This Week in the World Affairs Brief
INDIA/PAKISTAN WAR—WILL IT ESCALATE?
There are two major issues of contention between India and Pakistan besides the ethnic and religious conflicts: One is the decades-long fight over water rights on the massive Indus river system of tributaries and the other is the irregular occurrence of terror attacks based in Pakistan against people in the Indian-controlled portion of the Kashmir territory. The latest counter-attack by India on Pakistani terrorists was in response to a terrorist attack on civilians in Kashmir that targeted Hindu men while sparing Muslims. There is a considerable religious difference between the two countries. Pakistan is an Islamic Republic that was created in 1947 as a homeland for Muslims of the Indian subcontinent and has long harbored Muslim radical groups, both on the border with Indian-controlled Kashmir and on the Afghanistan border. In contrast, India claims to be a secular state whose constitution guarantees religious freedom for all, but in practice that has never been the case. India’s Hindu majorities barely tolerate the other various religious factions. Attacks on Christians have increased in the past decade, particularly in rural and tribal areas. There is also the issue of Kashmir, the northern province of the Indian continent that is split between Indian, Pakistani and Chinese control. And then there’s the backing of each nation’s respective allies: India has long curried favor with Russia while Pakistan has turned to China. These powerful allies have facilitated the development of the two country’s military arsenals and their rise as nuclear powers. Despite all this natural tension, I’ll explain why I don’t think this conflict will escalate into a major regional war nor a nuclear exchange. To receive a free one-time sample of the brief, along with option on how to subscribe, click on Request a Sample on the left.
Also:
- Catholics Elect Another Radical Leftist for Pope
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President Donald Trump said late on Saturday that "great progress" was being made in ongoing U.S.-China talks over tariffs menacing the global economy, and even suggested a “total reset" was on the table as tariff negotiations are set to continue Sunday in Switzerland.
No major breakthrough was announced in discussions that lasted over 10 hours between U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and a delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. Still, Trump struck an upbeat tone.
India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed nations, appeared to be spiraling toward broader conflict on Saturday, setting the stage for another day of scary headlines that could trigger World War III. But just moments ago, President Trump announced on Truth Social that India and Pakistan have "agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE."
Friday's inbound missile was intercepted not by a US-supplied system, but by Israel’s Arrow long-range air defense system.
Israeli media is currently highlighting the failure of the American THAAD system, which missed the intercept:
And we can't help but notice the timing - with tariffs on goods coming from China through the roof - seems to be...coincidentally beneficial for Chinese corporations.
Ukraine appears to be respecting President Putin's unilaterally declared three-day truce in honor of the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2, and this is seen in the fact that there have been no reports of inbound drones threatening Moscow.
The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it is referring five member states to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for failing to properly implement the Digital Services Act (DSA), Brussels’ flagship legislation aimed at regulating online platforms.
However, three House Republicans are reportedly hesitant to support including the defunding measure in the reconciliation package, citing concerns over political backlash or the measure’s fit within the bill’s fiscal focus. This hesitation has sparked frustration among pro-life leaders who see 2025 as a pivotal year, with Republican control of the House, Senate, and White House aligning for the first time in years.
The three reportedly include Reps. Mike Lawler, Jen Kiggans and Brian Fitzpatrick.
El Paisa ran his operation out of Salem, Oregon, but his group also had a presence in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Layton, Utah; Phoenix, Arizona; and Las Vegas, Nevada.
Last week, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration ran a series of raids targeting El Paisa’s network. The raids are tied to a 12-count criminal indictment alleging that since July 1, 2024, the group conspired to distribute large quantities of fentanyl — mainly in pill form.
As mentioned above, the Real ID Act was passed twenty years ago in 2005. It was one of the many measures rolled out in the wake of the 9/11 attacks that was presented to the public as being necessary to ensure that similar attacks would never happen again.
The original bill specified that the federal government would refuse to accept any form of ID that did not meet the requirements Congress had passed by May of 2008. But as that date drew closer, few states had implemented the new provisions. Some governors had vocally refused to comply because they opposed what was, in effect, the implementation of a national identification database.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) has been made aware of the report by the committee, according to Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.).
President Donald Trump announced on May 7 that Dr. Casey Means—a functional medicine physician aligned with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—would be his new nominee for surgeon general after he withdrew his initial pick for the role.
If enacted into law, the act would make it a U.S. policy to combat the illicit act; to promote the establishment of voluntary organ donation systems with effective enforcement mechanisms in bilateral talks and international health forums; and to promote the dignity and security of human life in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Smith said the bill will send a message to anyone who tries to get an organ without caring about its origin.
