Politics

One week ago we wrote that in "The Race For Deir Ezzor: US And Syrian Forces Are About To Collide", explaining that "as ISIS continues to rapidly collapse in its last two strongholds (Raqqa and Deir Ezzor cities), the competition for recovery of territory seems in full gear between the US-SDF and Syria-Russia alliances." More importantly, "Deir Ezzor province happens to be Syria's most oil-rich territory, which means the future of some of Syria's largest oil fields remains up for grabs."

So much for “American first.”

As tensions between the US, its regional allies and North Korea escalate to levels unseen since the end of the Korea war, more Americans are saying they would support some form of military action against the country as a “last resort” should the US’s “diplomatic efforts” fail to convince the regime to surrender, or at least arrest, its nuclear program, according to a Gallup poll.

"The only thing I ask of (Catalan) mayors is that they comply with the law, and as such don’t participate in an illegal referendum," Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urged this week, calling for a return to "rationality and legality" and promised to block the vote.

However, as Reuters reports, the mayors are not complying...

Shortly after the UN Security Council "strongly condemned" North Korea’s “highly provocative” ballistic missile launch over Japan on Friday, Kim Jong Un vowed he would complete his nation's nuclear program despite escalating international sanctions. On Saturday, state-run news agency KCNA quoted the leader, who said that North Korea is nearing its goal of "equilibrium of real force” with the U.S. and claimed that North Korea's nuclear program is nearly complete.

Authored by Andrei Akulov via The Strategic Culture Foundation,