Geopolitics & international affairs
The French navy boarded and seized a Russian oil tanker near Sicily on June 23, marking the fifth interception of a vessel linked to Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet since September 2025. President Emmanuel Macron announced the operation on June 25, declaring that Europe will not allow the clandestine shipping network to keep funding Russia’s war […]
Iran rejects UN-backed plan to free ships trapped in Strait of Hormuz Iran has rejected a UN-backed proposal for mass evacuation of commercial ships still trapped in the Strait of Hormuz, creating a new threat to free passage through the waterway that carries one-fifth of the world’s oil. The decision blocks a plan coordinated by […]
As Ukraine seizes ‘first chance to win’, war horrors come home to Russia In one of the largest single-night long-range attacks since the war began more than four years ago, Ukraine launched a massive drone barrage against the Russian capital and over a dozen other regions in mid-June 2026, bringing the stark realities of conflict […]
Deck: House Democrats launch a discharge petition to permanently kill the Trump administration’s nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, bypassing Speaker Mike Johnson and forcing a floor vote that tests whether Republican outrage was genuine or merely performative. Lead: The $1.8 billion question landed on the House floor Thursday. Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on […]
Russia’s 20-year energy pledge to Malaysia looks like a straightforward supply deal. Behind the scenes, analysts argue it is something far more ingenious: a disguised currency swap designed to keep Vladimir Putin’s war chest stocked with US dollars. When Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim sat down with President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the […]
Trump asks Congress for $87.6B in war funding as Pentagon faces years to restock weapons The White House sent Congress a request Wednesday for $87.6 billion in supplemental funding, most of it to cover the cost of the Iran war, while a new analysis warns the US military will need years to replenish the weapons […]
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) issued a stark warning on June 25, 2026, declaring that any vessel crossing the Strait of Hormuz without prior authorization from Tehran would face consequences. The IRGC statement, carried by state media, asserted that “the only authorized route for passage through the Strait of Hormuz is the route announced […]
What happens if Taiwan comes under crisis tomorrow? It is the question strategists in Washington, Tokyo, and Taipei have been gaming out for years. China’s pressure on the self-governing island has intensified through every channel available: military exercises that grow larger and more realistic, political warfare targeting the island’s international standing, and economic coercion designed […]
The heat dome that settled over Europe in June 2026 did not come gently. By the time it lifted, thermometers in France had touched 44.3C at Pissos in the Landes region. Spain’s Andujar recorded 45.1C. The United Kingdom broke its June temperature record with 38C, surpassing the 35.6C mark set in Southampton in 1976. Across […]
Three International Criminal Court judges filed a 66-page lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on June 24, 2026, challenging sanctions imposed against them under President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14203. The judges argue the sanctions are unlawful and represent an unprecedented attack on judicial independence. The plaintiffs are Judge Kimberly Prost of Canada, Judge Solomy Balungi […]
