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Russia rejected the notion of Western security guarantees for Ukraine on Friday, after more than two dozen countries pledged to join a “reassurance” force to deploy in the wartorn country after any eventual peace deal with Moscow.A force to deter Russia from again attacking its neighbour is a key pillar of the security backstop a coalition of mainly European countries want to offer to Ukraine if the war ends via a peace deal or a ceasefire.The extent of any US involvement remains uncertain, even after European leaders spoke to President Donald Trump via video conference following the Paris summit at which the “coalition of the willing” pledged its force. But on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the idea of Western security guarantees for Ukraine, saying that “foreign, especially European and American” troops “definitely cannot” provide such assurances to Kyiv.The Paris summit was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and attended by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, while others, like British premier Keir Starmer, participated remotely.The meeting represented a new push led by Macron to show that Europe can act independently of the United States after Trump launched direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.The United States was represented by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who also met with Zelensky separately.Trump said after his call with European leaders that he would speak to Putin soon, with Peskov confirming Friday that such a call could be organised swiftly.- ‘First concrete step’ -Europe has been under pressure to step up its response over three and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.”We have today 26 countries who have formally committed — some others have not yet taken a position — to deploy as a ‘reassurance force’ troops in Ukraine, or be present on the ground, in the sea, or in the air,” Macron told reporters, standing alongside Zelensky.Zelensky hailed the move: “I think that today, for the first time in a long time, this is the first such serious concrete step.”The troops would not be deployed “on the front line” but aim to “prevent any new major aggression”, the French president said.Macron added that another major pillar was a “regeneration” of the Ukrainian army so that it can “not just resist a new attack but dissuade Russia from a new aggression”.Macron said the United States was being “very clear” about its willingness to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine.However, the US contribution remains unclear.There are also divisions within the coalition, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urging more pressure but remaining cautious about the scope of involvement.”Germany will decide on military involvement at the appropriate time once the framework conditions have been clarified,” a German government spokesman said after the summit.Taking a similar line, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated that her country will not send troops to Ukraine, but could help monitor any potential peace deal.There is also growing concern that Putin is not interested in a peace accord, with alarm intensifying after his high-profile visit to China this week.- ‘Play for time’ -Frustration has been building in the West over what leaders say is Putin’s unwillingness to strike a deal to end the conflict.Zelensky said the call with Trump discussed sanctions on Russia and protecting Ukraine’s airspace. “We discussed different options, and the most important is using strong measures, particularly economic ones, to force an end to the war,” Zelensky said on social media.The White House said it urged European countries to stop purchasing Russian oil “that is funding the war”.A Russian rocket attack Thursday on northern Ukraine killed two people from the Danish Refugee Council who were clearing mines in an area previously occupied by Moscow’s forces, the local Ukrainian governor said.Macron warned that if Russia continued refusing a peace deal, then “additional sanctions” would be agreed in coordination with the United States.He accused Russia of “doing nothing other than try to play for time” and intensifying attacks against civilians.The gathering followed Putin’s high-profile trips to China and the United States, where he met with Trump in Alaska last month.Speaking Wednesday in Beijing, where he attended a massive military parade alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin hailed his forces’ progress in Ukraine, adding that Russian troops were advancing on “all fronts”.fff-vl-cad-as-sjw/tym/dhw

