Headlines

US news reports of gloomy Iran war intel assessments anger Trump

US President Donald Trump has accused news outlets of committing “virtual treason” by reporting on classified American intelligence agency assessments showing that Iran has retained significant missile capabilities, contradicting triumphant White House claims that the Middle

Asia

The US has always been obsessed with controlling Cuba

For months, US President Donald Trump has been fixated on Cuba. He’s issued threats and imposed additional sanctions on the island. The US military has conducted dozens of intelligence-gathering flights off the coast in recent weeks, suggesting a prelude to an invasion. The

Asia

Soybeans on Beijing agenda but US farmers should temper optimism

In 2017, President Donald J. Trump’s National Security Strategy declared China a competitor, an adversary and a “revisionist power” determined to supplant the United States in Asia. In his 2025 National Security Strategy, the confrontational epithets were dropped, replaced by

Asia

Gunshots fired as chaos erupts at Philippine Senate

MANILA, May 13 - Volleys of gunshots were heard at the Philippine Senate on Wednesday and people were told to run for cover, Reuters witnesses heard, as chaos mounted in anticipation of an attempt to arrest a top senator wanted by the International Criminal Court.

Asia

Trump has actually started to decouple US from China

Donald Trump is headed to China with a whole bunch of top US CEOs in tow to talk about trade. There is probably a post to be written here about how Trump is creating a new kind of “America, Inc” centered around his own person, using a combination of tariffs, export controls,

Asia

Hormuz blockade and the fracturing of Asia’s growth narrative

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz on March 4, 2026, was not merely a localized military maneuver; it was the moment the “Asian Century” hit a wall of physical reality. With Brent Crude surging past US$120 per barrel and liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices in Asia jumping

Asia

UK naval initiative targets Russia in Arctic and Baltic seas

General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, head of the British Royal Navy, announced that his counterparts from the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Taskforce comprised of the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands agreed to create “a family

Asia

Why Trump will ‘limp’ into China and likely leave empty-handed

TOKYO — Since 2013, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been looking for a strategy to make Asia’s biggest economy great again. Little did he know it would be Donald Trump’s presidency. Fifteen months ago, as Trump 2.0 got underway, the White House radiated confidence. Trump advisers

Asia

Trump and Xi: a path to US-China rivalry without war

US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing this week may ease tensions at the margins of the US-China rivalry. But it will not change a central fact: neither side can escape the rivalry, and neither side can decisively win it. The biggest challenge for Trump and Chinese

Asia