Geopolitics & international affairs
The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most important oil chokepoint, and Iran still holds the keys. Despite months of US military pressure and negotiations that have produced a preliminary ceasefire agreement, Tehran has not given up its most valuable piece of leverage: the ability to control who passes through the narrow waterway and at […]
France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is returning to its home port of Toulon, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday, citing the “favorable evolution” of the security situation after the preliminary agreement between Iran and the United States to cease hostilities. The decision marks a visible milestone in the winding down of the most intense […]
For months, the Kremlin projected confidence. Russian forces were advancing in eastern Ukraine. Western aid was slowing. The narrative from Moscow was one of inevitable victory, with state television celebrating each territorial gain. But that tone is shifting, and the reason is not what happens on the front lines. It is what keeps happening deep […]
Pope Leo XIV used his first major address on American soil to praise the United States’ history of welcoming immigrants, a message that stood in stark contrast to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Speaking in Philadelphia on the eve of the nation’s 250th anniversary, the pontiff urged Americans to live up to the ideals […]
The UN nuclear watchdog says inspections of Iran’s nuclear program are possible in principle. The harder question is whether Tehran will allow meaningful access after more than a year of zero international oversight. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi confirmed to the agency’s board that inspectors have returned to Iran and have carried out inspections at facilities […]
The funeral for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei begins today in Tehran, four months after he was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on February 28. The regime hopes to see millions flood the streets of the capital in scenes reminiscent of the burial of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, when an estimated […]
The Ukrainian military is proving it can blow up pretty much whatever it wants inside Russia. Fewer and fewer places feel safe inside the country, as oil facilities, weapons factories, military convoys and bomber bases burn with increasing regularity. The FP-5 Flamingo, a Ukrainian-made subsonic cruise missile with a range of 3,000 kilometers, has been […]
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that the coming months will be decisive for Poland’s security, as concerns grow that Russia could test NATO’s resolve on the alliance’s eastern flank. Speaking after media reports of a planned Russian attack against a NATO member, Tusk said Poland is preparing for “various” scenarios and urged political […]
Germany cannot be ashamed of its defense effort, Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters in Berlin on Friday, after Donald Trump called NATO spending levels “ridiculous” and suggested the United States may stop carrying a disproportionate share of the alliance’s burden. The exchange, which comes as NATO leaders prepare to meet in Ankara next week, is […]
President Donald Trump said Thursday it is “ridiculous” for the United States to continue its “one-sided” relationship with NATO, less than a week before alliance leaders gather for a summit in Ankara. The outburst, posted on his Truth Social platform, is the latest escalation in a confrontation that has been building since the Iran war […]
