Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Lawrence Kadish • April 22, 2025 at 5:00 am
Without the means of harnessing a new, clean, inexpensive, inexhaustible source of power through fusion, our nation may face the difficult choice of either powering AI advances to protect our world leadership or keeping the lights on at our industries and cities -- but not both. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
A visionary, an entrepreneur, a futurist, and perhaps one of the most creative of his generation, one still needs to spend considerable time in reading the comments of Elon Musk to determine his current opinion regarding fusion energy. Prior published interviews suggest he has been a very strong proponent of solar and wind power, energy sources that have brought Europe to its knees economically and that, understandably, are not currently in favor at the White House. In 2023, Musk told Joe Rogan during a podcast that "You could actually power the entire United States with 100 miles of 100 miles of solar." Musk did in fact recognize the power of fusion energy but, in this context, he meant the sun generating electricity through solar panels:
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • April 21, 2025 at 5:00 am
In the West Bank and Jerusalem, most Palestinians have ignored Hamas's repeated calls for violence against Israel. "As the dimensions of these unimaginable sadistic horrors are uncovered, I ask you to believe me when I say that I want it to be clear to you, and the whole world, that we stand as your brothers, as human beings, and as citizens of the country, by your side. It is our simple and required moral and human duty to express abhorrence, to cry out loudly against unimaginable crimes. Our voice with be sharp and clear, unapologetic, unhesitant, unfaltering, without proportionality, with no ifs, ands, or buts. There are no dilemmas in the face of atrocities!" — Louis Haj, an Arab resident of the city of Acre, and former tech executive, Globes, October 22, 2023. Now that the Trump administration is holding direct negotiations with Iran, it must demand that the ruling mullahs immediately stop supporting Hamas's attempts to unleash a new wave of terrorist attacks against Israel from within Israel itself and from the West Bank.
After bringing death and destruction on the residents of the Gaza Strip, the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group is now trying to drag Arab Israelis and Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank into a violent confrontation with Israel. Pictured: Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, meets with Ismail Haniyeh, then leader of Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah, on July 30, 2024 in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by the Iranian Supreme Leader's Press Office via Getty Images)
After bringing death and destruction on the residents of the Gaza Strip, the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group is now trying to drag Arab Israelis and Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank into a violent confrontation with Israel. Hamas and Iran's mullahs will not be content until they see bloodshed and violence spread to areas outside the Gaza Strip. For them, this is a way of distracting attention from the catastrophe they brought on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for the past 18 months. They want the world's attention to shift from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the two-million-strong community of Arab citizens inside Israel.
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by Kaswar Klasra • April 20, 2025 at 5:00 am
Pakistanis are asking why these terrorists, these enemies of peace, continue to find shelter inside Iran. For years, groups like the BNA and its sibling, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), have launched attacks... Behind the scenes, officials acknowledge the seriousness of the moment. There is discussion not just about diplomacy, but about deterrence. The Iranian regime, meanwhile, remains cagey. Their official statement condemned the attack but offered little detail about any arrests or investigations. The international community has remained muted. Western governments — so quick to condemn terrorism elsewhere — have yet to speak out. There have been no statements from the UN. In Islamabad, the Foreign Office is reportedly considering a range of responses, from diplomatic measures to more direct action.... Among cabinet members, there is now open debate: What is the cost of silence? What is the risk of restraint?
On April 12, eight Pakistani migrant laborers in Iran were murdered in their sleep by the "Baloch Nationalist Army" terrorist organization. And Iran's regime, days later, still has no answers, no arrests, no accountability. Pictured: Pakistani soldiers stand guard at the Pakistan-Iran border in Taftan, on February 25, 2020. (Photo by Banaras Khan/AFP via Getty Images)
ISLAMABAD — The workshop was nothing more than a room carved out of metal and concrete. A few oil drums, rusted toolboxes, and eight tattered mattresses stood lined up against the wall. These were not barracks or hideouts—just a makeshift dormitory for eight Pakistani laborers who had crossed into Iran looking for honest work. That night, they were exhausted after working through the day repairing broken-down trucks in the remote Iranian village of Haiz Abad. They had no enemies, no weapons — just calloused hands and quiet dreams of returning home with enough money to feed their families. But as they slept on April 12, darkness brought something other than rest.