What India has dubbed 'Operation Sindoor' is intended to be limited, Indian leaders have said, but it's highly questionable whether it was a 'success' - given that India lost at least one or possibly up to five fighter jets.
"The conflict between India and Pakistan has begun.
Israel encouraged India to do this, because it benefits strategically in various ways, that involve Turkey/Iran. It also may be the death nell for China's belt and road initiative if Syria wasn't already
India carried out airstrikes on 9 "terrorist camp" locations in Pakistan
Pakistan shot down at least 1 (up to 5) Indian Air Force fighter jets
Heavy Artillery fire along the Line of Control
Pakistan’s army spox, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, has said at least eight people were killed and 35 injured.
Republican leaders in the House are increasingly concerned about China’s presence in Cuba and its capacity to spy on the U.S. from the island.
A new report analyzing open-source intelligence found the addition of what appears to be a circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA) at the Bejucal signals intelligence site near Havana, Cuba. The antenna could pinpoint radio signals from between 3,000 and 8,000 miles away, putting key U.S. military installations and even Washington, D.C., well within range.
Trump said Houthi leaders had communicated to his administration that they no longer wish to fight. “They just don’t want to fight, and we will honor that, and we will, we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated,” Trump said.
China’s ruling regime began a secret project during President Donald Trump’s first term to weaken the United States through scaling up production of fentanyl precursors and shipping them to Mexico and Canada for manufacturing and distribution across the border, according to an insider who has sources in Beijing’s top political circle.
The plan, which the Chinese regime dubbed Project Zero, aims to make Americans addicted, according to Yuan Hongbing, a dissident and jurist living in exile in Australia. His sources are close to the descendants of senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who choose to remain anonymous due to security concerns.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced that the newest attack involved at least 19 drones being intercepted while they were inbound to Moscow "from different directions." The assault, coming the day after several drones halted air traffic at a major Moscow international airport, resulted in no destruction or casualties.
Airports in Moscow briefly halted operations after a swarm of Ukrainian drones targeted the Russian capital in the early hours of May 6, according to Russian officials.
In a social media post, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said at least 19 drones, which had converged on the capital from different directions, had been downed by Russian air defenses.
Orbital Gateway Consulting and an expert on China's space industry, who identified SpaceSail—a Chinese space company backed by the Shanghai municipal government—as having unveiled its "commercial" version of Starlink satellites at China Space Day 2025.
The party filed papers in a court in Cologne, where the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, known as the BfV, is headquartered.
A cornerstone of Merz’s campaign was to uphold Germany’s strict constitutional borrowing limit known as the debt brake.
The loss of profit in the banking sector indicates an all-round economic slowdown, even a stall, an analyst said.
From Florida and Texas to New Hampshire, New Jersey, and beyond, lawmakers are working to shake up the monetary system in creative ways. Some states have already made significant moves.
Dubbed “transactional gold bills,” the most far-reaching proposals would create state-backed systems to facilitate commerce in precious metals.
“Did your doctor tell you that you might be more likely to die if you took Pfizer instead of Moderna? That’s what we found in Florida, and other studies have shown similar results,” Ladapo wrote on social media platform X....Critics of the study questioned why it did not also compare the vaccinated to the unvaccinated.
“We’re going to give them a stipend,” Trump said in mid-April. “We’re going to give them some money and a plane ticket, and then we’re going to work with them—if they’re good—if we want them back in, we’re going to work with them to get them back in as quickly as we can.”
There are reports that 30 Israeli jets are bombing Yemen's main port, along with US military assistance:
workers shared pictures of quiet production lines or factory suspension notices, highlighting how the tariffs are starting to bite.
Now, according to Radio Free Asia, protests are erupting across China - from Hunan’s Dao County to Sichuan’s Suining City and Inner Mongolia’s Tongliao. Hundreds of enraged workers are storming the streets, blasting unpaid wages and wrongful firings as factories collapse under the crushing force of President Trump’s relentless U.S. tariffs, the news outlet said.
One video shared to X showed angry workers shouting “Strike! Strike!” while protesting outside the Shangda Electronics’ factory in Suining city on Sunday.
The clampdown on citizens who flocked to the Chinese capital seeking justice for a wide range of grievances intensifies over the past two weeks.
And so Trump wrote in his executive order that the joke was over: “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence. The CPB Board shall cease direct funding to NPR and PBS, consistent with my Administration’s policy to ensure that Federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage. The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding.”
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