Israeli authorities intercepted boats from the international Gaza aid flotilla late Wednesday. But the standoff is bound to continue to weigh on the Middle East conflict.
Author: Roy Greenburgh
From Iran and Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, lasting peace can only arise from shared economic interests and the containment of regional power ambitions.
The looming possibility of a Putin-Zelensky summit is forcing Russia’s power brokers to confront which camp they truly belong to — and what will happen if the unthinkable occurs.
This excerpt of an exclusive interview given by then-Cardinal Robert F. Prevost on August 7, 2024, at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox, Illinois is included in Antonio Spadaro’s book “Da Francesco a Leone” (From Francis to Leo) available in Italian on July 31.
America is carrying massive debt, and half of it is financed by the rest of the world. If foreign nations and investors coordinated, they could force Trump to negotiate more reasonably on tariffs. Will they take the risk?
At a water park, you rarely see kids taking selfies or filming their adventures on their smartphones. To me, they didn’t even seem to take notice of the many shades and races and countries of origin of their peers. I saw girls in burkinis racing on the slides with their peers in thongs — no one paid attention to such differences.
Vladimir Putin is convinced his country is strong enough to secure total victory in Ukraine. But the Russian leader is forgetting two crucial things about the current geographic dynamic.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky courts and convinces (at least for now) U.S. President Donald Trump. Meanwhile Russia’s leader has failed to enter the negotiations with Tehran to gain on Ukraine.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said what others were thinking: Israel is doing the world a favor by trying to stop Iran’s nuclear program: Westerners and Arabs but also Russia and China, all would rather Tehran doesn’t get the bomb. But it may now be up to President Trump who is only concerned with his own interest.
As he launches the unprecedented attacks against Iran, much seems to be going Netanyahu’s way, from the decimation of both Hamas and Hezbollah leaders to the toppling of the Assad regime and softening of Gulf states. But a closer look shows a much more ambiguous picture across the region.
Born into an early Italian cinema family, Sergio Leone rose from Cinecittà sets to revolutionize film by creating the Spaghetti Western. Though fascinated by America, he viewed it as a cultural adversary, crafting a uniquely Italian cinematic voice that reshaped global cinema and inspired generations of filmmakers.
Curia cleanup, abuses, Ukraine-Russia mediation, China. A month of pontificate as a litmus test of the Leo method.
From Pope Leo XIV and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin to Italian Prime Minister Meloni and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, intense maneuverings are underway to see if the peace process can be relaunched in Rome. There are both religious and judicial hurdles to overcome.
Jumping straight into the geopolitical fray, the words of the U.S.-born pontiff are meant to single out Vladimir Putin — a notable difference with Pope Francis. The timing may also be just right to help his fellow American, Donald Trump, orchestrate the end to the war.
The pre-conclave favorite, Italy’s Pietro Parolin had a good number of preferences in the first two votes, but his support dropped off in the third ballot. Meanwhile, the darkhorse candidacy of Robert Prevost had been gaining momentum, thanks to a well-organized U.S. campaign.
The conclave in which Pope Francis was elected had as its task the salvation of the Church. At the conclave that chose Cardinal Robert Prevost to be Pope Leo XIV, we ask him to fill in where politics has failed.
Prophecy necessarily destabilizes, disturbs, disrupts, subverts. And precisely because he was a prophet, Pope Francis at times appeared to clearly be unsuitable for the role of Supreme Pontiff, which requires prudence, diplomacy, patience, moderation. Yet nobody can doubt his faith, or his commitment to speak before God on behalf of the world.
Giorgia Meloni’s visit to the White House is another delicate diplomatic mission, as she tries to keep relations between Europe and Donald Trump from vanishing altogether. Ultimately though she can’t have it both ways.
On his inauguration day, President Donald Trump signed the decree abolishing the law that grants U.S. citizenship to anyone born on American soil. For Italian writer Mattia Feltri, America was born from the idea that anyone could come, live freely, pursue their happiness. That dream is dead.
There was really just one element missing for a successful American putsch.
-Analysis- There is no set recipe for democracy. Still, we can agree that the ingredients must include basic guarantees of free speech and free elections: If you don’t have the right to speak out against those in charge — and eventually vote them out of power — you are living under some form of rule […]
-Analysis- By the end of Donald J. Trump’s presidency, people will wonder: Was there anything he did not say? Any line he did not cross? As a lifelong businessman, he has declared war early and often on diplomatic niceties, proud to speak “like the people.” The problem is that he is a person who speaks […]
-Analysis- Lord Acton’s famous phrase about the corrupting effect of power (and absolute power) should have come with a footnote about the “clinging” factor. On any given day, it isn’t hard to find someone in charge, somewhere in the world, using all their wits and energy to hold onto power beyond any reasonable claim to […]
At the epicenter of Europe’s migrant crisis, Italy is facing a new burst of blatant racism that comes with a whiff of fascist nostalgia from the country’s ugly past.