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by Amir Taheri • April 20, 2025 at 4:00 am
However, the first feature of Trumpianism may be its focus on concrete issues rather than intellectual abstractions; issues such as rising crime, illegal immigration, growing poverty, political correctness, unfair trade, and discrimination in the name of fighting discrimination. The second feature is its conviction that politics is the art of doing things rather than talking about what needs to be done. Trumpism leans towards taking the bull by the horns when it comes to issues that concern the average citizens, whom Hillary Clinton labeled "deplorables", rather than analyzing those issues out of existence in elite jargon and fake humanitarianism.
However, the first feature of Trumpianism may be its focus on concrete issues rather than intellectual abstractions; issues such as rising crime, illegal immigration, growing poverty, political correctness, unfair trade, and discrimination in the name of fighting discrimination. Pictured: US President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, April 14, 2025. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
It was barely a month ago when TV watchers across the globe saw a show in which new US president Donald Trump treated visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as one of those voodoo dolls made for pushing needles into, thus dodging a curse. After the show, TV talking heads speculated that, having come to the White House dressed as a rock star rather than a statesman, Zelensky had angered Trump and thus deserved what he got. Last week, however, Trump hosted another young man dressed as a rock star rather than a statesman, this time with obvious warmth and decorum. The lucky one was El Salvador's 37-year-old President Nayib Bukele. Why such a difference in treating two foreign heads of state?
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by Majid Rafizadeh • April 19, 2025 at 5:00 am
The Iranian regime's primary objective remains preserving its power. The mullahs see their nuclear program as the key to their survival. Any agreement should aim for nothing less than the total and permanent dismantlement of Iran's nuclear capabilities. This means no enrichment, no reprocessing, no heavy-water reactors, and no stockpiles – anywhere on the planet -- of enriched uranium. The dismantlement and enforcement processes must not be outsourced to any international organizations or foreign governments.... Ensuring compliance must lie directly with the United States and its most trusted regional ally, Israel. Both countries have the intelligence capabilities, military readiness and political will to ensure that any nuclear dismantlement is not only thorough but irreversible. Rounds of negotiations, verbal commitments or limited restrictions are invitations to cheat. The mullahs' plan is one of delay and deception. America's plan must be not to let them.
The Trump administration must not lose sight of the Iranian regime's history and intentions. Iran has mastered the art of prolonging negotiations: appearing cooperative while covertly advancing its strategic interests, especially developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. The mullahs see their nuclear program as the key to their survival. Pictured: Mohammed Javad Zarif (center), then Iranian Foreign Minister, shares some laughs with his delegation during nuclear deal negotiations with then US State Secretary John Kerry in Vienna, Austria, on June 30, 2015. (Photo by Carlos Barria/AFP via Getty Images)
The Trump administration, after signaling a preference for dialogue over confrontation, is engaging in renewed a diplomatic effort to end Iran's nuclear program. President Donald J. Trump has made clear that he is not seeking war. "I would prefer to make a deal," he stated recently, "because I'm not looking to hurt Iran." Given the devastating costs of war, focusing on negotiation rather than on military intervention is a noble and responsible course of action. The Iranian regime, however, is not new to such diplomatic games of chess. The mullahs have mastered the art of prolonging negotiations: appearing cooperative while covertly advancing their strategic interests, especially developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, and operating proxies in the region, such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, not to mention Iran's own Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as well as smaller militias.
