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Oct 26, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump seems to be trying to stoke what one analyst described as "deliberate chaos" at the United Nations. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the Trump administration is advocating for former Hungarian dictator Viktor Orbán, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the U.N. Secretary-General position. That would give Orbán power to settle conflicts between body members and would require him to be the public-facing head of the organization. Orbán did not officially state that he is running for the Secretary-General position, as he has reservations about a nationalist politician serving in such a role, according to the report. Current Secretary-General António Guterres' term ends on Dec. 31. The Journal's conservative editorial board was none too pleased about the report. "Maybe the best to say about the Orbán idea is that it would lift the veil by giving the U.N. a leader as low as Turtle Bay has already sunk," the editors wrote. The report also outraged several political analysts online. Jim Stewartson, a politics writer, described the move to support Orbán's hypothetical candidacy as "deliberate chaos.""It feels like we’re watching the end of a bad frat party where a bunch of chuds run out of beer so they just start breaking stuff and throwing furniture in the pool or whatever. It’s just deliberate chaos," Stewartson posted on X. Mike Nellis, a Democratic political strategist, was flabbergasted by the idea. "Holy s---, they're nuts," Nellis posted on X. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarianism, was not entertained by the report either. "What a joke," she posted on X.

Oct 26, 2026 - World

A former Trump administration staffer shared a startling prediction about how Donald Trump's presidency could end in a new podcast interview Sunday. Anthony Scaramucci, one of Trump's press secretaries during his first administration, predicted during a new episode of "The Daily Beast Podcast" with host Joanna Coles that Trump could be asked to leave office after the midterms. The risk of him being asked to leave will become even greater if Trump agrees to sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping to discuss an end to Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, he added. "If that meeting were to happen, then I would tell you that the Republican Party is completely dead," Scaramucci said. "We'd probably have to get a tombstone out, and you tell me the date that meeting and I will chisel into the tombstone.""Trump should be very careful with that, because he's going to push the envelope where he may be asked to leave the presidency," he continued. Scaramucci added that Democrats don't have to win the Senate for the scenario to be plausible. "People say, 'Oh, that's crazy. [It's] not crazy because the Democrats are going to take the House. Let's say they split and they go 50-50 [in the Senate]. You need 17 Republicans who have had enough of him," he said. "They hate his guts."President Donald Trump's standing among the Republican Party has sunk throughout his second term. Polling indicates that 37% of Republicans disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy. The president's strikes against Iran and his deal to buy Russian oil have also rankled the Republican base. " allowfullscreen>

Oct 25, 2026 - World

A geopolitical expert warned Sunday that President Donald Trump is facing a trap in Iran, one that created one of the most dangerous windows in the war's timeline. Robert Pape, a political scientist who teaches at the University of Chicago, wrote in a new Substack essay that Iran's pathway to winning the war against the U.S. is by creating excruciating economic pressure on the Trump administration. Pape predicted that the Trump administration is likely to respond to such pressure with a limited ground operation in Iran after the midterms are over. This could cause a spiral of repeating escalations that drag the U.S. further into the war. "This is the Escalation Trap in its purest form," Pape wrote. Pape argued that the two months after the midterm elections in November will be the "most dangerous" part of the war. For starters, Pape noted that the lame-duck Congress will have little incentive to prevent Trump from acting on his worst impulses, especially if the Democrats trounce Republicans, as some polls have suggested. He also noted that Trump will have the fewest domestic constraints of his second term after the midterms, which could cause Trump to deal with the ongoing economic pressure in a concerning way. "Pressure on Hormuz and Gulf oil leaves Washington two choices: make the sweeping concessions an increasingly ambitious Iran demands, which carry a heavy price at home, or climb the next rung," Pape wrote. The stakes are even greater because of the looming elections in Israel, he added. There is a chance Netanyahu becomes a "caretaker" Prime Minister after the election, which could cause him to act erratically as well.

Oct 25, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump's administration is plotting one of the "most serious attempts to undermine international law" in modern history, according to one expert. Stephen Zunes, a politics professor at the University of San Francisco, detailed a resolution that the Trump administration plans to submit to the United Nations Security Council regarding Morocco's annexation of the Western Sahara territory. Zunes noted that the resolution includes some significant policy proposals that, taken together, amount to "a gift to Netanyahu, Putin, and any other leader seeking to expand territory by force." "This is one of the most serious attempts to undermine international law since the founding of the United Nations," Zunes posted on X. Morocco has been attempting to annex Western Sahara since the late 1970s. The country currently controls about 80% of the territory, although international bodies don't recognize Morocco's annexation. The Trump administration's proposal would remove longstanding requirements for U.N. peacekeeping forces to oversee a referendum about Morocco's annexation, which Zunes said would negate the "right of self-determination that has long been the basis of decolonization under international law."The resolution also falsely claims that there is a growing consensus about Morocco's annexation, when Zunes noted that only two far-right governments — Israel and Colombia — have recognized the move. Zunes described the argument as a "legal fiction.""There will certainly be objections from Pakistan, China, Russia, and perhaps some other countries which could result in changes in the language before it is put to a formal vote," Zunes added. "However, with Washington’s history of running roughshod over international legal precedent and the failure of even democratic nations to consistently stand up to Trump’s bullying (particularly on what are considered less-consequential issues), it is hard to predict." "Even if the full text isn’t accepted, the Trump administration may succeed in its primary goal: to make Morocco’s autonomy proposal, which falls way short of the international definition of autonomy and would rule out the option of independence, which is required for real decolonization, recognized by the United Nations as the only basis of future negotiations," he continued.

Oct 25, 2026 - World

Kim Aris tells the Guardian chance to speak with detained Nobel laureate was ‘public relations’ move from military leadersMyanmar’s former democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be in good physical and mental health but is living in near-complete isolation, her son has said after the first call with his 81-year-old mother in more than five years.“She still sounds certainly all there mentally, and physically she sounds strong,” Kim Aris said. “I don’t think she has anybody outside of the military or the police around her, so essentially she’s been held in solitary confinement from what I gather.” