Politics

The Russian Foreign Minister has slammed the presence of Turkish troops on Iraqi soil as “unacceptable,” and has called on Ankara to pull out from the Arab country. “We demand that Turkey withdraw its troops from the Iraqi territory where they are located to strengthen the sovereignty of Iraq, according to ex-Prime Minister [Ahmet] Davutoglu,” Sergei Lavrov said. Press TV reports: Last December, Turkey deployed some 150 soldiers, equipped with heavy weapons and backed by 20 to 25 tanks, to the outskirts of Mosul, the capital of Iraq’s northern Nineveh Province.

Michael Brendan Dougherty sums up why Trump can’t be trusted to conduct foreign policy:

But there aren’t strong reasons to believe Trump is any better than Clinton when it comes to making peace. In fact, he may be much worse.

For decades, the story of Saudi Arabia recycling petrodollars, i.e., funding the US deficit by buying US Treasuries with proceeds of its crude oil sales (mostly to the US), while the US sweetened the deal by providing the Saudis with military equipment and supplies, remained entirely in the conspiracy realm, with no confirmation or official statement from the US Treasury department.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced an upcoming “landmark summit” in Warsaw in early July which will enhance the alliance’s defensive and deterrent presence in Poland and and the rest of Eastern Europe. He said that several battalions will be deployed in Poland, the Baltic States and elsewhere in the region that will guarantee an increase in the presence of ground troops and equipment.

The end of May has brought terrible news for Donald Trump, as conventional wisdom would have it. Over Memorial Day weekend, the Libertarian Party nominated two Republican ex-governors, Gary Johnson and William Weld, as its ticket for November, while Bill Kristol assured Twitter that there would be neoconservative-friendly “independent” on the ballot as well. Hillary Clinton led Trump by just 1 point in the RealClearPolitics aggregate of national polling, but as polls catch up to these events, Trump is sunk. Isn’t he?