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by Con Coughlin • April 18, 2025 at 5:00 am
The appointment, however, of several officials to key national security positions in the Trump administration, who vehemently oppose direct military action against Iran, has raised concerns that the White House might be backing away from its commitment to eliminate the threat Iran poses to global security. In particular, these concerns relate to the recent appointments to the Pentagon of influential figures such as John Byers for Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (South and South-East Asia), and Michael DiMino, a former career CIA military analyst and counterterrorism official, for Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Middle East). Similarly, concerns have arisen that DiMino will be able to use his position as the Pentagon's new chief Middle East policy adviser to advance an anti-Israel stance while questioning the Trump administration's confrontational stance towards Iran. As with Byers, DiMino was previously linked to the libertarian Koch brothers, having held tenure as a fellow at the Washington think tank Defense Priorities, which is funded by the Koch team. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff recently downgraded Trump's professed demands by asking Iran just to lower uranium enrichment -- a statement he quickly had to walk back. Iran has already stated that it could move its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium to "safe and undisclosed locations," presumably for use at a later time. Russia, in an apparent burst of generosity, has offered to host the enriched uranium. How kind of them! While Trump keeps offering perfect negotiating parameters, such as, "All hostages must be released by Saturday or all hell will break out," or, "Iran issue is easy to solve, they cannot obtain nuclear weapons," his statements always seem to be instantly undermined.
While President Donald Trump keeps offering perfect negotiating parameters, such as, "the Iran issue is easy to solve, they cannot obtain nuclear weapons," his statements always seem to be instantly undermined by officials in his administration. If this continues, the growing band of isolationists, both media personalities such as Tucker Carlson and people who occupy senior positions in the Trump administration, will have won the policy battle -- a victory that will seriously imperil the US and the wider world. Pictured from L-R: Carlson, US Rep. Byron Donalds, Trump and J.D. Vance at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Fears that the Trump administration is back-tracking on its declared policy of seeking to dismantle Iran's nuclear programme have deepened following the appointment of several officials to key national security positions who are reportedly opposed to launching military action against Tehran. Following his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington earlier this month, US President Donald Trump was explicit about his determination to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if the talks aren't successful, I actually think it'll be a very bad day for Iran," Trump told reporters after meeting with Netanyahu. Trump even suggested that Israel could be the "leader" for any future military action against Iran if the ayatollahs refused to give up its nuclear weapons programme.
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Witkoff In His Own Words
Is Witkoff breaking new ground or repeating Biden's errors?
by Daniel Greenfield • April 17, 2025 at 5:00 am
Witkoff, whatever his flaws, is far more honest than his PR men on X or Capitol Hill, and has never denied that he was just implementing the policies of the Biden administration. What new solutions has Witkoff come up with? The Obama ones. Negotiate with terrorists. Pretend they're reasonable. Give them what they want. Act confused when it doesn't work out. Figuring out what the terrorists want and trying to give it to them were the signature diplomatic policies of the Carter, Clinton and Biden administrations. Those are the "old-school globalist solutions," which is why President Donald Trump is such a breath of fresh air and Witkoff isn't. Whatever Witkoff's agendas are, he's in over his head, and he outsourced his negotiations to everyone from the Biden team to the Islamic terror state of Qatar, with whom he's done business and whose terrorist leaders he has repeatedly praised. Knowing nothing about the Middle East hasn't given him a fresh perspective: it just made him an easy dupe for everyone who does. It's an honest admission. Witkoff's defenders, who pretend that he's a genius shaking up diplomacy by appeasing Islamic terrorist states, could at least try to be as honest as him.
What new solutions has Steve Witkoff come up with? The Obama ones. Negotiate with terrorists. Pretend they're reasonable. Give them what they want. Act confused when it doesn't work out. Pictured: Witkoff on the grounds of the White House on February 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Steve Witkoff, the real estate tycoon turned international negotiator, has become the subject of controversy with some conservatives attacking him and others rushing out to defend him. "In a world left in chaos thanks to Joe Biden, Steve Witkoff is the diplomat America needs right now," US Senator Jim Banks claimed this month. Tucker Carlson hailed Witkoff as "the most effective American diplomat in a generation." But Witkoff, whatever his flaws, is far more honest than his PR men on X or Capitol Hill, and has never denied that he was just implementing the policies of the Biden administration. In January, at Mar-a-Lago, Witkoff stated that "the Biden administration is the tip of the spear" in the Hamas negotiations. Biden has "got a solid team, and I appreciated that they're allowing us to be collaborative." "I think Steve Witkoff has been a terrific partner in this," then Secretary of State Blinken praised him on MSNBC.
