Trump administration

One day after yesterday's at times painfully uncomfortable first official meeting between Angela Merkel and Donald Trump, it will hardly come as a surprise that during today's G-20 meeting in Baden Baden, Germany- the first for the Trump administration, whose delegation is led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin - where the dominant topic is trade, and specifically globalization vs protectionism, that a row would break out over how the post-Trump world will deal with trade.

Last month we wrote about "Mexico's Fiery, Trump-Like Populist Who Looks Increasingly Likely To Win The Presidency In 2018."  As we noted before, Pena Nieto’s PRI party, which has held power for most of Mexico’s modern history, has seen its popularity eroded in recent months due to a series of corruption scandals, surging gasoline prices and a perception among Mexican voters that Pena Nieto himself has been too soft in combatting an aggressive Trump Presidency.

Authored by Darius Shahtahmasebi via TheAntiMedia.org,

Last month, Anti-Media reported on leaked intelligence that forcibly ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn from the Trump administration. Flynn’s successor,  General H.R. McMaster, is far more hawkish, and in comparison to Flynn, takes a much more anti-Russian stance. It isn’t too much of a stretch to assume McMaster’s job will be secure if he continues to perpetuate the anti-Russian narrative we have become so familiar with in recent decades.

Yesterday we noted that the Trump administration was mulling over sending 100s of U.S. Marines to Raqqa to establish an outpost from which they could fire artillery at IS positions to support U.S. special forces and Kurdish fighters already on the ground.  Now, just one day later, video has emerged of dozens of heavily armored vehicles flying U.S. flags moving through desolate Syrian villages on their way to do just that.

While the Trump administration waits to decide if it will send 1,000 troops to Kuwait to fight ISIS, overnight the Washington Post reported that the US has sent several hundred Marines to Syria to support an allied local force aiming to capture the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa. Defence officials said they would establish an outpost from which they could fire artillery at IS positions some 32km (20 miles) away. US special forces are already on the ground, "advising" the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance according to the BBC.