Politics

Three US nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carriers representing nearly $30 billion of advanced military hardware put on show of force in the Western Pacific Ocean over the weekend, the first time three of the 100,000-ton behemoths have sailed together in a decade. Amidst heightened tensions with North Korea the USS Ronald Reagan, USS Nimitz, and the USS Theodore Roosevelt are currently engaged in a four day war games exercise which will link up with allies Japan and South Korea, who are also participating. 

Much like the Obamacare repeal and replace effort earlier this year, the past couple of weeks have been an invariable roller coaster ride for GOP representatives as Congressional leaders have tried to form some level of consensus within a fractured party with competing interests.   This week will undoubtedly be no different.

It might be a modest exaggeration it to say that Theresa May’s position as Prime Minister is doomed, but that is the general direction as the newsflow for the British PM remains overwhelmingly bad. Scandals aside, May seems to be falling into the growing gulf between Conservative MPs who are pushing more strongly for a “hard” Brexit as negotiations with the EU founder and those who are increasingly alarmed at the prospect, making them more desperate to ensure a softer Brexit.

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Oriental Review,

A diplomatic spat has developed between Berlin and Warsaw after the German Defense Minister said that her country should support the “democratic resistance of the young generation” in Poland.

Multiple Israeli news outlets reported Saturday that the US, Russia, and Jordan have reached a ceasefire agreement over southern Syria which proposes to expel Iran-backed militias from the border with Israel in the Golan Heights. The reports came on the same day presidents Trump and Putin issued a joint statement on Syria after meeting on the sidelines of the APEC conference in Danang, Vietnam, which reaffirmed de-confliction efforts as both countries fight ISIS and underscored willingness to keep Syria's territorial integrity intact while pursuing the Geneva process.