Putin on North Korea’s missile test: ‘No threat to us.’ Jabs at U.S. foreign policy

Russian president Vladimir Putin criticized North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test on Monday, but didn’t miss an opportunity to take a jab at the United States in his statement as well. Kim Jong Un’s North Korean regime conducted what has been called their “most successful” ballistic missile test to date on Sunday, launching their Hwasong-12 missile […]

North Korea’s Sunday missile test changes things, here’s why

North Korea conducted what has been referred to by experts as their “most successful” missile test to date on Sunday, demonstrating their ability to strike U.S. bases as far away as Guam with a hypothetically nuclear tipped missile. Kim Jong Un is said to have personally supervised the launch of the Hwasong-12 missile, a never […]

Streamlining the Intelligence Community

Recent news that DNI Dan Coats is looking for ways to streamline the gargantuan US Intelligence Community have returned the question of how American intelligence should be organized and structured to the fore. While previous efforts at “reform” were largely stillborn and confined to the marginal reshuffling of existing capabilities, the election of Donald Trump […]

North Korea’s Kim celebrates test of ‘perfect weapon system’

TOKYO — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un celebrated a test of the “perfect weapon system” after his engineers launched what they said was new kind of intermediate-range ballistic missile system capable of carrying “a large-size heavy nuclear warhead.” The missile, launched Sunday morning, appeared to show substantial progress toward developing an intercontinental ballistic missile […]

Battle of Mosul: SOFREP interview with LTC John Hawbaker of the 82nd Airborne

Less than an hour south of the most intense urban combat seen in all of the Global War on Terror is a squadron of American paratroopers, quietly working alongside the Iraqi Federal Police and offering advice, guidance, and when necessary, American firepower. LTC John Hawbaker, commander for 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, part of 2nd […]

Trump considering how move of U.S. Embassy in Israel could affect Mideast peace

President Donald Trump is trying to determine how keeping his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem could affect his hopes of brokering a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, his secretary of state said on Sunday. Since taking office in January, Trump has shown signs of shelving his campaign […]

In global appeal, North Korea urges states not to enforce U.N. sanctions

North Korea made a global appeal in a letter released on Friday for states to reconsider enforcing U.N. sanctions on the Asian nation as Washington seeks to step up pressure on Pyongyang to end its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The United Nations Security Council first imposed sanctions on North Korea in 2006 and has […]

Mexico second only to Syria as deadliest country in 2016

Despite ongoing international crises in war zones like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Mexico quietly climbed to the top of the world’s deadliest countries for 2016. In its annual report on armed conflict, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) showed that 23,000 people were killed in Mexico in 2016, the highest number of any country in the […]

Foreign-aid advocates and fiscal hawks all like Trump’s nominee to head USAID

Mark A. Green serves as a rebuttal to the hyper-partisanship of Washington. From across the ideological spectrum came effusive praise for the Trump administration’s announcement Wednesday that it will nominate the former Republican congressman from Wisconsin and ex-ambassador to Tanzania to head the U.S. Agency for International Development. Fiscal hawks in Congress said Green would […]

As U.S. retreats in Asia-Pacific, China fills the void with an ambitious global plan

BEIJING — When President Trump withdrew from the ­Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in January, critics said he was leaving a vacuum at the heart of the Asia-Pacific region, ceding the United States’ role as regional economic leader. On Sunday, China plans to show how it is filling that vacuum. At a major set-piece event in […]

Mexican activist known for investigating cartels killed in her home

Miriam Rodríguez Martínez, an activist on behalf of the thousands of Mexican citizens who go missing every year in Mexico, was murdered in her home by gunmen this week. Martinez had been known for personally investigating the circumstances of her daughter’s death. Karen Alejandra was kidnapped and murdered by criminals from the Zetas cartel in […]

Hezbollah says future war would be on Israeli territory

Lebanese Hezbollah said on Thursday that any future conflict between the Shi’ite group and Israel could take place inside Israeli territory, as tensions rise between the arch foes. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, also said in a speech televised live that the group was dismantling all its military positions along Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria, […]