US President Donald Trump signed an order Thursday to lower tariffs on Japanese autos, as Washington moves to implement a trade pact negotiated with Tokyo.Japanese autos will face a 15 percent tariff instead of the current 27.5 percent, while the level for many other goods will similarly be capped at 15 percent, according to the text of the executive order published by the White House.The outcome marks a win for Japan, after Tokyo’s tariff envoy headed to Washington on Thursday to press Trump to sign the document for the changes — weeks after both sides announced their agreement.Top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said Japan welcomed the executive order, which marked “the steadfast implementation” of the deal.While the two countries had initially unveiled a trade pact in late July, they appeared to diverge in its details.When Trump in early August implemented higher tariffs on Japan — as part of a flurry targeting dozens of economies — its 15 percent rate stacked on existing levels for many products.Japan’s tariffs envoy Ryosei Akazawa had earlier told reporters that Washington was expected to revise the rule.According to the new order, the 15 percent cap for many products will apply retroactively to goods shipped from August 7 — the date that the higher duties on dozens of economies took effect.The modifications are to be made within seven days of the rule being published on the Federal Register.- ‘Still cause damage’-Apart from Washington’s country-specific tariff levels, Trump has also imposed separate sector-specific tariff rates, including a 25 percent duty on autos and parts.This, coupled with an existing 2.5 percent tariff the Japanese auto industry faced, took the overall level to 27.5 percent.The hefty duties had marked a heavy blow to Japan and its crucial auto sector, which accounts for around eight percent of the country’s jobs.Japan’s deal wins it a similar reprieve to the European Union, which also has a 15 percent maximum tariff on many products.But speaking in Washington, Akazawa told Japanese media Friday that the 15 percent tariff would “still cause damage to our nation’s industries”.”The Japanese government will take swift and necessary measures, like financing assistance,” he added.Akazawa was also expected to engage in further discussions during his US trip about Trump’s assertion that Japan would make investments worth $550 billion in the United States.According to Trump’s order, the investments “will be selected by the United States Government,” but the document did not go into detail.Ishiba said Friday that Tokyo had sent a letter to Washington saying “we would like to build a golden age for Japan and the United States together with President Trump, and that we would like to invite him to Japan”.Trump has said the United States will keep 90 percent of the profits from the investments, which Japan has said will mostly consist of loans and loan guarantees.Akazawa had cancelled an earlier visit after Washington said that it was considering including a reduction in Japanese tariffs on agricultural products in the presidential order, the Nikkei business daily reported.Trump has long pressed Japan to import more American rice.burs-aph/fox

Tech world executives showered Donald Trump with praise Thursday during a rare dinner that saw the US president host some of the most important players in AI at the White House.”This is quite a group to get together,” said Meta chief and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was seated at Trump’s right side.At the table were heads of major tech companies including Google-parent Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and artificial intelligence star OpenAI.Some of those at the dinner had attended Trump’s inauguration, signalling they were ready to fall in line with the 79-year-old president’s world view — or at least seek to avoid his ire.Notably absent from the dinner was multi-billionaire tech tycoon Elon Musk, a former Trump ally who had a spectacular falling out with the president.The chief of Tesla and SpaceX put out word in a post on his X social network that he had been invited to the dinner but couldn’t attend, sending someone to represent him.Companies at the dinner were making huge investments in US data centers and infrastructure to “power the next wave of innovation”, Zuckerberg said.Apple chief executive Tim Cook voiced thanks for Trump “setting the tone” for the companies to make major investments in US manufacturing.Trump recently threatened trade sanctions against countries that apply regulations to US tech companies, aiming particularly at the European Union.”Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation president,” said OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.”It’s a refreshing change.”  Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, seated next to First Lady Melania Trump, was less effusive, calling for artificial intelligence to be used to promote international development.”It’s great we all get together and talk about how the United States could lead in this key area and apply it even to the poorest outside the US, as well as to our great citizens,” said the Microsoft legend turned philanthropist.Gates cited Operation Warp Speed, Trump’s first term initiative which saw the rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines, as an example of America’s capacity for innovation.Since taking office in January, Trump has cut international aid and ended investments in the kinds of vaccines deployed during the Covid-19 pandemic.Silicon Valley leaders who did not support Trump during his first term in office changed course with his return to office.Many have visited the White House to promise heavy investment in the United States, and some have been quick to follow the US president’s lead in ending diversity promotion programs and initiatives to combat online misinformation.