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by Uzay Bulut • April 16, 2025 at 5:00 am
The problem is that at the same time as Texas was celebrating "Pakistan Day", in Pakistan, Christian citizens were being arrested and sentenced to death for "blasphemy," and Muslims were abducting young Christian girls to sexually abuse, forcibly "marry," and coerce into converting to Islam. Pakistan's national and provincial parliaments have given their consent to these atrocities.... Christians, Hindus and other non-Muslim communities in Pakistan have been enduring increased levels of violence and persecution.... Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam, its prophet or other religious figures can be imprisoned and sentenced to death.... The police are often biased and refuse to file reports from Christians and Hindus. The Texas House of Representatives might instead have dedicated March 23 to Pakistan's abduction victims and abused children. "The introduction of a 'Single National Curriculum' in schools denigrates religious minorities and enforces the teaching of the Quran and subjects like Mathematics and Science in an Islamized manner. Thus, religion is permeating school education... Radical Islamic groups are flourishing... Such groups are innumerable and even a ban will only make them re-organize, re-brand and re-emerge. The default option for dealing with radical Islamic movements (who are able to mobilize millions for street demonstrations) is appeasement and even accommodation..." — Open Doors, December 2024. "Occupations that are deemed low, dirty, and degrading—such as cleaning sewers or working in brick kilns—are reserved for Christians by the authorities. Many believers are referred to as 'chura', a derogatory term meaning 'filthy'. Christians are also vulnerable to being trapped in bonded labor." — Open Doors, 2024. Have Pakistani Texans done anything to help the victims of these horrific human rights abuses in Pakistan or raised awareness of them in any way while in the US? In what areas have they effectively cooperated with the US government? Have they used their resources to fight Islamic terror groups; if so, to what extent? Has Pakistan been a great US ally? What has the government of Pakistan actually done to deserve being celebrated with an official day by the Texas House of Representatives?
At the same time as Texas was celebrating "Pakistan Day", in Pakistan, Christian citizens were being arrested and sentenced to death for "blasphemy," and Muslims were abducting young Christian girls to sexually abuse, forcibly "marry," and coerce into converting to Islam. (The above is an AI-generated image by OpenAI)
The Texas House of Representatives passed a resolution on March 28, officially recognizing March 23 as "Pakistan Day." The resolution, introduced by State Representative Dr. Suleman Lalani, claims that Pakistani Texans have made "significant contributions in the state's social, religious, linguistic, and economic spheres." Pakistan's Consul General in Texas, Muhammad Aftab Chaudhry, was present at the event. The problem is that at the same time as Texas was celebrating "Pakistan Day", in Pakistan, Christian citizens were being arrested and sentenced to death for "blasphemy," and Muslims were abducting young Christian girls to sexually abuse, forcibly "marry," and coerce into converting to Islam.
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by Lawrence A. Franklin • April 15, 2025 at 5:00 am
For decades, Communist China's spies, hackers and businessmen have feasted on the forced transfer of technology from vulnerable US corporate enterprises drawn to the vast Chinese market. Little has been accomplished to reduce this massive theft of intellectual property. US businesses seem to have resigned themselves to such unfair practices as the price of doing business in China. In the last two years, however, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) cyber-attacks against America have undergone a deadly shift that seriously threatens the US's capability to prevail in any open conflict with China. The second revolutionary advance in China's offensive cyber-warfare capabilities that target US interests is more deadly. It threatens a Pearl Harbor-magnitude attack on America. "Volt Typhoon," aka "Vanguard Panda," involves the stealthy insertion of potentially debilitating malware into the computer systems that control critical nodes of US infrastructure. "[W]e have been, over the years, trying to play better and better defense when it comes to cyber. We need to start going on offense and start imposing, I think, higher costs and consequences to private actors and nation state actors that continue to steal our data, that continue to spy on us, and that even worse, with the Volt Typhoon penetration, that are literally putting cyber time bombs on our infrastructure, our water systems, our grids, even our ports." — Mike Waltz, shortly before he was appointed National Security Adviser, CBS News, December 15, 2024. Trump might also convene a cabinet meeting to assure that all aspects of American public and private capabilities should be mobilized to build resiliency in critical national infrastructure, while simultaneously examining US cyberspace vulnerabilities. The US also might also go on the offense and target China's critical national infrastructure, perhaps starting with the Cyberspace Administration of China?
