Ukraine Missiles, G20 Summit, Trump's Plans on Fentanyl

0:28Okay, so Layla. npr.org slash Up First Survey. It sounds so harsh. Slash. But say what you want at npr.org slash Up First Survey after you listen. President Biden makes one of his final moves, allowing Ukraine to fire American-made missiles farther into Russia. In the past, the U.S. hesitated to provoke Russia, what made the president decide that it's time to let the missiles fly. I'm Steve Inskeep with Leila Faddle, and this is Up First from NPR News. The president is promoting his climate agenda at a summit predicting the U.S. will keep embracing clean energy. Nobody, nobody can reverse it. Nobody.

1:14How are world leaders preparing for a president with a different point of view? And how does a new administration plan to attack drug gangs in Mexico? President Trump is committed to calling a terrorist organization and using and full-might of the United States Special Operations to take them out. Would that really affect fentanyl use in the United States? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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2:58President Biden will now let Ukraine fire long-range U.S. missiles into Russia. Biden is clearing Ukraine for actions its leaders have wanted for some time. The U.S. has avoided too much provocation of the world's other leading nuclear weapons state, But now Biden acts shortly before the coming of a new administration whose approach to Ukraine is uncertain. For more on how this fits into Ukraine's larger military effort, we're joined by NPR national security correspondent Greg Meire. Hi, Greg. Hi, Leila. So what's changed? Why is President Biden deciding to do this with two months left in his presidency?

3:34Well, he seems to be acting now because Russia is using some 10 ,000 North Korean troops in a bid to push Ukrainian forces out of Russian territory. This is according to a U.S. official who spoke to our NPR colleague Tom Bowman. Now, Ukraine captured a chunk of the Kursk region in western Russia about 500 square miles back in August. These Russian and North Korean forces are clawing back some of that territory and heavy fighting. The Ukrainians will now be able to use these U.S. missiles known as ATAKAMs to try to hold this territory. But is President Biden no longer worried about provoking Russia here?

4:12Well, no. I mean, all along, his concern has been a possible Russian escalation. But now he seems the priority is signaling that his administration wants to do what it can before leaving office in January. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week, quote, quote, every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door. And how much will the long-range missiles help Ukraine being able to use them? Well, yeah, yeah, Layla, they should certainly help. Ukraine's argument throughout the war is that Russia can move around troops and weapons with a large degree of freedom behind the front lines on the Russian side of the border because Ukraine was unlikely to attack them from long distance.

4:52So the attackums will make it riskier for the Russians to operate in these areas. However, there are real limits to this new policy. The U.S. said the Russians have already pulled back things like warplanes to take them out of missile range. And the U.S. is just providing a limited number of attackums because their own stockpile is limited and they need to keep some in the U.S. arsenal. The attackums can travel about 200 miles. They're quite powerful. Yet while Ukraine has been waiting for this permission from the U.S., it's been building its own attack drones, which can travel even longer distances, though they don't pack quite the same punch.

5:28Now, we talked about how this is really just two months left in the Biden administration. Could the incoming Trump administration just change this missile policy and others related to Ukraine? Oh, yes, absolutely. And Trump has been saying he wants negotiations to end the war. The Ukrainians are concerned they'll face pressure to make concessions to Russia, including territorial concessions, which they've adamantly opposed. And Trump has also expressed opposition to more U.S. military assistance. The U.S. had this$61 billion package for Ukraine back in April, and it's working its way through this.

6:03U.S. officials say the aid already approved is likely to go ahead, but additional money is now an open question. And meanwhile, winter's approaching, which changes the way this fight happens. What are you watching for? Yeah, Leila, just yesterday, Russia carried out a heavy strike, 200 missiles and drones, one of the heaviest in months. And every winter, Russia is expected, as it has in the past, to wage sustained attacks on Ukraine's power grid. And this has done a lot of cumulative damage, and it will remain a big vulnerability. That's NPR's Greg Myrie. Thank you, Greg. Sure thing.

6:47leaders of the world's largest economies are gathering in rio de janeiro in brazil today and tomorrow it's president biden's last group of 20 summit and a tricky one some of the measures he's expected to sign on to are not supported by the incoming administration we go to npr's south america correspondent to hear more hi carrie khan hi good morning so what's the mood like in Rio right now as these world leaders gather there at the beach? The sun's out. It's a picture postcard day here, so that should help with the mood. President-elect Trump's return, though, and global conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine are all hanging over the summit.

7:23President Biden arrived here late last night. He made a stop first in the Amazon and pledged new U.S. funds for rainforest protection. He didn't mention Trump there, who dismisses global warming, but Biden did take some jabs at those who he says would, quote, deny or delay America's clean energy revolution. Nobody, nobody can reverse it. Nobody. Not when so many people, regardless of party or politics, are enjoying its benefits. Also yesterday at the G20 venue, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was asked how world leaders should prepare for another Trump administration. He urged them to, quote, race much faster to tackle common challenges like climate change and inequality, but also, he said, strengthen global governance and institutions now.