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday threw his support behind his controversial health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after he was grilled in Congress over decisions to fire scientists and overhaul the nation’s vaccine policies.”He’s a very good person, and he means very well, and he’s got some little different ideas,” Trump said at a White House dinner with tech industry executives.The three-hour grilling, which often erupted into shouting matches, came a week after the Trump administration’s ousting of Sue Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which plunged the nation’s premier public health agency into turmoil.In his opening remarks, Kennedy tore into the CDC’s actions during the Covid pandemic, accusing it of failing “miserably” with “disastrous and nonsensical” policies including masking guidance, social distancing and school closures. “We need bold, competent and creative new leadership at CDC, people able and willing to chart a new course,” he said, touting the health department’s new focus on chronic disease.Monarez, the CDC director whom Kennedy previously endorsed, accused the secretary of a “deliberate effort to weaken America’s public-health system and vaccine protections” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday.Kennedy’s explanation for her firing — as he told senators during the hearing — was simply: “I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ And she said, ‘No.'””Secretary Kennedy’s claims are false, and at times, patently ridiculous,” Monarez’s lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP, adding she would be willing to testify under oath.- Bitter exchanges -Once a respected environmental lawyer, Kennedy emerged in the mid-2000s as a leading anti-vaccine activist, spending two decades spreading voluminous misinformation before being tapped by President Donald Trump as health secretary.Since taking office, Kennedy has restricted who can receive Covid-19 shots, cut off federal research grants for the mRNA technology credited with saving millions of lives, and announced new research on debunked claims about autism.Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee leading the hearing, set the tone by demanding Kennedy be sworn in under oath — accusing him of lying in prior testimony when he pledged not to limit vaccine access. The demand was later shot down.”It is in the country’s best interest that Robert Kennedy step down, and if he doesn’t, Donald Trump should fire him before more people are hurt,” Wyden thundered. Trump, however, stood by Kennedy, saying at a White House event Thursday evening that he “did very well today, but it’s not your standard talk… I like the fact that he’s different.”During the heated hearing, Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell branded Kennedy a “charlatan” over his attacks on mRNA research, while Kennedy accused Senator Maggie Hassan of “crazy talk” and “making things up to scare people” when she said parents were already struggling to get Covid vaccines for their children.Vaccines have become a flashpoint in an ever-deepening partisan battle.Conservative-leaning Florida on Wednesday announced it would end all immunization requirements, including at schools, while a West Coast alliance of California, Washington and Oregon announced they would make their own vaccine recommendation body to counter Kennedy’s influence at the national level.- Republican dissent -Republicans mostly closed ranks around Kennedy, though there was some notable dissent. Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician whose support was key to Kennedy’s confirmation, criticized his cancellation of mRNA grants. He was joined by fellow Republican doctor Senator John Barrasso and Senator Thom Tillis.Cassidy pressed Kennedy on whether President Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, the program that sped Covid vaccines to market.Kennedy agreed Trump should have received the prize — but in nearly the same breath, praised hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, drugs championed by conspiracy theorists that have been proven ineffective against Covid-19.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States will soon put a “fairly substantial tariff” on semiconductors coming into the country, after previously threatening a 100-percent levy on the chips.”We will be putting a tariff very shortly,” Trump said at a White House dinner with tech industry executives.”Not that high, but fairly substantial tariff.”He did not give a timetable or details for the new levy, which he has repeatedly threatened in the past, to be enacted.Trump in early August sparked volatility in Asian chipmaker shares with talk of a 100-percent tariff on semiconductors from firms that do not invest in the United States.”We’ll be putting a tariff of approximately 100 percent on chips and semiconductors, but if you’re building in the United States…there’s no charge,” Trump said at the time.The United States and China are locked in a high-stakes race to develop the high-end semiconductors used to power artificial intelligence systems.Arisa Liu, senior semiconductor researcher at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, said in August that a heavy US chip tariff would impact the “strategic direction of global semiconductor companies.”Trump’s latest tariff talk comes on the heels of the president saying he will seek a swift ruling from the Supreme Court as his administration pushes to overturn a court decision that found many of his tariffs illegal.The appellate court however only considered the legality of his most sweeping tariffs and not sector-specific levies — such as those on steel and, potentially, semiconductors — which are viewed as on firmer legal footing.

