This Week in the World Affairs Brief
TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS: A MIX OF SUCCESSES AND MISSTEPS
It’s been a little over three months since president Trump took office, and it’s customary for pundits to comment on Trump’s first 100 days, either in praise or condemnation of his track record so far. The mainstream media doesn’t like anything Trump has done, and Trump’s biggest supporters in the alternative media like Breitbart, Epoch Times, and the Daily Signal seem to like everything Trump has done. I see both the positive and negative things Trump does. While I have applauded each of the Trump Exec Orders that have worked to dismantle and reverse discrimination in America, reduce non-essential workers in the federal government, and expose billions in secret slush fund spending, most of his best initiatives have been blocked by the courts—which isn’t his fault. However, despite trying to rein in the massive “unelected bureaucracy” Trump has not been able to penetrate and eliminate the Deep State very far, but at least he has not picked as many Deep State advisors this time around, relying instead on yesman for the most part. But Trump has made some serious missteps too, such as creating havoc in the domestic and world economy with his arbitrary tariff hikes (made worse by nearly daily changes), but his worst misstep—rooted in his naive desire to become the world’s greatest “peace” president—is repeatedly failing to recognize the major threat that NK, China and Russia pose as existential enemies to the US armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons. To receive a free one-time sample of the Brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a Sample on the left.
Also:
- Trump Gets a Lesson in the Real Vladimir Putin
- Preparing for War with China
- China’s Collapsing Economy
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.”
US equity markets extended gains this morning following a report from The Wall Street Journal that Beijing is considering ways to address the Trump administration’s gripes over China’s role in the fentanyl trade, potentially offering an off-ramp from hostilities to allow for trade talks to start.
Washington is no longer seeking to pressure or force President Volodymyr Zelensky to hold elections that could result in his being ousted office for the sake of peace, according to information in The Telegraph.
Recently unsealed court documents have revealed that Ryan Routh, the guy who tried to assassinate President Trump at his own golf course, was trying to smuggle Afghans into the US over the southern borde
Starting on May 2, the United States will begin collecting a duty of either 30 percent of the value of packages at $800 or less shipped through the international postal network or $25 per item. On June 1, that rate will increase to $50 per package.
Packages valued at $800 or less shipped through means other than the international postal network will be subject to “all applicable duties,” a White House fact sheet states.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has advised new parents to research vaccines recommended for their children, as he also disclosed that health officials are looking into how some children start experiencing symptoms of autism shortly after vaccination.
The federal intelligence agency said that the populist political party aims to exclude certain population groups from ‘equal participation in society.’
Many vaccines licensed in the United States were tested against other vaccines, rather than a placebo, HHS noted in 2018.
...a glaring absence of commercial processing capacity with few fast fixes on tap.
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