Sudden concern in Washington over Saudi behavior is puzzling. But the disappearance of a Washington Post writer and the suspicion that the Saudi government is involved has led Washington and particularly the Senate and House to demand some answers. They didn't care...

"Clear Sky 2018" was launched yesterday in Ukraine, bringing in hundreds of NATO troops along with US fighter and transport planes. The large show of NATO military force on Russia's border is meant to send a message to "aggressive" Russia. But the ongoing conflict...

What happened to Jamal Khashoggi? The Washington Post writer and friend of long-time Saudi intelligence head has been hailed as a "critic" of Saudi policy, but that reputation is not very well-deserved. Was he killed by the Saudis? Kidnapped? What might it mean for...

After the US unilaterally pulled out of the JCPOA Iran nuclear agreement and re-applied sanctions early this summer, Iran, citing a Treaty of Amity with the US, took the case to the International Court of Justice seeking among, other things, a ruling against US...

Frustrated by the Saudi refusal to increase oil production by two million barrels per day, President Trump said at a rally yesterday that absent US military protection the Saudi government would not last two weeks. He said the Saudis should "pay up" if they want to...

Over just the past two weeks we have seen numerous points of conflict between the US and China, including new US sanctions on China, a skirmish in the South China Sea, new tariffs, Trump's claim that China is interfering in the US election, and more. Is the heating up...

President Trump's Interior Secretary warned in a recent speech that Russia's energy sales abroad could be prevented with a US naval blockade. The head of the Russian senate's foreign affairs committee rightly responded that this would be an act of war. Why is the US...

Three years of Saudis dropping American bombs on Yemeni civilians is starting to get noticed in Congress. A requirement in the defense authorization bill that the Administration certify that the Saudis were at least not trying to kill civilians was put into place and...

How did President Trump do in his UN General Assembly speech? He got some unexpected laughs and did a good deal of bragging, but when it came to foreign policy there were huge disconnects from reality. Everyone must respect each other's sovereignty...but what about US...

China's "social credit" system is widely viewed as a kind of "digital dictatorship," where not only does illegal or anti-social behavior result in lower scores and therefore less privileges, but political dissent also earns one lower "social credit" scores. While the...

The Ron Paul presidential campaigns were largely driven by the amazing grassroots response. From the "money bombs" that shocked the mainstream political establishment to the creative operations such as the Ron Paul blimp and Ron Paul limo, it was average (but...

When the Polish president came to town this week, he brought an offer of $2 billion toward the cost of putting in a permanent US military base on his soil. He even sweetened the deal by jokingly offering to name it "Fort Trump." Joking aside, does establishing a...

Last night Israeli F-16s attacked the area near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia. It appears in the course of the attack, Syrian air defense missiles may have hit a Russian surveillance aircraft, killing 15 Russian service members. The Israelis blame the Syrians for...

On the very day we heard that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo certified that the Saudi/UAE coalition was doing everything possible to avoid civilian casualties in its war on Yemen, yet another Saudi airstrike hit a civilian bus and killed at least 15 people....

This week the Trump Administration announced that the Palestinian Mission to the US would be closed. Earlier the Administration announced an end to US humanitarian assistance to Palestinian hospitals and an end to all US assistance. These moves do not save taxpayer...

Seventeen years after 9/11, we've spend $5.6 trillion in a "war on terror" that has left al-Qaeda "stronger than ever" (as in a recent LA Times article). Most of that war effort seems to have been directed against the American people, who these days cannot fly on a...

The Wall Street Journal tells us that an anonymous US Administration official claims the existence of secret intelligence showing that Syrian President Assad has already given the order to release chlorine gas in Idlib. The US stands by waiting to begin bombing. How...