More than two dozen countries have pledged to join a force to deploy in Ukraine after any eventual peace deal with Russia, aiming to deter Moscow from again attacking its neighbour, leaders announced Thursday.A “reassurance force” for Ukraine is a key pillar of the security guarantees a coalition of mainly European countries want to offer to Ukraine if the war ends via a peace deal or a ceasefire.However there is also growing concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin is now showing no interest in a peace accord, with alarm intensifying after his high-profile visit to Beijing this week.And the extent of any US involvement in any eventual security backstop remains uncertain, even after European leaders spoke to President Donald Trump via video conference following the summit in Paris of the so-called “coalition of the willing”.It was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and attended by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, while others, like UK premier Keir Starmer, participated remotely.The meeting represented a new push led by Macron to show that Europe can act independently of Washington after Trump upended US foreign policy and launched direct talks with Putin after returning to the White House.The United States was represented by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who also met with Zelensky separately.- ‘First concrete step’ -Europe has been under pressure to step up its response over three and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.”We have today 26 countries who have formally committed — some others have not yet taken a position — to deploy as a ‘reassurance force’ troops in Ukraine, or be present on the ground, in the sea, or in the air,” Macron told reporters, standing alongside Zelensky.Zelensky hailed the move. “I think that today, for the first time in a long time, this is the first such serious concrete step,” he said.The troops would not be deployed “on the front line” but aim to “prevent any new major aggression”, the French president said.Macron added that another major pillar was a “regeneration” of the Ukrainian army so that it can “not just resist a new attack but dissuade Russia from a new aggression”.Macron said the United States was being “very clear” about its willingness to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine.However, the American contribution remains unclear.There are also divisions within the coalition, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urging more pressure but remaining cautious about the scope of involvement.”Germany will decide on military involvement at the appropriate time once the framework conditions have been clarified,” a German government spokesman said after the summit.Taking a similar line, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated that Italy will not send troops to Ukraine, but it could help monitor any potential peace deal, her office said.Before the Paris talks, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow would not agree to the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine “in any format”.- ‘Play for time’ -Frustration has been building in the West over what leaders say is Putin’s unwillingness to strike a deal to end the conflict.Zelensky said the call with Trump discussed sanctions on Russia and protecting Ukraine’s airspace. “We discussed different options, and the most important is using strong measures, particularly economic ones, to force an end to the war,” Zelensky said on social media.The White House said it urged European countries to stop purchasing Russian oil “that is funding the war”.A Russian rocket attack Thursday on northern Ukraine killed two people from the Danish Refugee Council who were clearing mines in an area previously occupied by Moscow’s forces, the local Ukrainian governor said.Macron warned that if Russia continued refusing a peace deal, then “additional sanctions” would be agreed in coordination with the United States.He accused Russia of “doing nothing other than try to play for time” and intensifying attacks against civilians.The gathering followed Putin’s high-profile trips to China and the United States, where he met with Trump in Alaska last month.Speaking Wednesday in Beijing, where he attended a massive military parade alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin hailed his forces’ progress in Ukraine, adding that Russian troops were advancing on “all fronts”.fff-vl-cad-as-sjw/rlp/gv/dc

A US appeals court ruled on Thursday that a Florida migrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” can remain open for now.A lower court judge had barred the Trump administration and Florida officials last month from bringing any new migrants to the facility and for much of the site to be dismantled, effectively shutting it down.But a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that the detention center can remain open while a Trump administration appeal of the shutdown order is being heard.Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit arguing that the facility threatens the sensitive Everglades wetlands ecosystem and was hastily built without the legally required environmental impact studies.The center was assembled in just eight days in June with bunk beds, wire cages and large white tents at an abandoned airfield in the Everglades, home to a large population of alligators. Republican President Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport millions of undocumented migrants, visited the detention site after its opening, boasting about the harsh conditions and joking that the reptilian predators will serve as guards.The White House has nicknamed the facility “Alligator Alcatraz,” a reference to the former island prison in San Francisco Bay that Trump has said he wants to reopen.The center was planned to hold 3,000 undocumented migrants, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.A district judge last month ordered a halt to further construction at the detention center and for it to be dismantled in 60 days.Several detainees have spoken with AFP about the conditions at the center, including a lack of medical care, mistreatment and the alleged violation of their legal rights.

