Global Hotspots

Trump Has Just Raised the Stakes With Moscow and Tehran in Three Risky Moves

By Patrick Smith

President Trump made three big moves on Syria and Iran this week. They crisscross and contradict one another, but the administration’s game plan in the Middle East just got a lot clearer.
Here’s the Enormous Economic Leverage China Has Over North Korea

By Greg Wright, The Conversation

North Korea got the world’s attention – and President Donald Trump’s – when it said on July 4 that it had successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time. The weapon,...
Trump’s Fly-by-Night Mideast ‘Policy’ Embraces the Saudi’s New Crown Prince

By Patrick Smith

It’s not likely that President Trump knew what he was getting into when he embraced the Saudis as the rightful leaders of the Islamic world and the war on terror during his visit to Riyadh last month...
Russia’s Top Troll Strikes Again: Putin Offers Comey Political Asylum

By Rob Garver

While much of the world looks at the turmoil in Washington, DC with apprehension and dread, at least somebody watching the expanding investigation of President Trump and his associates is enjoying...
Here’s How the US Could Cripple North Korea’s Economy

By Rob Garver

Punishing North Korea economically for its misdeeds may be simpler than many believe, according to a new report from a Washington non-profit.

Time for Trump to Face It: From Now on, Every Week Is ‘Russia Week’

By Rob Garver

The Trump administration’s efforts to keep Russian interference in last year’s election out of the headlines are being overwhelmed by events, as another week ostensibly dedicated to a different issue...
Putin’s Just Trolling the World Now on Trump and the US Election

By Rob Garver

Russian President Vladimir Putin conceded for the first time that perhaps computer hackers from his country actually had worked to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Here’s One Credible Reason to Doubt the Russia-Kushner Story

By Rob Garver

Following the Washington Post report on Friday that top White House adviser Jared Kushner had approached the Russian ambassador to the US about opening a secret line of communications between Moscow...
How Trump Really Could Make a Difference in the Middle East

By Liz Peek

Two presidents, two trips to the Middle East in their first year in office. That is where the similarities end. I was in Cairo for President Obama’s much-celebrated speech in 2009 as a guest of...
Trump the Diplomat? Will He Charm or Harm US Relations?

By Patrick Smith

Whoever put together President Trump’s first foreign tour has a good grasp of the grand gesture. When he departs Friday, his main stops are Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican, making Trump the...

Kurdish Leader Doubts Obama Has an ISIS Plan

By Rob Garver

The leader of a key U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS said in an interview that aired on Sunday that his people have seen little evidence of a strong commitment to defeat the terror group, and...
The Perverted, Powerful Logic Behind ISIS’s Burned Pilot

By Riyadh Mohammed

“We will fill the sea with blood,” the jihadists chanted as the Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbah was being burned alive in a cage. In Raqqa, the defacto capital of ISIS in Syria, the crowds cheered...
‘If We Can’t Reach a Peace Accord, It’s Called War’ – Hollande on Ukraine

By Rob Garver

Whether by accident or design, the United States and its partners in Europe have entered a sort of good-cop-bad-cop routine in their dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As fighting...
Putin: US Arming Ukraine Would Do ‘Colossal Damage”

By Rob Garver

The Kremlin is watching the ongoing debate in Washington over whether or not to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine, and a spokesman warned U.S. officials not to move ahead with the plan.
Jordan’s Revenge and the Arab World’s ISIS Awakening

By Kevin Baron, Defense One

This is the moment the Pentagon has been waiting for. All those years of “building partner capacity,” to train, equip, fund, strengthen and professionalize the militaries of Middle East dictators and...

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