Can Hillary Clinton become America’s Mutti?
Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton might find in German chancellor Angela Merkel a role model in the era of Trump (State Department) In 2008, US president Barack Obama won the largest...
View ArticleLibertarians nominate party’s 1st viable presidential ticket in US history
Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson looks on during National Convention held at the Rosen Center in Orlando, Florida, May 29, 2016. (Reuters / Kevin Kolczynski) Will it be ‘groovy...
View ArticleWhat 21st century Americans can learn from Tokugawa-era Japan on guns
19th century Edo-period painting of Kiso Kaido highway with a view of Mt. Fuji. The horrific massacre at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, early Sunday morning has, not unpredictably, set off a new...
View ArticleWhere is the scrutiny of 70-year-old Trump’s health?
Donald Trump would be the oldest American president at inauguration, but his doctors claim he would be… the healthiest? A thought exercise. Donald Trump just turned 70. That makes him (slightly) older...
View ArticleThis is what “lock her up” means in American politics
US president George W. Bush met with Ukraine’s then-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko… in 2008, three years before she became a political prisoner. (Government of Ukraine) “Lock Her Up!” It might just be...
View ArticleNATO comments show why Trump could inadvertently start a global war
Donald Trump enters the convention stage on the first night of the Republican gathering in Cleveland. The theme of this week’s convention could have already been ‘I Took a Pill in Cleveland,’ because...
View ArticleA quick reaction to Bill Clinton’s DNC address
Bill Clinton addressed the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night in Philadelphia. (Facebook) In some ways, it’s odd that we saw five nights of major-party conventions without a single former or...
View ArticleTrump boosts Nehlen in August 9 primary vs Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan, speaker of the House of Representatives, faces a unique primary challenge on August 9. (Facebook) Don’t look now, but House speaker Paul Ryan may have just one week to salvage his career....
View ArticleIs Hillary Clinton really a hawk?
Then-US secretary of state Hillary Clinton visits American troops in Tripoli in 2011. (US Embassy in Libya) In Vox on Tuesday, Jeremy Shapiro and Richard Sokolsky argued that, as president, Hillary...
View ArticleMuhummad Yunus is exactly the person Clinton should have been meeting
Hillary Clinton met with Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammed Yunus in Dhaka as US secretary of state. (AFP) It’s only Tuesday, but it has not been the best week for former US secretary of state...
View ArticleMexico starts to fight back in earnest against Trump’s US border wall and...
Former president Vicente Fox takes a bat to a Trump-shaped piñata in September. Vicente Fox wants you to know that Mexico is not paying for ‘that fucking wall.’ Though US president Donald Trump...
View ArticleA country-by-country look at Trump’s immigration executive order
Yazidi women in both Syria and Iraq have suffered greatly at the hands of ISIS — but they will be caught up in Trump-era restrictions on refugees all the same. (Reuters) There’s a neighborhood in Los...
View ArticleThe case for optimism in Tillerson’s State Department
Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, will win confirmation today as the next US secretary of state. He stumbled and mumbled in a Texas drawl through hours of cringe-worthy hearings before the...
View ArticleHow Trump could become a national-level version of Jesse Ventura
Before Trump waged his insurgent candidacy, professional wrestler Jesse Ventura won election as governor of Minnesota. (Reuters) How about this for a black swan? Americans haven’t elected a...
View ArticleFlynn resignation offers Trump administration a crucial restart
Michael Flynn has resigned as national security advisor. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) On the 25th day of the Trump administration, its national security adviser, retired general Michael Flynn, was...
View ArticleFull investigation now the only way to clear Trump White House on Russia quid...
The now-famous mural of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Lithuania’s capital city of Vilnius. With national security advisor Michael Flynn’s resignation and new reporting from The New York Times that...
View ArticleLow-key Kislyak lies at the heart of Trump’s ongoing Russia mystery
Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak lies at the heart of the mysteries surrounding ties between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. (Sputnik) He’s served as the Kremlin’s man in Washington since 2008....
View ArticleTrump effect: Europe turning toward integration, away from populists
Across Europe, support for Trump-style populists is falling, even though many European populists were growing long before Trump entered the political scene. (123RF / Evgeny Gromov) If there’s one thing...
View ArticleThe answer to Syria is the OPCW, not reckless machismo
As US president Donald Trump hosted Chinese president Xi Jinping last night, he also launched a Tomahawk missile strike in Syria. (Facebook) It was an impressive bit of dinner theater for Xi Jinping...
View ArticleHow I view American politics (and the Trump administration) today
The ‘religious freedom’ executive order was a cheap photo opportunity, a publicity stunt; it doesn’t (yet) rewrite the Internal Revenue Code and constitutionally, it cannot. The American Health Care...
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