Donald Trump’s pick to join the Federal Reserve’s board of governors said Thursday that he plans to take a leave of absence from his White House job while at the US central bank — but vowed to uphold its independence.Stephen Miran, who chairs the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), said the reason for this unusual arrangement is because he is filling a short-term vacancy.”I have received advice from counsel that what is required is an unpaid leave of absence” from the CEA, Miran told the Senate Banking Committee at his confirmation hearing.”Considering the term for which I’m being nominated is a little bit more than four months, that is what I will be taking.”When pressed, he added: “If I am nominated and confirmed for a longer term than just a handful of months, I would absolutely resign.”Trump had nominated Miran to the Fed’s board to finish out the term of Adriana Kugler, an appointee of former president Joe Biden who recently stepped down.But Miran’s hearing comes as the bank faces growing pressure from Trump to slash interest rates, and Miran fielded pointed questions on his independence.The speed at which Miran is appointed will be important, given that he could take up the Fed role by the time the bank’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) holds its next meeting from September 16-17.Critics accuse Trump of seeking to tip the Fed’s board in favor of lowering interest rates.”How can Miran be independent while he is still employed directly as the president’s chief economist?” warned Aaron Klein, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. – Fed independence ‘critical’ -Miran sought to reassure lawmakers Thursday, saying that the FOMC “is an independent group with a monumental task, and I intend to preserve that independence.”He added that the most important job of the central bank is to prevent depressions and hyperinflation.”Independence of monetary policy is a critical element for its success,” he said.Trump has blamed current interest rates for the sluggish housing market, citing benign inflation data too in calling for cuts — which tend to boost the economy.But Fed policymakers are wary that slashing rates too quickly could risk higher inflation, and are monitoring the effects of tariffs on prices.Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the banking committee, charged Thursday that Trump has launched an “all-out assault” on the Fed’s independence. She challenged Miran to prove his independence from Trump.Minnesota Senator Tina Smith argued that the president “wants loyalists on the Fed board.”Oxford Economics chief US economist Ryan Sweet told AFP this could be a “long tryout” for Trump to decide if he will nominate Miran again once the temporary term ends in January.”One person isn’t necessarily going to move the needle too much” when it comes to policy or independence, Sweet said.- ‘Pandora’s box’ -The seven members of the Fed’s powerful board of governors sit on the central bank’s 12-member FOMC, voting on interest rate decisions.The personnel shift came, however, as the Fed faced intensifying calls from the president to cut rates significantly. Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not doing so.The president also moved to fire another Fed governor, Lisa Cook, citing allegations of mortgage fraud.Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s board, is fighting to stay in her role. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into her.”If Trump is able to fire her, and courts uphold it, that opens Pandora’s box,” Sweet said. “That’s when I think markets will start to react, (to the idea that) the Fed is potentially going to get politicized.”

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended his decisions to fire scientists and overhaul the nation’s vaccine policies Thursday as he came under blistering fire from Democrats urging him to resign during a Senate hearing. The three-hour grilling, which often erupted into shouting matches, came a week after the Trump administration’s ousting of Sue Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which plunged the nation’s premier public health agency into turmoil.In his opening remarks, Kennedy tore into the CDC’s actions during the Covid pandemic, accusing it of failing “miserably” with “disastrous and nonsensical” policies including masking guidance, social distancing and school closures. “We need bold, competent and creative new leadership at CDC, people able and willing to chart a new course,” he said, touting the health department’s new focus on chronic disease.Monarez, the CDC director whom Kennedy previously endorsed, accused the secretary of a “deliberate effort to weaken America’s public-health system and vaccine protections” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday.Kennedy’s explanation for her firing — as he told senators during the hearing — was simply: “I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ And she said, ‘No.'””Secretary Kennedy’s claims are false, and at times, patently ridiculous,” Monarez’s lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP, adding she would be willing to testify under oath.- Bitter exchanges -Once a respected environmental lawyer, Kennedy emerged in the mid-2000s as a leading anti-vaccine activist, spending two decades spreading voluminous misinformation before being tapped by President Donald Trump as health secretary.Since taking office, Kennedy has restricted who can receive Covid-19 shots, cut off federal research grants for the mRNA technology credited with saving millions of lives, and announced new research on debunked claims linking to autism.Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee leading the hearing, set the tone by demanding Kennedy be sworn in under oath — accusing him of lying in prior testimony when he pledged not to limit vaccine access.”It is in the country’s best interest that Robert Kennedy step down, and if he doesn’t, Donald Trump should fire him before more people are hurt,” Wyden thundered. But Republican committee chairman Mike Crapo shot down the request.The exchanges only grew more ill-tempered. Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell branded Kennedy a “charlatan” over his attacks on mRNA research, while Kennedy accused Senator Maggie Hassan of “crazy talk” and “making things up to scare people” when she said parents were already struggling to get Covid vaccines for their children.Vaccines have become a flashpoint in an ever-deepening partisan battle.Conservative-leaning Florida on Wednesday announced it would end all immunization requirements, including at schools, while a West Coast alliance of California, Washington and Oregon announced they would make their own vaccine recommendation body to counter Kennedy’s influence at the national level.- Republican dissent -Republicans mostly closed ranks around Kennedy, though there was some notable dissent. Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician whose support was key to Kennedy’s confirmation, criticized his cancellation of mRNA grants. He was joined by fellow Republican doctor Senator John Barrasso and Senator Thom Tillis.Cassidy pressed Kennedy on whether President Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, the program that sped Covid vaccines to market.Kennedy agreed Trump should have received the prize — but in nearly the same breath, praised hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, drugs championed by conspiracy theorists that have been proven ineffective against Covid-19.