A revolutionary, deadly, advance in China's offensive cyber-warfare capabilities that target US interests involves the stealthy insertion of potentially debilitating malware into the computer systems that control critical nodes of US infrastructure. The malicious code is designed to remain quiescent and undiscovered until China activates it during a future military confrontation with the US. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
China's multidimensional war against US interests is already underway and well-documented. One underappreciated dimension of its attack on American primacy, however, is the arena of cybersecurity. For decades, Communist China's spies, hackers and businessmen have feasted on the forced transfer of technology from vulnerable US corporate enterprises drawn to the vast Chinese market. Little has been accomplished to reduce this massive theft of intellectual property. US businesses seem to have resigned themselves to such unfair practices as the price of doing business in China. In the last two years, however, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) cyber-attacks against America have undergone a deadly shift that seriously threatens the US's capability to prevail in any open conflict with China. These changes in the CCP's cyber offensive on America consist of two basic capabilities.
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by Bassam Tawil • April 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
Peaceful and permitted outdoor tours to the grounds around the Al-Aqsa Mosque are regularly described by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas as violent incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is time for the US and other Western countries to impose consequences on Palestinian leaders, especially Mahmoud Abbas and his senior representatives, for spreading falsehoods and libels against Israel and Jews. It is precisely this type of rhetoric that incentivizes Palestinians to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews. The message to Palestinian leaders should read: "Stop using the Al-Aqsa Mosque as an excuse to slaughter Jews. The mosque remains intact, and is not facing any threat, despite Palestinian libels and lies." Failure to comply would result in international donors imposing financial sanctions on the Palestinian leadership. If anyone is desecrating the mosque, it is those who exploit it to encourage their people to carry out terrorist attacks.
Peaceful and permitted outdoor tours to the grounds around the Al-Aqsa Mosque are regularly described by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas as violent incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque. "The Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are ours. They are all ours, and they [Jews] have no right to defile them with their filthy feet. We salute every drop of blood spilled for the sake of Jerusalem. This blood is clean, pure blood, shed for the sake of Allah... Every martyr will be placed in Paradise, and all the wounded will be rewarded by Allah." — PA President Mahmoud Abbas. (Image source: MEMRI)
As the Hamas-Israel war continues in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has resumed its false claim – first propagated in 1929 by Adolf Hitler's subsequent ally, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, and again and again after that -- that Jews are violently "storming" the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and planning to divide it in time and space between Jewish and Muslim worshipers. Such claims were also used by the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group to justify the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in which Gazan terrorists murdered 1,200 Israelis and wounded of thousands. On that day, another 251 Israelis were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where 59 -alive and dead – remain in captivity. It is worth noting that Hamas called its invasion of Israel "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood."
