ABD 250. yaşını kutlarken tarihi kimin anlatacağı tartışılıyor

Friday briefing: The US at 250: who gets to tell the story?

In today’s newsletter: As official celebrations spotlight a narrow cast of ​white heroes, communities across the US are reclaiming the histories that Freedom 250 leaves out Good morning, and a very happy 250th birthday to the United States of America. If you prefer to celebrate with cage fighting on the White House lawn, an IndyCar rally through the streets of Washington DC, or simply by watching the president do his lonely bop to YMCA at a sparsely attended state fair, so much the better. It takes a special kind of someone to make the semiquincentennial birthday of a nation of 349 million people, from a whole variety of backgrounds, all about himself. But he wouldn’t be the only one centred on a very particular (white, male, Christian-centric) view of how the nation came to be. UK news | Women from Black and Asian backgrounds are less likely than their white counterparts to receive an epidural while giving birth, research has revealed. Ukraine | Ukraine and Russia have promised fresh assaults after Moscow launched a huge barrage on Kyiv, killing at least 27 people, tearing open apartment buildings and sending tens of thousands of people to shelters. UK news | Criminal investigators in the UK say they have uncovered a “truly international network” of organised drug-facilitated sexual assault in which victims are sedated before being raped and sexually assaulted. UK politics | Keir Starmer has formally apologised for the British state’s role in past forced adoptions after decades of campaigning by mothers and children affected. World news | A rescue team pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement, ending an operation that became a symbol of hope after the devastation of twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela. Continue reading...

US history gets a presidential makeover for its 250th birthday

This year, the United States is marking 250 years of independence with celebrations across the country. An historic occasion that US President Donald Trump intends to turn into the crowning achievement of his second term by changing the appearance of Washington DC to his taste – and infusing his vision of American history into national museums, parks and monuments. FRANCE 24's Fanny Allard and Fraser Jackson Revisit the US, 250 years after the Declaration of Independence.

Vance blasts US critics on America's 250th birthday

United States Vice President JD Vance on Saturday slammed those who criticise America’s “imperfections” in a lengthy July Fourth address from the deck of an amphibious assault ship in New York. Vance’s speech came as dozens of tall ships from more than 20 countries sailed into New York Harbour to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. “You will hear a couple small but loud voices today speak obsessively not of our national greatness, but of our national imperfections,” Vance said from the USS Kearsarge. “They’ll talk about America’s sins with the anger and zeal of a brimstone preacher, but without any of the grace or forgiveness that must be present in the Christian faith,” Vance continued, adding that these critics “misunderstand the essence of America”. As a flotilla of tall ships glided by behind him, he asked Americans to “reject the two-dimensional view of your fellow citizens and reject the two-dimensional view of your country”. Vance’s comments echoed those of US President Donald Trump, who on Friday used even stronger language to blast “radicals and extremists” that threaten America’s identity, charging that there was “a resurgence of the communist menace in our land”. The speeches exemplify how the major milestone in America’s history comes at a time of deep political division — but also marks a moment of celebration. A V-22 Osprey with U.S. Vice President JD Vance aboard departs following an International Naval Review aboard the USS Kearsarge in New York Harbour on July 04, 2026. — AFP An array of military jets, including the Blue Angels, the US Navy’s flight demonstration squadron, flew over New York Harbour, some leaving red, white and blue contrails. But a scorching heat wave across the eastern United States threatened to spoil July Fourth celebrations over the weekend. In New York City, the heat index — the apparent temperature when humidity is factored in — stood at 41°C in mid-afternoon.

On America's big birthday, mixed emotions over legacy and future

WASHINGTON: Americans celebrated 250 years of independence Saturday with conflicting emotions as pride, hope and patriotism battled with uncertainty and unease over the country’s direction.

Trump lauds US in storm-delayed 250th birthday speech: ‘we’ll always be on top’

US President Donald Trump hailed America on its 250th birthday on Saturday as the “crowning achievement” of human history, even as he used the event to renew his attack on domestic opponents he called communists. In a speech delayed by several hours when storms forced the temporary evacuation of crowds in Washington, Trump claimed that under his presidency the United States was “prouder than ever before.” While Trump had promised a huge political rally to stamp his brand on the national...

