Trump faces major headaches with incidents in Qatar and Poland

In the major foreign policy arena that absorbs a lot of time and the Trump administration effort comes two major challenges in less than 24 hours.

Israel’s air strike on Hamas offices in Doha and Russian drone penetration in the depths of the Polish air field is two huge headaches for the White House.

It can be said, two of the main insults of the president’s authority.

After all, these are conflicts – Ukraine and Gaza – US President Donald Trump said he would deal quickly and decisive.

In each case, a leader considered him a natural ally, if Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-a large key in the wheels of peace-making at the White House.

Consider timing. The Doha raid came just two days after the Trump administration handed over its recent proposals to end the war in Gaza.

On social media, Trump told Hamas that this was a last opportunity.

“Hamas has warned of the consequences of not accepting,” he wrote on Sunday. “This is my last warning, there will be no other warning!”

In Doha, the Higher Hamas leadership gathered to look into their response, but Israel did not wait to hear it. The attack did not breathe the latest proposals of the United States, but may have destroyed the accurate architecture of Gaza diplomacy, which the Trump administration was highly dependent.

The discussion revolves around how and when the United States discovers about the Israeli raid and whether it could do more to stop it. The presence of Qatar in one of the most important American bases in the world has led to the conclusion that it is unreasonable that Washington did not see Israeli aircraft approaching.

But if there is no green light from Washington – and many assume that it was – what does this say about Mr. Trump’s ability to influence Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions?

Over the past two years, in the wake of the insult that has suffered from the hands of Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, Israel has been winning its military muscles throughout the Middle East, most of them with implicit or explicit approval from the United States.

Israel has established itself is the undisputed dominance of the region, and is able to attack in the wills in which Yemen and Iran fluttering.

But in both cases, the United States also participated and participated in the targets – Houthi attacks on Israel and shipping in the Red Sea stopped and thwarted Iranian nuclear aspirations.

The attack on Qatar, a major American ally, is something else completely.

Donald Trump said he felt “very bad” about it. According to the White House of events, the news of the Israeli raid came too late to provide Qatar with any meaningful warning.

“The bombing unilaterally inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and a close ally of the United States working hard and brave risks with us to the mediator, does not provide the goals of Israel or America,” White House press secretary Caroline Levit told reporters.

It will not be enough to suppress doubts about American collusion, but it seemed to be a real anger.

For his part, Mr. Netanyahu was keen to emphasize that this was a “completely independent” act.

In the Washington Post, David Ignatius wrote that what the Israelis called the “Summit of Fire” came despite the American and Israeli assurances that Hamas leaders would not target in Qatar.

For such assurances, if presented, they were screaming in the Gulf as a sign of American weakness.

Then there is Poland.

Less than a month ago, Trump Putin welcomed a summit in Alaska, where he put up the red carpet, embracing the war engineer in Ukraine, and at a hot microphone, France told Emmanuel Macron that Putin “wants to force me a deal for me as it seems to me.”

But out of progress towards a deal, the weeks that have passed since then have only reached an escalation. More attacks of drones and Russian missiles in Ukraine, and now, for the first time, a flagrant penetration into the NATO airspace.

This is not the first time that Russian projectiles have fallen into Poland, but the previous episodes were close to the border and it appears to be vulnerable.

But the incursions early Wednesday morning were not accidental. Polish officials have reported 19 Russian aircraft aircraft, some of which fly in the depths of Poland.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Parliament that this is “the closest we have been to open the conflict since World War II.”

Despite the Russian rejection, there is almost universal consensus that this was a deliberate effort from Moscow to test NATO torque.

Since the United States is still the strongest member of the coalition, this means testing Donald Trump’s torque as well.

The president’s clear hesitating did not pass – unlike his comments on the Doha attack – without anyone noticing it.

“I received a stunning silence from the White House news that an ally of NATO for the first time was participating and dropped Russian military origins,” the Kiev Post wrote.

A publication on the social truth did not eventually come.

“What does Russia violate the airspace of Poland with drones?” The president wrote, adding, somewhat mysterious, “Here we go!”

But his first silence, in addition to his unwillingness to follow up on his threats to impose new sanctions on Russia, and left the Western allies of Ukraine where they were always: I wonder where Donald Trump’s heart is.

This may be about to change, as European officials work with their American counterparts on a coordinated package of sanctions, the first since Trump’s return to the White House.

But given the previous contradiction of the president about NATO, coalition members want to reassure that when the sovereignty of the ally is threatened, Washington can rely on to respond.

A modern agreement to allow NATO members to buy American military equipment for Ukraine, as well as members’ commitment to spend more to their defense, and did a lot to improve relations within the alliance, and Trump has abandoned the type of hostile discourse towards NATO, which distinguishes his first term in the office.

For their part, European NATO members generally acknowledged that they should do more to care for their security. Policing Poland’s AirPace is a good example.

But the American, military and political force is still the basis for which the alliance was built, and asks the rest of this president’s desire to use it.

Two days, they are opposed and two mystery. For Trump, the leader who does not like or expect a challenge, this was testing the experience. Everyone is waiting to see if it rises to this occasion.