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by Guy Millière • April 13, 2025 at 5:00 am
[A]ll Hamas needs to do to prevent this destruction is return all the hostages it should not have kidnapped in the first place. Amnesty International has served up a remarkable inversion of facts. "What's shocking is that people in the Cease-Fire Now crowd don't appear to have much interest in making any demands of Hamas equivalent to those they make of Israel. They want Israel to stop firing. But do you often hear them insisting that Hamas return the favor? They want Israel to provide Gaza with humanitarian relief in the form of electricity, fuel and other goods. But I haven't seen those protesters in the street demanding that Hamas provide Israel with humanitarian relief in the form of immediately freeing all hostages.... For Israelis, what 'Cease-Fire Now' means is 'Surrender Now.' No wonder they decline to heed the call.... Whatever else one thinks of Israel, no country can be expected to sign its own death warrant by indulging those who, if given the chance, would annihilate it." — Bret Stephens, New York Times, November 21, 2023. Clearly a massive dark-money problem obscenely exists within far too many universities and cities both in the US and Europe. It is also important to highlight the unabashedly toxic role of the United Nations.... [T]he United Nations quickly became the world's leading organization for, among other unsavory practices, propagating hatred of Israel and a general hatred of Jews. The Palestinian Authority to this day pays its citizens to murder Jews -- the more Jews, the larger the payments. In Europe, organizations that fight anti-Semitism.... Often left-wing, they primarily denounce far-right anti-Semitism, but never far-left anti-Semitism, and never ever Islamic anti-Semitism -- currently the only form of anti-Semitism in Europe that attacks and kills Jews. Most Jewish organizations in Europe support Israel, but more often than not advocate for dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians and still support the mirage of a "two-state solution." The vast majority of Israelis seem finally to have understood that the goal of Palestinian organizations is not to create a state living in peace alongside Israel, but to destroy Israel.
The vast majority of Israelis seem finally to have understood that the goal of Palestinian organizations is not to create a state living in peace alongside Israel, but to destroy Israel. The West, wrote the columnist Melanie Phillips, needs "to take off its blinders, join up the dots and fight like Israel to survive." Pictured: Hamas terrorists on their way into Israel from Gaza Strip, on their mission to murder Jews, on the morning of October 7, 2023. (Photo by Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images)
In the mainstream European and American media, the unspeakable October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel seems largely forgotten. The media rarely describe Hamas as a terrorist organization with genocidal aims. When the word "genocide" is used, even by self-described "human rights organizations," it is to accuse the victim of the attacks, Israel. Israel forcibly removed every Jew from Gaza in 2005 – long before the October 7, 2023 massacre. Nevertheless, one of Amnesty International's current campaigns, "End Israel's Genocide against Palestinians in Gaza," continues to refer to the "occupied Gaza Strip." Gaza has not been occupied for twenty years; it is not occupied now. Gaza is the theater from where Palestinians are still firing rockets and missiles at civilian targets in Israel.
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by Amir Taheri • April 13, 2025 at 4:00 am
Even the European Union, which initially threatened hell and high fire, is beginning to realize that if you are in a hole, you stop digging. Even China, which seems to have embarked on a game of chicken against the US, is almost certain to realize that it cannot afford a full-scale trade duel with the US. Trump is accused of protectionism. But here, too, a measure of protection is conducive to economic development. Without protectionism, Victorian England would not have been able to build its industrial revolution and create a global empire. It is obvious that achieving parity in most if not all those domains isn't a realistic aspiration, and that in any trading relationship one partner is at a disadvantage. Now in his second term, Trump intends to go further by addressing other problems inherent in the global system, including the vulnerability of supply chains and the danger inherent in strategic dependency on foreign sources of vital goods and services.
