracy tests. “They warn the online tests will create a generation of school-leavers with no qualifications and most will be Māori or Pacific,” reports RNZ’s Jon Gerritsen. After the tests’ introduction last year, more than half of students from low-income schools failed the reading and writing tests, and nearly three-quarters failed the maths test. Papakura High School’s Simon Craggs says he agrees literacy and numeracy standards need to improve, but high-pressure online tests are harming that effort, not supporting it.
If you sleuth hard enough, there are new answers to old questions
While many journalists are trawling Reddit, X and TikTok for stories, Joel MacManus is browsing Papers Past, an online archive of digitised historical media. Last week he may have solved the murder case of an emu that died at the Wellington Zoo in 1907, and last year he made a near definitive ruling on whether or not Te Rauparaha really did drink at the Thistle Inn.
On this week’s episode of Behind the Story, MacManus joins Gabi Lardies to discuss why he is so intrigued by Wellington’s forgotten mysteries, and how he sets about solving them.
Join us at The Spinoff Book Club
The best way to enjoy a book is by yourself, the second best way is with a theatre full of people. Books editor Claire Mabey will lead a conversation with avid writers and readers Duncan Sarkies, Carl Shuker, Courtney Johnston and more. Join us to hear about their favourites, their recommendations, and what to look out for in the year to come.
Click and Collect
An Auckland man who was tasered by police on Sunday afternoon has died in custody. Police used the taser after the man allegedly threatened them with a samurai sword. (1News)
The government’s decision not to adjust the Minimum Family Tax Credit will freeze the incomes of 3000 mostly single-parent families, for a “paltry” cost saving of $970,000. (NZ Herald)
Here's why your power bill is getting more expensive (Stuff)
Top NZ graphic artists are finding knock-off copies of their work for sale on Temu (RNZ)
An uncomfortable Steve Braunias interview with Labour’s arts spokesperson Rachel Boyack (Newsroom)
Shanti Mathias reports on how the IRD is learning the hard way what scams have done to trust. Gabi Lardies runs down the arguments for and against build-to-rent housing. Madeleine Holden suggests that parasocial online relationships could be why you feel alienated and alone. Claire Mabey investigates the rise of little books designed to give us big feelings. In our Pacific Profiles series, Litia Tuiburelevu talks to Teuila Field, first assistant director on Tinā, Mulan and Sweet Tooth. Anna Rawhiti-Connell embarks on a last-minute quest to watch all the Best Picture nominees before today’s Oscars.
Thanks for reading. Want to get in touch? Join the conversation in the Substack comments section below or via email at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz if you have any feedback on today’s top stories (or anything else in the news).
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That Steve Braunias interview is 100% uncomfortable because of Steve himself. Just such a petty approach.
🤔 Kinda a surprise (not!) that cutting services in health reduces the remaining healthworker's ability to adequately care for people needing their (reduced) services 😱
💙💛 Hoping the orange-meanness & his disad-vance-age side kick in publicly verbally attacking the courageous President of a country under ACTUAL daily attack from bombs & drones from a much bigger aggressor, will spectacularly backfire & Europe will make a new alliance without the US - a GOOD US President & admin has the ability to be a power for good in these difficult international situations, but the other side of the coin is the outsized HARM a bad one can do. Tme is right to rein that in while the dangers are so clear & present 🤷
The USA's biggest weakness in this is the fact they have not been invaded/attacked at home (like the European countries & the UK) by a powerful foreign aggressor. While many of their immigrant citizens understand what it is like, the general population who support this current regime does not - they haven't personally learnt the lesson of standing up early & strong against aggressors like Putin (cf Hitler 🤬) in order to stop them in their current moves, but also stymie future invasions of other independent neighbouring countries by making it unwinnable & unaffordable politically & $$