Iran diplomacy, Northern gifts, KSM games

Trump's Iran deal withdrawal is calibrated to diplomatic intents, not war

Beware the North Koreans, even when they bear hostage gifts

Attacking Gina Haspel, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is playing out the al Qaeda textbook

UK local elections, Northern Ireland: the ballot and bullet, Star Trek supremacy

UK local elections show Theresa May won the strategic victory

Two stories sum up the current state of Northern Ireland politics

Why Star Trek is better than Star Wars in reasoning of philosophy, strategic realism and story development

Special Report

2m40s - On Giuliani comments re: special counsel investigation

At start - On Haspel hearing

Haspel

Exclusive: Why Gina Haspel is popular with allies and unpopular with adversaries

Iraqi shoe politics, Korean deployments

The guy who threw his shoes at George W. Bush is running for the Iraqi parliament for a party that used to fight U.S. forces. It speaks to Iraq’s vibrant democracy.

If a North Korea deal is reached, the U.S. should withdraw 50 percent of its forces from South Korea within four years. Here’s why.

Putin vs. Javelins, Space branch? Mueller's dangle, good oligarch, China's pig problem

How will Putin respond to Ukraine’s Javelin arrival? One of these three ways?

Better alternative to a military space branch: establish a combatant command to get the best results

Special Counsel Robert Mueller wants President Trump to bite on his dangle of questions. The president would be very ill-advised to do so.

Salute Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Putin critic who won’t quit. The good oligarch is fighting for truth and justice against grave threats.

Peppa Pig and the perilous predicament of the Chinese polity. Beijing has a problem with a fake British cartoon pig. Here’s why!

Israel busts Iranian lies, Mossad proves its worth, Trump vs. Qatar, Israel air strikes in Syria, Netanyahu

Israel just proved Iran has lied systematically about its nuclear weapons research. But the nuclear agreement might survive anyway

The Mossad is one exceptional intelligence service. From Tehran to Tel Aviv, the intelligence service just completed a special half-ton nuclear delivery

Trump should challenge Qatar’s feudal foreign policy. The wealthy Sunni kingdom is playing too nice with terrorists

Here’s how we know Israel carried out airstrikes in Syria and why it did so

Netanyahu might deliver a hammer blow to the Iran nuclear agreement. If, that is, he can prove a material breach of Iranian compliance with the deal

The McLaughlin Group

Issues: Cohen/Trump, Macron-Merkel-Trump, Moscow overnight, Ben Carson HUD legislation, Kanye West 

China's missiles, Amazon Prime, India and China

China’s stand-off missiles are an increasing problem for the U.S. military. They give Beijing the prospective ability to deny U.S. access to the western Pacific.

Amazon Prime is overpriced at its new tag of $119 a year. Here’s how you can get great service without paying a premium.

Why China and India won’t be friends anytime soon. The two nations have too many divergences in nationalism, policy interests and trust.

Trump's infinity war, Trump in Britain, Trump vs. Merkel, Trump's priorities with Theresa May, Macron and Paris accord, free speech debates

Trump must beware the infinity war: this summer offers the prospect of a U.S. conflict with Iran, China, North Korea and Russia. Possibly all at the same time.

How Trump will be guarded during his July visit to Britain. These are the various steps that US and British security services will take during Trump’s visit.

Why Trump and Chancellor Merkel don’t get along. The two leaders have very different personalities and increasingly divergent policy interests on a range of issues.

What to expect from Trump’s trip to Britain: a focus on trade and warm words.

from yesterday..

Macron will likely succeed in getting Trump back into the Paris climate accord. The French leader is playing for the long game.

President Macron speaks to transatlantic speech battles. He wants more regulation.