Category: Politics

The US-backed coalition of Kurds and Arabs of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have begun their long-awaited assault on the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate in Raqqa. The forecast for the battle has it that it will be long and costly as the IS fighters are cut off from any support. But the government of Turkey […]

The South Korean government has suspended the deployment of the American THAAD missile defense system intended to protect them and Japan from a potential North Korean nuclear strike. The system, although specifically defensive in its capabilities, has drawn harsh criticism from North Korea and its largest ally, China, and was approved by the South Korean […]

According to a report released by the Pentagon on Tuesday, China is developing plans to expand its military footprint on foreign soil.  After the completion of a facility in the African nation of Djibouti, it is expected that more Chinese military bases will follow suit, particularly in Pakistan. The 97-page annual report to Congress listed […]

Russian hackers are believed to have breached Qatar’s state news agency in order to plant a fabricated news story that may have influenced the diplomatic crisis in the Middle East, CNN reported on Tuesday. US authorities said Russia’s goal may have been to sow discord between the US and its allies in the region. Intelligence […]

Montenegro became the 29th member of the storied North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, on Monday, prompting congratulations from other member states and threats of reprisal from NATO’s long time opponent, Russia. Montenegrin Prime Minister Duško Marković marked the occasion by attending a State Department ceremony in Washington D.C., which he followed up by meeting with […]

The setting is Singapore, early June 2017, at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security summit in Asia.  U.S. Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis has just spoken about the threat posed to the world by North Korea, as well as the potential positive benefit of the United States-China relationship on a host of […]

American Defense Secretary James Mattis joined other regional defense leaders at a meeting of the heads of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations on Sunday, wherein the defense officials had a “robust” exchange of views on security and stability in Asia. The brief meeting was held on the sidelines of the larger Shangri-La Dialogue Asia […]

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson increased pressure on North Korea’s largest and most powerful ally, China, on Monday, claiming that they could do more to help curb Kim Jong Un’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and the missile platforms necessary to deliver them to targets around the globe, but Russia’s warming rhetoric toward Kim may  […]

JUNE 2, 2017 AMMAN, JORDAN—One thing drove university graduate Emna from abandoning her middle-class life in Tunisia to carry the so-called Islamic State’s banner in neighboring war-torn Libya. She was not swayed by some suave jihadi, she says, not running away from a broken home, nor a repressed life or poverty – nor any of […]

When I first saw the controversial pictures of What’s-her-name holding up a mock up of the severed head of our president, my mind immediately jumped to a similar controversy during Obama’s administration where images of the president with cross hairs over his face circulated in social media along with the same outrage we’re seeing today.  […]

Cuba and the United States have dramatically reduced the rate of human trafficking since reaching a landmark accord in January but risk losing those gains if the two neighbors fail to resume high-level talks, Cuban Interior Ministry officials said in an exclusive interview. During bilateral talks in the final days of former U.S. President Barack […]

In a statement made on Thursday at an economic forum in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin called elements of the U.S. missile defense system placed in Alaska and South Korea a “challenge” to Moscow.  According to Putin, their presence leaves the Russian military no choice but to expand its own forces in response. The […]