Diplomacy

The Insider reports: German officials were so alarmed by President Donald Trump’s “very aggressive” conversations with Chancellor Angela Merkel that they kept their calls secret, sources told CNN. In calls with the German chancellor, Trump bullied and disparaged Merkel in a “near-sadistic” fashion, according to the CNN report by Carl Bernstein, the longtime journalist known for his reporting on the …

ABC News reports: Canada has told the U.S. it is strongly opposed to a Trump administration proposal to put troops at the U.S.-Canada border amid the pandemic and said if it goes ahead it would damage relations between the two longtime allies. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government has been in discussions with the White House about convincing the …

Politico reports: There were women in glitzy Indian garb dancing, Bollywood stars singing and an eclectic mix of music blaring in time to flashing lights. And when President Donald Trump finally appeared on stage at the world’s largest cricket stadium, the sun-soaked crowd burst into a deafening, rapturous applause. It was exactly the scene the TV star-turned president wanted. “Namaste …

Politico reports: U.S. officials and the Taliban have reached an “understanding” that could result in a “reduction in violence” in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday, paving the way for an agreement later this month that would bring to an end America’s longest war. “After decades of conflict, we have come to an understanding with the Taliban on …

India Today reports: Agra will be under a security lockdown when United States President Donald Trump arrives in the city. Nobody will be allowed to venture out of their homes on the route that Donald Trump would take from the Agra airport to the Taj Mahal. However, this lockdown does not apply to the hundreds of monkeys living in and …

Reuters reports: Most people around the globe don’t trust Donald Trump to do the right thing when it comes to foreign affairs, according to a survey released Wednesday, but they do have positive overall views of the United States. The Pew Research Center survey of 37,000 adults from 33 countries via phone and face-to-face interviews found that 64% of respondents …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran “appears to be standing down” after its missile attack on U.S. targets in Iraq, and he vowed to keep up the pressure on Tehran with “punishing” new economic sanctions. Trump made the comments in an address to the nation Wednesday from the White House less than a day after …

Axios reports: Saudi Arabia’s deputy defense minister, Prince Khalid Bin Salman, revealed on Twitter that he delivered a message to President Trump yesterday from his brother, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Saudi Arabia is deeply concerned it could become engulfed in uncontrolled escalation between the U.S. and Iran following President Trump’s decision to kill Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. That explains …

CNN reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo postponed a planned trip to Ukraine to deal with the ongoing developments out of Baghdad, the State Department announced Wednesday. Following a second day of protests, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday that “the situation around Embassy Baghdad has improved,” but that efforts by Iraqi government security forces “to clear militia members from …

Raw Story reports: On Tuesday, just hours before the New Years celebration, President Donald Trump issued a self-proclaimed “threat” against Iran, proclaiming that they “will be held fully responsible” for the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Iraq, and adding that they will pay “a very BIG PRICE!” The U.S. Embassy in Iraq is, & has been for hours, SAFE! …

The Washington Post reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he isn’t running for Senate next year. Those close to him say he hasn’t made a final decision yet. But that hasn’t prevented a barely concealed competition from breaking out within the administration over who might replace him as the nation’s top diplomat. President Trump has fueled the fire by …

Agence France-Presse reports:  China, Iran and Russia will hold joint naval drills starting on Friday in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman, China’s defense ministry said on Thursday amid heightened tension in the region between Iran and the US. China will send the Xining, a guided missile destroyer, to the drills, ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a monthly news …

The Associated Press reports: Rising space power China on Monday attacked the newly created U.S. Space Force as a “direct threat to outer space peace and security.” Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that China is “deeply concerned about it and resolutely opposed to it.” “The relevant U.S. actions are a serious violation of the international consensus on the …

The Guardian reports: The wife of a US intelligence officer has been charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of the 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced. Anne Sacoolas was flown out of the UK by the US embassy days after the fatal collision in late August, with the US claiming she was covered by …

ABC News reports: The veteran U.S. diplomat who was a key witness in impeachment hearings is departing his post in Ukraine, according to two State Department sources. Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Kyiv who was recruited by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to fill in after President Donald Trump abruptly recalled Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, will depart in early …

Reuters reports: Estonia apologized to Finland on Monday after Estonia’s interior minister mocked Finland’s new prime minister — the world’s youngest-serving government leader — as “a sales girl” and questioned her ability to run the Nordic country. Mart Helme, 70, Estonian interior minister and leader of the populist far-right party Ekre, on Sunday ridiculed Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, 34, …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump blasted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “two-faced” on Wednesday after Trudeau was caught on an open mic with other world leaders discussing the NATO summit in London and making what may have been references to Trump. ‘Well, he’s two-faced,” Trump said of Trudeau alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday. “And honestly with …

The New York Times reports: President Trump began a two-day summit meeting on Tuesday to mark the 70th anniversary of NATO — strained, in part, by his own brash handling of overseas allies — by stepping into an unlikely role as defender of an alliance he once called “obsolete.” Mr. Trump said President Emmanuel Macron of France had been “very …

The Jerusalem Post reports: The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem late on Monday warned Americans about traveling in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, soon after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the United States was softening its position on Israel’s Jewish settlements. “The U.S. Embassy advises U.S. citizens in or considering travel to or through Jerusalem, the West Bank, or …

The Independent reports: The leader of North Korea is not interested in another meeting with Donald Trump, even though the American recently signaled they would be coming together soon. That’s according to a statement from North Korean Foreign Ministry adviser Kim Kye Gwan, who told the state news agency that Mr Trump’s Sunday night tweet saying “See you soon!” was …