With an ill-disciplined military and an outdated arsenal, Venezuela would be at a serious disadvantage in the event of an American invasion, experts say.President Nicolas Maduro has declared his country prepared for “a period of armed struggle in defense of the national territory” in the eventuality — widely deemed unlikely — of a US attack.But defeating the world’s mightiest military would be an “impossible” endeavor, said a retired Venezuelan general who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity amid rising tension caused by a US deployment of warships in the south Caribbean.The economicaly troubled South American country has a ragtag collection of Russian fighter jets, Iranian drones, old French tanks and a German submarine, as well as an estimated 340,000-odd men and women in arms.Venezuela possesses 15 F16 fighter jets purchased from the United States in the 1980s, 173 French AMX-13 tanks, 78 British tanks, and a Sabalo submarine acquired from Germany in 1973. It has one operational Italian frigate; nine coastal patrol vessels, 25 armed speedboats and three landing vessels for 12 tanks and 200 personnel.In the 2000s, the country used the windfall from an oil boom to spend billions on its military under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez.From Russia, it acquired 23 fighter jets, eight helicopters, 12 anti-aircraft missiles and 44 surface-to-air missile systems between 2006 and 2011 for a $11 billion price tag, according to Evan Ellis of the US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute.More recently, under Western sanctions since 2017, Caracas also bought eight Iranian Mohajer drones.”The problem is that if they are not coordinated, those military systems are useless,” said the general, who held several high-ranking positions during his career.”The Armed Forces do not train collectively to use all these land, air, and sea elements. Coordinating that without prior exercises, complicates the command of a complex operation.”The general also highlighted high levels of desertion and low recruitment rates.”Morale is far below what is expected for a conflict” situation, he said.- ‘Without due process’ -Maduro claims Venezuela has more than eight million militia members and reservists — equivalent to about a third of the population.Analysts say the figure is unrealistic.The International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) estimates the force at 123,000 soldiers, 220,000 militia — a civilian arm of the military — and 8,000 reservists. The economic collapse that saw an 80 percent drop in Venezuela’s GDP under Maduro, who took over from Chavez in 2013, also hit the military even though it is one of Maduro’s main sources of support. Military spending dropped to $3.9 billion dollars in 2023, according to the International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), from a record $6.2 billion in 2013. Venezuela has petitioned the United Nations to intervene in what it has called a US threat to the country.On Wednesday, Caracas said the United States had “murdered 11 people without due process” after President Donald Trump announced US forces had killed “narcoterrorists” in a strike on a boat transporting drugs.Analysts have told AFP the US Caribbean deployment, which it labeled an anti-drug operation, was likely a show of force to put pressure on Maduro, whom it accuses of leading a drug cartel and whose last two reelections it does not recognize.Maduro fears he is the target of a regime change maneuver, but the International Crisis Group said in a report this week that “the task force dispatched to the vicinity of Venezuela is a fraction of what would be required for a full-scale intervention.”