Iran's supreme leader has signalled a decisive shift in favour of relations with China and Russia, indicating that patience is running out with efforts to improve ties with the West. One of the most popular slogans during the 1979 revolution was "Neither East nor West", a defiant vow that Iran would no longer favour either of the world's major forces at the time -- American-style capitalism or Soviet Communism. Analysts say this does not change the basic idea that Iran refuses to fall under the sway of outside powers.
Donald Trump’s “tax cut for hardworking families” increased the profits of one of the world’s richest men by $29.1bn (£20.8bn) last year without him having to do a thing. Billionaire investor and philanthropist, Warren Buffett disclosed in his annual letter to investors that the Republican tax break had delivered nearly half of the $65bn profits made by his company, Berkshire Hathaway, in 2017. Mr Buffet – who was recently knocked into third place on the Forbes American rich list – has condemned the tax change for exactly this reason.
Both the Pentagon and the Russian government are deemphasizing the Feb. 7 incident because a wider conflict that is spiraling out of control does not benefit anyone. The Pentagon is reiterating that a battle in Syria that allegedly left some number of Russian mercenaries dead was purely an act of self-defense on the part of U.S. forces. Indeed, the Pentagon still does not know exactly who it is that American forces targeted during their retaliatory strike on Feb. 7.
If Iran uses its Iraqi Shia Militias, Afghans, and Pakistanis, as well as its own forces in attacks on Israel, there is likely to be war between Israel and Iran by 2019. If Tehran uses its militias, and other forces drafted to do Iran’s deeds, as well as its IRGC to launch attacks on Israel, there may be war between Israel and Iran by 2019.
The cross-Strait fight over commercial sky routes may foretell a coming year of disaster for Taiwan’s external relations under China’s fresh squeeze. The horn of a diplomatic war between Taiwan and China has been blown in the latest row over four new commercial flight routes initiated upon the west half of the Taiwan Strait in January. This sky row may foretell a coming year of disaster for Taiwan’s external relations under China’s fresh squeeze.
Slovakian police launched a murder probe on Monday after a leading investigative journalist known for writing about high-profile tax fraud was found dead along with his girlfriend, officials said. The body of Jan Kuciak, a 27-year-old reporter for the aktuality.sk news portal, was discovered alongside that of Martina Kusnirova at their home in Velka Maca, some 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the Slovak capital Bratislava. Police commander Tibor Gaspar told reporters Kuciak died of a gunshot wound to the chest while his partner was shot in the head.
It is difficult to see how the present troop force in Afghanistan would be able to accomplish what one nearly seven times as large could not. According to an in-depth investigation conducted by BBC News reporters in late 2017, the Taliban fully control four percent of Afghanistan’s districts and “have an active and open physical presence” in 66 percent of the remaining ones. There are currently fourteen thousand U.S. troops stationed there, up from 8,500 when President Trump took office, and the Army is recommending that the president authorize the deployment of an additional one thousand troops.