9 / 11 Museum CEO reflects on lasting impact of terror attacks as America marks 250th birthday

At 250, the US confronts its own reflection

Every nation tells itself a founding story. The United States of America’s begins with the Mayflower, reaches its political crescendo in Philadelphia in 1776, and finds its constitutional architecture in 1787. The Federalist Papers defended an energetic republic capable of balancing liberty with order, while The Anti-Federalist Papers warned that concentrated power would ultimately erode the very freedoms the Revolution sought to secure. Two and a half centuries later, the debate feels less like settled history than today’s headlines. The US enters its 250th birthday admirable to some yet a cause of concern to many. Anniversaries are mirrors. The reflection confronting the US today is more combustible than the fireworks illuminating the Fourth of July sky. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed universal equality, but the republic that followed struggled to extend that promise beyond white male property holders. Indigenous dispossession and slavery, later segregation, are not historical footnotes but central contradictions embedded within the nation’s development. The Constitution itself tells a story of unfinished redemption. Its amendments chart the republic’s moral expansion. Each revision represented an admission that the original constitutional settlement, remarkable though it was, remained incomplete. Yet constitutional development is not self-executing. Rights endure only when institutions command public trust. The US’ recent experience suggests that trust has weakened. Polarisation has transformed political disagreement into existential conflict. Judicial appointments are increasingly viewed through partisan lenses. Electoral legitimacy is questioned with unsettling regularity. Constitutional norms that once rested upon unwritten restraint increasingly depend upon legal technicalities. The republic still possesses formidable institutions; but the confidence in them that sustains them has become considerably thinner. This erosion extends beyond politics into society itself. The US’ crisis is structural. Economic, educational and cultural elites increasingly reproduce themselves through closed networks, credentialism and institutional gatekeeping, leaving large sections of society alienated from opportunity and public life. Democracy weakens when citizens lose confidence that they genuinely shape their own future. Democracy requires more than formal elections. It demands people capable of independent judgment rather than passive consumption of elite narratives, partisan echo chambers or algorithmic manipulation. The Founders envisioned a republic sustained by civic virtue, not merely constitutional machinery. A society unable to think freely ultimately cannot govern itself freely. The US’ international position reflects similar contradictions. Since 1945, Washington has underwritten much of the world’s security architecture, supported global scientific collaboration and provided liquidity during repeated financial crises. These are genuine public goods. But privilege carries obligations. The dollar’s unique role also grants the US extraordinary advantages through seigniorage, global demand for Treasury securities and unparalleled influence over international finance. Federal Reserve policy, designed for domestic objectives, routinely exports inflationary pressures, capital volatility and debt burdens to emerging economies. Financial sanctions, control over payment systems and the centrality of the dollar have likewise transformed monetary power into geopolitical leverage. Such advantages inevitably impose asymmetric costs on others. A responsible superpower should recognise both sides of that ledger rather than presenting every exercise of financial dominance as the defence of its own hegemony. The US’ credibility weakens whenever Washington attributes domestic economic anxieties or political dysfunction primarily to other countries instead of confronting structural challenges at home. The lesson of the US’ constitutional journey is neither triumphalism nor despair. The Framers deliberately designed a system that is supposed to be capable of correction because they understood human imperfection. Every period of national renewal has required difficult self-examination rather than comforting mythology. At 250, the US should rediscover that constitutional habit. It should renew civic education, restore confidence in institutions through transparency rather than partisanship, broaden economic opportunity beyond inherited privilege, and defend liberty not simply as the absence of government restraint but as the capacity for people to think independently and participate meaningfully in public life. Internationally, it should engage with responsibility rather than exceptionalism, accepting that “global leadership” entails restraint as well as influence. The US experiment has always been a generational commitment to “a more perfect Union”. But the world of 2026 is not the world of 1776. Today, that commitment must extend beyond the US’ shores — to help the world meet common challenges and to join with other nations in making the planet a better home for all. At 250, this is both the US’ greatest inheritance and its unfulfilled promise.—China Daily/ANN Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2026