WORLD ROUNDUPEurope Should Dust Off Multilateral Nuclear Plans | An Unrestrained Israel Is Reshaping the Middle East | China Won’t Be the Obvious Winner in Latin America, and more

Europe Should Dust Off Multilateral Nuclear Plans  (Michael John Williams, Foreign Policy)
A Kennedy-era initiative may be a necessity in the age of Trump.

An Unrestrained Israel Is Reshaping the Middle East  (Economist)
Its quest for hegemony will strain domestic cohesion and foreign alliances.

Netanyahu Takes Desperate Measures  (Gershom Gorenberg, The Atlantic)
Israel may be paying the price for its prime minister’s political survival.

Israel Is Escalating Its War in Syria  (Charles Lister, Foreign Policy)
The Syrian government wants peace with its neighbors. Israel has other ideas.

How to Punish Russia, Make Money and End the War  (Glenn Hubbard and Catherine Wolfram, New York Times)
Several weeks ago, the president floated the idea of sanctions and tariffs over Russian imports. But the Kremlin has been dismissive — mainly because the United States imports very little from Russia. Extensive financial and trade sanctions have been in place, most of them for around three years, and they are plainly not enough to bring peace.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to improve the American hand. The administration should impose sanctions on any company or individual — in any country — involved in a Russian oil and gas sale. Russia could avoid these so-called secondary sanctions by paying a per shipment fee to the United States Treasury. The payment would be called a Russian Universal Tariff, and it would start low but increase every week that passes without a peace deal.

Putin’s Getting the Negotiation He’s Long Wanted From the United States  (Serge Schmemann, New York Times)
Over the weekend Trump saidof Vladimir Putin: “He’s a super smart guy.”
With Russia, the White House announced it “will help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports.” The Kremlin was more specific: The fighting pause in the Black Sea would come into force only after a host of other sanctions on institutions that are involved in the sale of food and fertilizer were lifted.
That seems to be the pattern of the Trump administration’s mediation so far, starting with the humiliation of Zelensky at the White House and Trump’s friendly 90-minute telephone discussion with Putin. A bullied Zelensky subsequently agreed to Trump’s call for an unconditional cease-fire; Putin did not, agreeing only to a pause in attacks on strikes against energy facilities.
After that phone call, Pravda.ru didn’t conceal its glee. “Putin won the first round of negotiations with Trump with good chances to take the whole game,” was its headline. No halt to Russia’s offensive; a wedge between America and its European allies, who were locked out of the negotiations; no large prisoner exchange; a potential lifting of sanctions.
Perhaps even more important, Putin finally achieved what he had long wanted: to relegate Ukraine’s fate to superpower-to-superpower talks between Moscow and Washington. Super smart, right?

China Won’t Be the Obvious Winner in Latin America  (Ryan C. Berg, Foreign Policy)
What does Washington’s assertive approach mean for Beijing’s regional influence?

We Need the Voice of America Now More Than Ever  (Jeanne Shaheen,Foreign Policy)
Cutting off independent media abroad leaves the United States vulnerable at home.

Trump’s Shoddy Deal Puts Europe in a Bind  (Edward Lucas, The Times)
With a Ukraine “ceasefire” signaling an end to Russian sanctions, leaders are forced to pick a side.