Why it’s no bad thing that Biden-Putin summit was a little dull
There are moments when dull is good. This was one of them.
It was clearly a big and important meeting – the first face-to-face encounter between Joe Biden as US president and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
And with relations back nearing Cold War levels (they had both conceded as much) a tête-à-tête was needed.
Given the state of things and the context of the unpredictable diplomacy of Donald Trump, the possibility of a diplomatic incident was there.
The US and Russian leaders shake hands in Geneva. Pic: AP
Indeed when news filtered out that there had just been two sessions, not the three that were planned, and that the meetings had ended ahead of schedule, we wondered: Was this a sign that talks had broken down?
We were hastily called into the first of the two news conferences – the Russian one.
Mr Putin’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in the room, a sign that his boss would soon follow. Did he look downbeat, angry? I couldn’t tell.
But then President Putin took to the podium.
Within moments he had announced the nations’ respective ambassadors would be reinstalled in their host capitals.
This represents the beginning at least of the resumption of the mechanics of diplomacy. An achievement.
Then came further positive language.
President Putin addresses members of the media after his meeting with President Biden
Mr Putin’s “overall assessment” was that there was “no hostility”.
“On the contrary, our meeting took place in a constructive spirit. Both sides expressed intention to understand each other,” Mr Putin said.
On cyber security, he said: “We agreed on consultations in this respect.”
They may just be words but they are valuable in a relationship so strained.
The Russian president revealed the two leaders talked about their families. “It shows his qualities and moral values,” the translator quoted Mr Putin as saying.
There were clearly more tense exchanges in their meetings. Mr Biden had, the Russian president revealed, brought up human rights and the case of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Here, Mr Putin deflected, with a spot of ‘whataboutism’, drawing comparisons with the jailed protesters from the January storming of the US Capitol in Washington DC and the enduring existence of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre.
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No hostility with Biden meeting – Putin
President Biden watched all this on screens from another corner of the park on the shores of Lake Geneva before taking to his own podium.
And again, the language was positive.
It wasn’t, Mr Biden said, a “kumbaya moment”. No hugging or anything but “when was the last time two heads of state talked for two hours?”
There is, he said “no substitute for face-to-face dialogue. We share a responsibility between two strong and powerful countries. I told him I am not against Russia or anyone else. I’m for the American people”.
He said he had delivered three key points. First, practical measures to advance mutual interests, second, the importance of communication, and third, the ability to lay out US values.
The “tone was good”. The talks were “positive”. There “wasn’t any strident action taken… Where we disagreed we stated it”. Nothing was done in a “hyperbolic way”.
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‘I don’t think he’s looking for a Cold War’
But neither leader was remotely effusive. After all, their world views are profoundly different and there was never any expectation that would change with this meeting.
It was about creating a more stable, predictable relationship where they can at least understand and control their disagreements as well as the fallout.
“This is not about trust. This is about self interest and verification of self interest,” Mr Biden said.
They had always played down this meeting as just the first stage of rebuilding dialogue.
And it was precisely that. There was no Trump-style drama, no diplomatic moments.
A little dull then, but that’s no bad thing for a relationship which can be so perilous.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has accused the US of a coup attempt after Donald Trump approved CIA operations in the country to tackle alleged drug trafficking.
Mr Trump confirmed his decision, first revealed by The New York Times, as he said large amounts of drugs were entering the US from Venezuela – much of it trafficked by sea.
“We are looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” he said.
When asked why the coastguard wasn’t asked to intercept suspected drug trafficking boats, which has been a longstanding US practice, Mr Trump said the approach had been ineffective.
“I think Venezuela is feeling heat,” he said.
Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday evening. Pic: Reuters
Maduro hits back
He declined to answer whether the CIA has the authority to execute Mr Maduro, who denies accusations from Washington that he has connections to drug trafficking and organised crime.
The US has offered a $50m (£37m) reward for information leading to his arrest.
“How long will the CIA continue to carry on with its coups?” he asked after Mr Trump’s comments on Wednesday evening, saying calls for regime change harkened back to “failed eternal wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In a message to the American people, he said in English: “Not war, yes peace. The people of the US, please.”
President Nicolas Maduro. Pic: Reuters
US targets ‘drug boats’
Mr Trump also alleged Venezuela had sent a significant number of prisoners, including individuals from mental health facilities, into the US, though he did not specify the border through which they reportedly entered.
On Tuesday, he announced America had targeted a small boat suspected of drug trafficking in waters off the Venezuelan coast, resulting in the deaths of six people.
According to the president’s post on social media, all those killed were aboard the vessel.
