Daniel DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities, a syndicated foreign affairs columnist at the Chicago Tribune and a foreign affairs writer for Newsweek.
Saudis woke up last Saturday to find the crown jewel of their oil industry in smoke. The attack on the al-Abqaiq oil processing facility, allegedly conducted by cruise missiles and launched from a staging area inside Iran, resulted in the sharpest single-day increase in crude prices since the 1991 Gulf War. Saudi Arabia’s largest oil installation,
Italian politics is like a game of musical chairs. One government resigns or collapses, another takes its place, until that government is either rendered irrelevant a year later or voted out during the next election. Italy has had 68 governments in the last 74 years and 10 prime ministers in the last 20. Italians will
It was Labor Day in the United States yesterday, which can only mean one thing—now that the barbecues and swimming at the beach are over, Americans will be tuning in to the 2020 Democratic presidential primary a lot more often. The candidates are entering a fall campaign season that could prove pivotal for their operations,
From the moment Donald Trump stepped onto the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for president of the United States, there have been people in the Republican party who have sought to bring him down. During the 2016 GOP primary, Republican national security officials wrote scathing and embarrassing open letters against him.
Italians have had ten prime ministers in the last 20 years. They may soon have another. Matteo Salvini, the interior minister, deputy prime minister, and leader of the League, is ready to pull the plug on a coalition government increasingly pitted against itself. The League and its coalition ally, the Five Star Movement or 5SM,
The president of the United States has to wear many hats. When a crisis hits the world, it’s the president who is often called to help solve it. And when a crisis hits the home front, whether it be a mindless mass shooting, a major hurricane, or a mass-casualty terrorist attack, it’s the president who
Former Vice President Joe Biden had a gentle plea for Sen. Kamala Harris before the debate even began. As the two clasped hands and greeted one another with a cheerful hello, Biden asked Harris if she could do him a favour: ‘go easy on me, kid.’ The remark was made in jest; Biden is a
Beto O’Rourke needed a wing and a prayer. The second Democratic presidential debate was an opportunity for the 46-year old Texas congressman to shut down the naysayers and speculators who were doubting his candidacy after a less-than-optimal fundraising stretch and a 2.8 per cent ranking in the polls. The game-plan for the former boy wonder of
On the surface, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson look like two peas in a pod. Their hairstyles are blonde and moppy. The height of their collective ambition makes the Empire State Building and Big Ben look puny in comparison. Both are proud and unapologetic of their unconventionality and large personalities. Indeed, Trump was so smitten
Donald Trump didn’t take long to congratulate Boris Johnson on his victory in today’s Tory leadership race. ‘He will be great!’ was Trump’s snap verdict on a man who he described at a rally this afternoon as a ‘really good man’. It’s safe to say Boris has a fan, at least for the time being,
It wasn’t so long ago when Beto O’Rourke, the punk-rock band member and three-term congressman from West Texas, was the man to beat. O’Rourke was the energetic, dashing politician who looked like a Kennedy and talked like a Kennedy. He may have lost his Senate campaign to the incumbent Ted Cruz, but he made history
Kim Darroch may no longer be Britain’s top man in Washington DC, but that doesn’t mean he has lost friends in the U.S. capital. Indeed, if anything, the abrupt end of Darroch’s long career has only earned him more goodwill. The outgoing ambassador is now one of the most popular men in Washington after
Jeremy Hunt has tried to end the war of words between Donald Trump and Britain’s ambassador in Washington. But his open warning to the US president – that Trump’s foul-mouthed broadsides against Sir Kim Darroch are “disrespectful and wrong to our Prime Minister and my country” – is bound to backfire. Instead of calming the situation, Hunt
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when Joe Biden was the man to beat in the race to win the Democratic nomination. Name recognition, likability, electability, or his eight years of service as Barack Obama’s lieutenant, meant that Biden’s poll numbers were sky-high and the former vice president was the indisputable frontrunner. A poll last
Day 2 of the Democratic presidential debates was a touch feistier than day 1, likely because the heavy hitters shared the same stage. Former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Kamala Harris, the four top contenders in the large field of 20-something candidates, were all front-and-centre hoping for a
Notepads out, pencils in-hand, and water at the ready, a pack of Democratic presidential candidates did battle last night in the first nationally televised debate of the primary. There were no mentions of little hands, no personal insults, and not much entertainment (Donald Trump after all wasn’t part of the show), but there were plenty
Joe Biden may have the nickname ‘Middle-Class Joe’ but in truth, the former vice president is a career politician. He was elected to the Senate in 1972 at the ripe age of 29 and kept his seat for 36 years until he decided to gamble on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign by joining his ticket. With
Donald Trump is at his best when he’s campaigning. The man loves the limelight, the massive rallies in 20,000-seat arenas broadcasted in real time by Fox News, and the accolades, applause, and chants from his red-hatted disciples. Trump won the 2016 election by letting his force of personality take over the campaign and riding on
America’s last presidential election campaign won’t be easily forgotten. From leaked Access Hollywood tapes and spurious insults between the two contenders to incessant chants of “lock her up!”, Clinton vs Trump was something Americans simply hadn’t experienced before. It was ugly. But the 2016 election may turn out to be a walk in the park compared to the
The last time president Donald Trump flew to London, pandemonium ensued. A visit that was supposed to be ordinary turned out to be extraordinary. Thousands of Londoners protested the president’s arrival, launching a big baby Trump balloon into the air (which predictably captured the thin-skinned president’s attention). Trump took to the pages of the Sun and trashed Theresa May’s
