Since U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an executive order in January threatening tariffs on any country that ships fuel to Cuba, major media outlets have descended on the island to report on the resulting prolonged blackouts, collapsing hospitals, and piles of uncollected trash.
Far less attention has been paid to the rationale the administration offered for imposing the blockade in the first place.More...
The executive order states that Cuba represents a “national emergency” and poses an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States, stringing together a kitchen-sink list of familiar allegations, including accusations that Cuba sponsors terrorism and aligns itself with “dangerous adversaries” of the United States, such as Iran, Hamas, Russia, and China.
More specifically, the order claims that “Cuba hosts Russia’s largest overseas signals intelligence facility, which tries to steal sensitive national security information of the United States.”
International Glance
Earlier this month, Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announced that Israel would use Nile crocodiles as prison guards for Palestinian political prisoners.
A US government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a state department presentation at a global conference in Brazil this week, causing a stir among attenders who took screenshots and posted them online.
Since October, former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale has been quietly overseeing an operation posting hundreds of blog posts on behalf of Israel. One article, titled “The Reality Behind Gaza’s ‘Journalists’: Terror Ties, Propaganda, and the Laws of War,” asserts that a majority of journalists in Gaza were linked to terrorist organizations. Another casts doubt on the killing of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by the Israeli military in 2024.
The fallout from the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, Israel's military campaigns across the Middle East and the contentious issue of conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men have reshaped the country's political landscape, eroding support for Netanyahu and his governing coalition.
Zelensky met Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Lublin on Wednesday, following weeks of heightened friction over historical memory, bilateral political disputes and the treatment of Ukrainians in Poland.
Just one day before his funeral is set to take place in Washington, DC, video footage has emerged showing a gleeful Senator Lindsey Graham rejoicing at the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran, and even single-handedly offering US military involvement to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his war on Lebanon.





