Despite the great deal of sound and fury that it has generated, it is perhaps too early to assess the lasting impact of President Donald Trump's latest fireworks on tariffs. Trump also intends to go further by addressing other problems inherent in the global system, including the vulnerability of supply chains and the danger inherent in strategic dependency on foreign sources of vital goods and services. Pictured: Trump displays a chart listing the tariffs he is introducing on imports, on April 2, 2025 at the White House in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Despite the great deal of sound and fury that it has generated, it is perhaps too early to assess the lasting impact of President Donald Trump's latest fireworks on tariffs. Some things, however, are certain. Contrary to assertions by talking heads on the small screen, we are not heading for a global trade war. True, the US is the world's biggest economy and ranks second as a trading power. But its share of world trade hovers around 12 percent, or under 10 percent of its GDP. The remaining 88 percent of world trade by 192 nations won't be immediately affected. Moreover, almost half of US foreign trade is with its two neighbors, Canada and Mexico which had a tussle over tariffs with Trump in his first term but managed to reach a deal and are poised to do the same this time.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • April 12, 2025 at 5:00 am
Tehran has played this game before: Agree to talks. Make vague promises. Extract sanctions relief. Then quietly continue nuclear development under the radar. This formula has worked for more than two decades. Right now, the only reason Iran is talking is to stall, to promise just enough to prevent America from striking it -- "We are almost there!" -- to keep its regime and avoid seeing its uranium centrifuges and enrichment sites blasted to rubble. The regime does not want war -- but it also cannot accept total nuclear disarmament. The Islamic Republic has smoothly outmaneuvered every administration. It has accepted deals to avoid confrontation, then quietly violated them. With each round of negotiations, Iran gained what it needed -- time, money, legitimacy -- and gave away nothing it could not reverse. Worse, Iranian officials have themselves confirmed what skeptics have long argued: that the regime's nuclear program was always military in nature. Former parliamentary speaker Ali Motahhari openly admitted in an interview that the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities were initially designed to build weapons, not generate electricity. That was not a slip of the tongue. It was a rare moment of honesty from a system built on lies. [W]orse yet, [the regime] could announce one day that it already possesses several nuclear bombs -- and that there is nothing anyone can do about it. Will the world then be forced to live with a nuclear-armed theocracy that sponsors terrorism, oppresses its people, and seeks to export its ideology across the region? That does not sound like a cheery future to accept. The Islamic Republic has demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith. It has lied, manipulated and deceived at every turn. Hoping for a different outcome, unfortunately, is self-deceptive make-believe. Negotiations only serve to give Iran what it wants: time and space to complete its nuclear project. Axios reported on April 10 that "sources said the Iranians think reaching a complex and highly technical nuclear deal in two months is unrealistic and they want to get more time on the clock to avoid an escalation." After watching what happened to Libya after it gave up its nuclear weapons program, and to Ukraine when it gave up its warheads. Iran's regime could hardly have any intention of abandoning their quest for the bomb. Diplomacy will not stop them. Appeasement will not deter them. The only solution, sadly, seems to be force. If the US and Israel fail to act now, we will soon be facing a world where the Islamic Republic of Iran has crossed the nuclear threshold and commands its bombs. Then what?
Negotiations for Iran's mullahs are simply a sign of strategic necessity. The regime needs breathing room -- and, most importantly, it needs to preserve what it sees as its ultimate insurance policy: a nuclear arsenal. Pictured: Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian looks on as a 'Qasem Soleimani' missile is displayed during a military parade in Tehran, on September 21, 2024. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
The Trump administration is once again engaging with the Iranian regime, this time in Oman, to encourage it to end its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs the way Libya's late leader Muammar Ghaddafi did. As US President Donald J. Trump transparently put it: "I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them." In recent weeks, the Trump administration has called for direct talks with Iran, in the apparent belief that a fresh deal -- tougher, broader and more binding than the Obama administration's 2105 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- could prevent Iran from an imminent nuclear weapons breakout. Unfortunately, the Islamic Republic of Iran has never been thrillingly honest about its nuclear ambitions, although, in fairness, an Iranian "senior aid" has already let it be known that the regime might "expel UN inspectors if the threat persists" and transfer "stocks of enriched uranium to secret locations."
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by Nils A. Haug • April 11, 2025 at 5:00 am
Global Terrorism Index 2025, published by the Institute for Economics & Peace, reveals that the primary instigator of global terrorism during 2024 was the Islamic State (ISIS) and associated groups -- such as al Qaeda, Jamaat Nusrat Al-Islam wal Muslimeen, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and al- Shabaab -- together responsible for more than 7,500 deaths. Although the West is experiencing escalating terrorism in countries such as Sweden, Australia, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, the Sahel region evidently remains the "global epicentre of terrorism, accounting for over half of all terrorism-related deaths in 2024." Here, conflict deaths exceeded 25,000 for the first time, of which nearly 4,000 were directly connected to terrorism. A perturbing factor is that in Europe, "one in five persons arrested for terrorism is legally classified as a child." The consequence is, of course, that with the West's retreat, ISIS has free rein to action their visions of global influence. They are present in 22 countries at present.... Russia's Wagner mercenary militia, although rebranded as an "Expeditionary Corps," continues its predatory activities in the area, offering "governments in Africa a 'regime survival package' in exchange for access to strategically important natural resources." Covertly obtained Russian documents reveal how the group strives to "change mining laws in West Africa, with the ambition of dislodging Western companies from an area of strategic importance." The upshot is accelerating anti-Western sentiment, resulting in the local states seeking to expel hitherto entrenched foreign interests. "This is the Russian state coming out of the shadows in its Africa policy." Russia's patent objective is therefore to "seize control of critical resources," and "aggressively pursue the expansion of its partnerships in Africa, with the explicit intent to supplant Western partnerships." — Jack Watling, Royal United Services Institute, February 20, 2024. Currently, the significant strategic, political, and economic benefits in the region are reaped by Russia, China and Turkey. The West is nowhere to be seen.
