How the world has fared this past week: Gaza, the Fed and The Late Show

At long last, some Western leaders have found the political will to try to put a stop to the killing in Gaza. President Emmanuel Macron became the first G7 leader to declare that France would recognise an independent Palestinian state – a formal announcement is expected at the UN General Assembly in September. France, along with Saudi Arabia, co-hosted a UN conference this week on Palestinian statehood – the one that was opposed by Israel and boycotted by the US, and was forced to be rescheduled after the June war escalation between Israel and Iran.

Following France’s lead, both the UK and Canada signalled that they, too, would recognise a Palestinian state in September – but only if Israel fails to implement a permanent ceasefire and address the deepening famine in Gaza.

To many, these announcements may feel like “too little too late”. Others were sceptical, with The Economist (July 30) arguing that the announcements could have the opposite effect and complicate an eventual resolution.

Yet, there is no denying they represent a noteworthy shift away from the longstanding US position – and a recognition that pressure, not platitudes, may be the only force capable of changing Israel’s course. 

Predictably, Israel and the US criticised Macron’s move, calling it a reward for Hamas after the atrocities of October 7. But no serious discussion of Middle East peace can ignore the Palestinian question. The shift toward state recognition is less a gift than an acknowledgement: no lasting peace is possible without an independent Palestinian state as part of the equation.

At the Fed: hard hats and hard politics

Meanwhile, on a very different kind of battleground, Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell endured a curious visit from Donald Trump last week. Officially, it was to inspect renovation work at the Federal Reserve headquarters. Unofficially, it was another attempt by Trump to pressure Powell into lowering interest rates – a cause Trump is loudly pursuing so as to help him bring down the budget deficit.

In a surreal scene, Trump and Powell posed at the construction site in white hard hats, with the former president once again pushing for rate cuts. It would have played as farce if the stakes weren’t so high. (Well worth watching on YouTube for the entertainment value alone).

Despite the theatrics, Powell held the line. The Fed left interest rates unchanged on July 30. But two dissenting votes in favour of a rate cut – the first such split in the monetary policy committee since 1993 – raised eyebrows. Notably, both dissenters are potential successors to Powell when his term as chair ends in May 2026 (he remains on the board until 2028).

Trump’s on-again, off-again threats to fire Powell are in the pause stage for now as Trump fully realises that the Fed chair doesn’t set interest rates alone, even though his influence is significant. Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent – also floated as a candidate for the Fed chair in a sign of things to come – has already expressed the view that Powell should resign entirely from the board in 2026.

The power struggle unfolding at the heart of US monetary policy could shape not just the American economy, but global markets as well.

Late Night, Last Laugh: Colbert and corporate pressure

In a different corner of American public life, one of Trump’s most persistent critics has taken a hit. CBS announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will be cancelled in May 2026 – ending a 33-year legacy that began with David Letterman and was carried forward, with biting political satire, by Colbert.

The show, still the top-rated programme in its category, was reportedly losing money. CBS and its parent company, Paramount, insisted the cancellation was a financial decision – not related to Colbert’s views or political content. There may be some truth in that. But the timing raised questions about what kind of financial decision the network was talking about.

Only days after the announcement, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the multibillion-dollar merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media – a deal requiring government regulatory signoff. The week before, CBS paid $16 million to settle a claim brought by Trump over an alleged bias on 60 Minutes – a claim most legal analysts dismissed as meritless.

The confluence of events – the Trump settlement, Colbert’s cancellation and the FCC approval – doesn’t prove causation, but it certainly invites scrutiny. Colbert himself coined the term truthiness – the sense that something feels true, even if it isn’t necessarily so. (It won the Word of the Year award in 2005 by the American Dialect Society). There’s no better word to describe the network’s official explanation.

While Colbert’s focus on Trump drew criticism for partisanship, few could deny his wit. With nearly a year left before the show’s curtain falls, there’s still time to laugh at his jokes online on YouTube. One hopes Colbert will find new ways to thrive – because in a free society, independent voices that make us think (and laugh) are more necessary than ever.

Trump still has lots of cards.

So all in all, it’s been an eventful few days. And that’s without even touching on the August 1 deadline on the progress of the trade war, where the Trump steamroller seems to be pushing ahead.

I may sneak a few days off the beach – and update you on that next week. Thankfully, I remain too far from Washington (and too insignificant) to merit a steamroller detour.