Irish Examiner view: Donald Trump’s uncertainty on Iran adds to anxiety
US president Donald Trump suggested that US forces in the Middle East would 'be leaving very soon'. Picture: Alex Brandon
Earlier this week US president Donald Trump offered a timeline for concluding the conflict in the Middle East when he suggested that US forces would "be leaving very soon”.
Specifically, he said that that could happen "within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three".
This statement does not hold up under scrutiny, unfortunately.
Even Mr Trump must surely be aware that optimistic projections about when wars end are rarely accurate.
Also, the departure of US forces from the region, even if that happens according to this timescale, will hardly mean an end to the conflict.
The president’s capacity for contradiction only adds to the uncertainty here: Recently the US threatened to step up its operations if Iran did not accept its 15-point ceasefire framework.
As of Wednesday, however, that had changed significantly when Mr Trump said: ”Iran doesn't have to make a deal, no," when asked if successful diplomacy was necessary for the US to end its involvement.
This changed stance may or may not be related to the threat emanating from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) this week.
That organisation has threatened to attack US tech companies with operations in the Middle East, including Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Google, stating: “From now on, for every assassination, an American company will be destroyed.”
It remains to be seen where exactly Iran will strike, or whether its retaliation will be confined to the Middle East.
The impact of this conflict can already be seen in Ireland, of course.
The Government has had to cut excise duties on fuels, and Taoiseach Micheál Martin has warned about the growing seriousness of the situation.
"The supply shock is probably the worst ever, much more severe than even the 1970s supply shock,” he said this week.
"So, on two fronts, inflation, inflationary impacts of the war, and secondly, of course, the supply implications.”
The US president’s bullish timeline may be accurate insofar as it relates to direct military involvement in the Middle East, but this conflict is clearly global in nature, if that was ever in doubt.
Last week the was part of a campaign raising awareness of a significant disease which affects many Irish people.
April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, which means it is a time to focus on awareness, early detection, and the importance of screening in particular.
All of which makes a row that emerged this week all the more unfortunate.
A cornerstone of the fight against bowel cancer is the screening programme which is free for those aged between 58 and 71, and last Tuesday the HSE announced plans to expand that programme.
It will now cover those aged between 57 and 71, starting this week, and the change means an extra 116,000 people will be eligible in comparison with the previous iteration of the scheme.
The change has drawn sharp criticism from Bowel Cancer Ireland, however.
Organisation co-chair Brendan Donlon said: “We cannot allow incremental progress to be presented as ambition.
"Moving from 58 to 57 is not a strategy, it is a delay dressed up as progress. The evidence has pointed to 45 for years. Ireland is not acting on it.”
Mr Donlon pointed to some strong evidence to buttress his case, such as data from the National Cancer Registry Ireland data which shows bowel cancer among the under-50s has almost doubled over the last 25 years.
In addition, Hiqa has previously advised expanding the programme to include those aged between 55 and 74, a strategy echoed in the National Cancer Strategy.
On this basis, the frustrations of Bowel Cancer Ireland are easy to understand.
The fact that this week’s change does not cover the age range recommended in a national strategy which is now almost a decade old is particularly striking.
Expanding the age range in such a piecemeal fashion is deeply disappointing given the acknowledged importance of early screening.
This week’s change is clearly beneficial for the 116,000 people who will now be eligible for the free screening programme.
It is a pity that that number is not far higher, as it would be if the age limit were lowered to 55.
The decline of Tiger Woods continues, with the golfer announcing he intends to step “away for a period of time” in order to “seek treatment” after the road traffic accident in Florida last Friday that led to his being charged with driving under the influence.
He will miss The Masters tournament as a result, a tournament he has won five times, most recently in 2019.
That last victory was greeted warmly by his countless fans, who saw it as dramatic redemption for an athlete who has overcome serious injuries and many surgeries in his ongoing drive to remain competitive.
However, many of Woods’s travails are self-inflicted.
In 2017, he was arrested for driving under the influence of drink or drugs.
In 2021, he crashed his car and injured one of his legs so badly that doctors contemplated amputation.
Last Friday, police officers attending the scene said Woods’s normal faculties were impaired, so they arrested him; he refused to give a urine sample but was found to have hydrocodone pills in his pocket — hydrocodone is a strong opioid painkiller to treat moderate to severe pain.
As a golfer, Woods was an inspirational figure.
It's a very different and sadder picture when his private life is considered.
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