Pictured: Soldiers inspect a damaged armored personnel carrier captured from Boko Haram jihadists on display in Goniri, Yobe State, in Nigeria's northeast on July 3, 2019. (Photo by Audu Marte/AFP via Getty Images)
The center of world terrorist activity and violent death is no longer the Middle East. The "Sahel region of Africa is now the 'epicentre of global terrorism,'" responsible for "over half of all terrorism-related deaths" worldwide, according to the respected Global Terrorism Index. The sub-Saharan Sahel is largely unknown to much of the world. It can be described as the large, mostly flat, strip, nearly 600 miles wide, located between the savannahs of Sudan to the south and the Sahara desert to the north. During the last ten years or so, according to the Royal United Services Institute, the world's oldest defense and security think tank, headquartered in London, the Sahel has undergone a "significant surge in jihadist violence. Armed actors take advantage of porous borders, fragile states, and local grievances to extend their operational reach,"
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by Anna Mahjar Barducci • April 10, 2025 at 5:00 am
A larger problem, apart from tariffs, is that China does not have a private sector. The Chinese Communist Party is the founding and only ruling party of the People's Republic of China. Hence, all Chinese companies directly support the CCP's priorities and ambitions to replace the United States as the world's leading superpower. This plan obviously has little that might be good for the US, its national security, or its interests abroad. China has openly been pursuing a policy of threatening to take over pro-Western neighbors such as Taiwan, the Philippines, South Korea, the Solomon Islands, India and Japan. In addition, Chinese warships have reportedly been invading Australian airspace and sailing alarmingly close to Australia. The CCP has also recently been trying to make it a "new normal" to have around Taiwan drills that at any time could turn into combat. It has become increasingly clear that China's plan to take over Taiwan and other neighbors is a question not of "if" but "when." It is therefore crucial to understand that there is no private sector in China. In the 14th Five Year Plan, the CCP identified the following industries as critical to China's economic development: Artificial intelligence, semiconductors, robotic technology and biotechnology, to name a few. Investing in China's "private sector" underwrites China's expansionist ambitions in Asia and enables it to continue claiming ownership of the South and East China Seas, as well as everything near it, to control world trade.
Investing in China's "private sector" -- effectively the same as its military -- destroys the West's interests, weakens its allies and fast-tracks the CCP in reaching its goals of seizing Taiwan and other neighbors, and possibly triggering a war with the United States. Investing in China's "private sector" underwrites China's expansionist ambitions in Asia and enables it to continue claiming ownership of the South and East China Seas, as well as everything near it, to control world trade. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
US President Donald J. Trump's current trade stand-off with the People's Republic of China (PRC) has already induced some Chinese companies, such as Shein, BYD, TikTok and Temu's parent company PDD Holdings to move away from China and have induced some Western companies – including Apple, Dell, Hasbro, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Stanley Black and Decker, Foxconn, Nintendo, BYD Auto, TSMC, Intel, Mazda, Google and Samsung also to move away or diversify. A larger problem, apart from tariffs, is that China does not have a private sector. According to the United States–China Economic and Security Review Commission: "China's government has developed numerous avenues through which to monitor corporate affairs and direct nonstate firms and resources toward advancing the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) priorities."
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