8:11And if you are able in all these areas to make a strong bet on multilateralism, that is the best possible response. OK, so Trump's not there and not president yet, but he is looming large already during the summit. What are the G20 leaders going to address this week? The host, Brazil's president, Luiz Anácio Lula da Silva, a leftist, remains unfazed and is pushing ahead with his progressive proposals. They include attacks on the world's wealthiest and plans to alleviate poverty and hunger. Over the weekend, he blasted, quote, neoliberalism for aggravating economic and political inequality.

8:53He says to reach the hearts of citizens, governments need to close that gap between the voice of the markets and the voice of the streets. Lulu's been trying to position himself as a world leader, especially on issues of climate change. But here at home, his leftist party took a beating in last month's nationwide elections. He's also dealing with far-right leaders in South America, like former President Jair Bolsonaro and Argentina's ultra-libertarian, Javier Millet, who are both feeling quite emboldened with Trump coming back to power. Now, these summits are also a lot of posturing, photo ops, but are you expecting any surprises?

9:30I think the wild card here will be Millet, Argentina's president. He's just back from Florida where he personally congratulated Trump. He's known for his brash showmanship abroad. He just pulled out of the COP29 climate talks, and he also had Argentina cast the lone vote against a U.N. resolution condemning gender-based violence. His negotiators here signed on to the G20's draft joint declaration, but there's talk that they won't now, especially with that global tax on the super rich in it. So we'll be watching him. NPR's Carrie Kahn. Thank you, Carrie. You're welcome.

10:11Fentanyl and other street drugs are still killing nearly 100 ,000 people in the U.S. every year. That number has been dropping but is still very high. So what does a new administration plan to do about it? President-elect Trump made several big promises while campaigning, and people who work on the issue now assess how they would turn out. NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann is here to talk us through some of Trump's ideas. Good morning, Brian. Good morning. So how does Donald Trump say he'll end fentanyl overdoses? Well, it's interesting. Over the last four years, we saw the Biden administration really shift the fentanyl street drug response to a public health model.

10:48That means a lot more treatment and better medications. Donald Trump's focus during the campaign was very different. A big pivot. He talked almost exclusively about cracking down on fentanyl traffickers and dealers, securing the border. Here's Trump talking during one of his rallies. Sir, I heard you want the death penalty for drug dealers. Why? Well, you know, I'd like to end the drug epidemic, if that's OK. And then after the election, Layla, the man Trump named to serve as border czar Tom Homan, raised the stakes, promising U.S. military action against Mexican drug cartels during an appearance on Fox News.

11:25President Trump is committed to a conglom terrorist organization and using the full money of the United States special operations to take him out. OK, so that's a pretty drastic change, a big pivot from the public health approach. Do experts think this will work? Well, the short answer is no. Even a lot of drug policy and addiction experts who do want a tougher response to fentanyl tell me they're worried Trump's team will go too far. Jonathan Calkins is a drug policy analyst at Carnegie Mellon University. Even invoking the idea of military action in Mexico against traffickers, the worst idea anybody has ever, ever had.

12:03Calkins and other experts believe, Layla, that U.S. military strikes would do little to slow fentanyl smuggling or save American lives, but it could shatter diplomatic relations and destabilize Mexico. I also spoke about Trump's policy ideas with Brandon Del Pozo, a former police chief who studies drug policy at Brown University. He blasted Trump's idea of giving drug dealers the death penalty. He called it ineffective and unethical. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Americans who our neighbors who are doing something that's illegal, right? They're definitely dealing drugs, but they might be doing it because they're addicted to drugs.

12:38The idea that we would execute them, that shocks the conscience. Okay, so he calls it ineffective and unethical, but I imagine there are people who like and support this Trump getting tough approach. Yeah, absolutely. There is a view among some drug policy thinkers that the response to fentanyl got too liberal, sort of too soft and tolerant. Tom Wolfe is an activist in California himself in recovery from opioid addiction. People are tired of the theft. They're tired of the open drug use, and they want some accountability to be injected back into the process. Wolfe thinks Trump's get tough message worked because people are tired of this crisis.

13:14They want people using fentanyl off their streets, out of their parks and neighborhoods. Now, we talked about the Biden administration's focus on public health. As they hand over the rains. Is there any sign that was working? Well, you know, drug deaths actually dropped sharply over the last year, a trend that saved about 16 ,000 lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A lot of people I talked to say they're worried Trump will cut or defund programs like the Affordable Care Act that appear to be helping. One more thing I'm hearing is that no one believes this crisis can be solved fast.

13:46Progress is being made, but the fix for fentanyl is expected to take years, maybe decades. That's Brian Mann, NPR's addiction correspondent, looking ahead at the Trump team's plan to tackle the fentanyl crisis. Thank you, Brian. Thank you.

14:04And that's Up First for Monday, November 18th. I'm Leila Faldin. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Don't forget, you can take our audience survey, which helps to make this podcast better and gives you a chance to say what you think. Go to npr.org slash upfirstsurvey. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Tara Neill, Andrea DeLeon, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziyad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Milton Guevara. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent, and our technical director is Zach Coleman. Join us again tomorrow.

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