The nation of Lebanon in the Levant, directly north of Israel, has long been an economic basket case, since its fall from grace as a tourist jewel on the Mediterranean several decades ago.
The Trump administration has been pushing our European allies to take a bigger role in Syria in the final campaign to mop up the last vestiges of the once-vaunted Islamic State caliphate. France and the United Kingdom have agreed to step up (modestly) their military presence in Syria to replace the departing Americans, reportedly down to around 400 troops.
Much changed in Ukraine after the election of Vladimir Zelenskiy to the presidency. More change is to come; some not good for Ukrainian sovereignty.
President Vladimir Putin paid a visit to Rome, not to take in the sights but in an attempt to burnish the special relationship between the two countries. The clear subtext of Mr. Putin's trip was an attempt to widen the splits in the European Union over sanctions against the Kremlin for its aggressive behavior in Crimea, eastern Ukraine and elsewhere.
We have written often about Never Trumpers at the State Department working against the president's agenda in the Balkans, and specifically in Albania.
We've spoken with Ali al-Ahmed from the Gulf Institute several times in the recent past and with tensions rising in the Middle East we thought it would be helpful to discuss the current positioning of Saudi Arabia in the Gulf, and surrounding area.
It's just a matter of time.
For a media that has been obsessed with the narrative of Russian collusion in the U.S. for three years, and which has made Russian President Vladimir Putin out to be the Antichrist, it's interesting to see the Western press now spinning the narrative that the Kremlin in this case wants to "fight corruption" by backing the ACUM-Socialist coalition and allegedly '"does not want to interfere" in Moldova's affairs.
As President Trump has declared with his America First agenda, global economic rivalry is a national security issue. Those nations that fall behind economically could face military threats down the road, endangering their sovereignty.
The Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan on Sunday will hold an early presidential election to choose the successor to Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country's one and only post-Cold War leader, who stepped down from power in March of this year. Despite the doubters out there, this is a historic opportunity for the Kazakh people and the region.
The Trump administration has made the decision to push for regime change in Iran, whether U.S. officials want to admit it publicly or not. There is no "negotiating" with the mullahs in Tehran, even if multiple American presidents in recent history have attempted to do just that, with disastrous results.
One of the underappreciated negative consequences of the Obama presidency has been a complete ideological change within America's armed forces.
Earlier this week, a memo surfaced in Ukraine, allegedly revealing how former Vice President Joseph R. Biden accepted an "unlawful benefit" from his son's financial ties to local oil and gas producer Burisma.
How tax-exempt warehouses contribute to some EUR800 billion laundered each year globally and why they are a threat to our national security.
The State Department is also knee deep in the Deep State with Obama holdovers working their seditious black magic in the cubicles of Foggy Bottom and around the world.
As the Russia hoax winds down in the United States and the investigations of the investigators begin, Americans would be wise to take a breath of the fresh air of freedom as it looks like our system of governance will work after all.
The left doesn't want to admit it, however, the more time goes by, the more we need to realize that Barack Obama was an evil president. I say this because it is clear Mr. Obama attempted to destroy the one thing that separates America from most of the world and provides for its overwhelming success -- the rule of law.
While Washington obsesses over the Russia-Trump collusion/obstruction narrative being endlessly bandied about by the media and the Democratic Party (even after the misfire of the Mueller Report's big gun for the left), the real story of the U.S.-Russia relationship -- and that of President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin -- is playing out this week in far away Venezuela.
The Democratic-led House voted Thursday to recommit the U.S. to the Paris climate accord negotiated by former President Barack Obama that his Republican successor is trying to tear up.
I was glad to hear the president of the United States mention our national debt in a tweet this week regarding the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States and interest rate policy. His point was that if the Fed were to lower short term rates, and restart quantitative easing (in banana republics they call this printing money), then our economy would explode even higher and the debt to GDP ratio would not look that bad.