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Venezuela opposition leader wins Nobel Peace Prize
Footage of the strike was released by Donald Trump on social media. Pic: Truth Social
The incident marked the fifth such fatal strike in the Caribbean, as the Trump administration continues to classify suspected drug traffickers as unlawful combatants to be confronted with military force.
War secretary Pete Hegseth authorised the strike, according to Mr Trump, who released a video of the operation.
The black-and-white footage showed a small boat seemingly stationary on the water. It is struck by a projectile from above and explodes, then drifts while burning for several seconds.
Mr Trump said the “lethal kinetic strike” was in international waters and targeted a boat travelling along a well-known smuggling route.
There has also been a significant increase in US military presence in the southern Caribbean, with at least eight warships, a submarine, and F-35 jets stationed in Puerto Rico.
A 39-year-old man died in hospital alone, miles from his family, after being detained by US immigration officials.
Ismael Ayala-Uribe, who had lived in the US since he was four, fell ill while in an immigration detention centre in California.
Ismael Ayala-Uribe was well known in the local Latino community
He complained of a fever and had a persistent cough in the weeks before he died, according to his mother Lucia.
She said he was initially treated by medical staff inside the detention centre but was returned to his cell.
He was eventually taken to hospital for a scheduled surgery to remove an abscess on his buttocks, but died before he was able to have the operation.
His family were never told he was in hospital, learning of his death via a knock on the door from police.
“They’re the ones that notified us that he had passed,” his brother, Jose Ayala, told Sky News.
“We were not even aware that he was in the hospital or even had a scheduled surgery. Then we got a knock on our door a little after 5.30 one morning.
“I believe he would still be alive today if he was never detained. He got sick while in detention, and they did not seem to take care of him.”
Ismael’s brother Jose speaks to Sky News
Why was he detained?
Mr Ayala-Uribe’s death raises questions about the conditions inside the centre he was held in, and if a sudden surge of immigrants being detained by this administration has left the system stretched beyond breaking point.
He had moved to the US from Mexico with his family as a child.
He did have DACA – deferred action for childhood arrivals – status, granted to those who have arrived while under the age of 18. But this was removed in 2016, after he was convicted of drink-driving.
In August, he was arrested by immigration agents at a car wash in California where he had worked for 15 years.
He was held for five weeks at Adelanto, a privately owned, run-for-profit, immigrant detention centre. A lawyer for his family said he was, as far as they are aware, a healthy man before he was detained and had no medical need.
But Mr Ayala-Uribe’s mother, who was visiting him every eight days and speaking to him on the phone a couple of times a day, said she noticed him getting progressively unwell.
Ismael’s brother and mother, Lucia
“He started with lots of fever,” Ms Ayala said. “He said they weren’t listening to him. The last time I saw him his face was drained, he told me he was not OK, he told me he couldn’t take it any more.”
Beginning to cry, wiping away tears, she added: “I feel powerless that I couldn’t do anything to help my son.
“I never imagined I was going to bury one of my sons. It feels terrible, they took a piece of my heart away.
“I would like something to change. If we cannot save him, at least we can save others that are still inside.”
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Inside Trump’s immigration raids
ICE defends detention treatment
The cause of Mr Ayala-Uribe’s death is still under investigation.
Sky News requested comment from the company which owns the detention centre where he was held, and they deferred to ICE, the US immigration and customs enforcement agency.
In a statement, ICE said: “Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay.
“At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergency care.”
The Trump administration says it’s targeting criminals and people in the US illegally. But campaigners say Mr Ayala-Uribe’s death should not be viewed in isolation.
Images from Ismael’s funeral service
Since Donald Trump took office, at least 15 people have died in immigration detention.
Democrat senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock wrote a letter to the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, asking for more information about these deaths.
The senators claimed 10 people had died between January and June, and that it was the highest rate in the first six months of any year publicly available.
Sarah Houston, a lawyer for the Immigrant Defenders Law Centre, claims immigrants are being mistreated in custody.
Read more from Sky News:
The people fighting back against ICE raids
Why US capital feels like it’s reaching tipping point
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ICE raids: ‘This is like Vietnam’
“This administration’s main goal is to harm, to torture individuals and to try to force them out,” she said.
“The great increase we see in human rights abuses, in deaths, is a direct result of the administration’s decision to pack these detention centres as much as they can.”
Mr Ayala-Uribe’s funeral was held this week. Dozens of extended family and friends wore t-shirts bearing his face. A mariachi band played as his casket was lowered into the ground and his mother heaved with sobs.
As they absorb their loss, the effort to carry out the biggest mass deportation operation in US history continues.
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