This Week in the World Affairs Brief
TRUMP VERSUS HIS GENERALS ON IRAN
President Trump is getting a lot of push-back from his military planners as he tasks them to quickly draw up plans for military options in both Iran and Greenland. The president is often caught making rash threats against other nations before getting sound advice, which causes a lot of headaches for the Pentagon’s huge planning staff. In the wake of the massive protests in Iran, where it appears as many as 2500 have been killed as military and police fire on protestors, Trump told protestors “help is on the way,” which not only raised the hopes among the millions of pro-Western Iranians in the largest cities, but put some legitimate fear into the Iranian leadership, who saw what the US can do in a surgical strike against leadership in Venezuela. But Trump’s generals know that Iran will not be as easy to penetrate as Venezuela, not even close. Iran has a highly trained army approaching a million men, plus thousands of offensive missiles, unlike Venezuela, that can strike back at American troops and assets throughout the region. Trump is getting even more push-back about invading and occupying Greenland, which the Joint Chiefs believe is totally unnecessary and highly damaging to America’s image as a beacon of freedom. This week, I will cover how these two conflicts are likely to play out. 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’s Greed for Greenland
- Venezuela is Still in Turmoil
Trump’s plan, announced this week, aims to lower drug prices and insurance premiums while increasing transparency. It proposes making more pharmaceutical drugs available over the counter, requiring health care providers to post prices and giving money directly to consumers for insurance purchases.
Potter said the plan lacks enforcement mechanisms to hold insurance companies accountable. She noted that existing price transparency rules go unenforced because billion-dollar companies can afford to pay fines.
The origin of the chaos appears to be mostly manufactured and began hours after the legal observer was shot and killed last Wednesday:
Two scammers in Brooklyn pleaded guilty on Thursday to defrauding the state's controversial Medicaid home care program to the tune of $60 million.
Yoon attempted to block his own arrest after parliament voted to impeach him, using presidential security forces to defy a lawful warrant issued by the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO). He went on national TV and declared martial law in an address to the country on December 3, 2024.
"But Yoon, in an unprecedented manner, notified only some Cabinet members of the meeting on the proclamation of martial law, thereby directly violating the Constitution and infringing the deliberation rights of Cabinet members who were not notified," the judge said in the ruling.
Several thousand also said they did not know their date of birth when asked upon entering the United States.
Havana is near collapse, with no relief offered by longtime ally Russia or biggest trading partner China. But the island nation has survived such crises before.
"If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don't obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State," Trump warned.
Video posted by U.S. Southern Command shows U.S. forces boarding a sixth oil tanker in waters around Central and South America and the Caribbean. Photo: U.S. Southern Command
U.S. forces seized a sixth oil tanker on Thursday morning, the U.S. Southern Command confirmed.
The president said in an interview that he had a great conversation with Venezuelan acting leader Delcy Rodríguez.
Wei Jinchao was convicted of selling information about American warship systems and the operations and maintenance of those systems by the U.S. Navy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that the government is declaring a state of emergency in the energy sector after repeated Russian strikes damaged heating and power facilities during freezing winter conditions.
There are reports that President Trump is listening to the non-interventionists in his cabinet, as he says Wednesday afternoon he's been told that the killing in Iran is stopping, and with no plan for executions. WTI futures immediately dropped on the newswires:
A day earlier, the president said Iranian officials reached out to the White House about a potential nuclear deal.
“Temporary means temporary,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told The Epoch Times via email.
“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status. Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”
The president also told protesters in the country to keep demonstrating.
The jury pool is drawn from the Michigan Secretary of State’s driver’s license database, which does not consistently flag citizenship status, allowing noncitizens—such as lawful permanent residents with green cards—to be included.
"SpaceX has waived the Starlink subscription fee in Iran, so people with receivers in the country can access service without paying, according to Ahmad Ahmadian, executive director of the US group Holistic Resilience, which works with Iranians to secure Internet access,"
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank was served with grand jury subpoenas by the Department of Justice on Jan. 9.
In a statement late Jan. 11, Powell confirmed that officials threatened a criminal indictment over his Senate Banking Committee testimony in June 2025. That testimony, Powell noted, “concerned in part a multi-year project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings.”
Conflict between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers continued on Jan. 11 outside a federal building that the agency is using as a detention facility.
Trump warned that the United States “may have to act” before a potential meeting takes place because of the current situation in Iran, as the Iranian regime’s clampdown on protests has left hundreds dead.
rump on Sunday did raise the question of direct help to the protesters (who may not actually be interested in Washington's help). Trump said he will speak to Elon Musk about sending Starlink to protesters in Iran, following the government-imposed outage which has remained in place since Thursday.
Military commanders in the Middle East want more time to prepare for Iranian counterattacks
Italian authorities are attempting to force the internet service provider Cloudflare to delete and block certain online services. Cloudflare is resisting and has turned to the U.S. government for support.
How were these migrants from a third world country able to successfully establish so many front businesses and siphon billions of dollars in taxpayer funds? They had help from Democrat officials according to whistleblowers. This would explain why investigations into migrant racketeering consistently fizzled and why Democrat appointed judges dismissed multiple fraud cases involving Somalis.
Leftwing agitators in Minneapolis on Thursday set up a short-lived “autonomous zone” that spanned several blocks in the southeastern part of the city, and reportedly declared it a “no-go zone” for law enforcement. The city however removed the barricades surrounding it overnight to allow residents and first responders access to the area.
President Trump plans to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado next week during her planned visit to the United States.
This development comes despite his earlier reluctance to back her for the country's top leadership role.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins warned Minnesota’s Democrat leaders on Friday their “handouts to thieves” are at an end, her announcement coming amid news about rampant fraud in the state.
Washington :The U.S. Government and Lockheed Martin have announced a landmark agreement to dramatically expand manufacturing of the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptor, an advanced component of the Patriot Air And Missile Defense System. The new framework aims to increase annual production from approximately 600 interceptors to 2,000 per year over a seven-year period, a move officials say will strengthen U.S. and allied defenses amid rising global threats.
“I was elected as a Democratic socialist and I will govern as a Democratic socialist.”
That was the new mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, in his inaugural address, where he made headlines by going with a speech that made him sound like the caricature of an Ayn Rand villain.
The Department of Justice notified New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani that anti-white discrimination would not be tolerated, following publication of past controversial statements by his top housing aide.
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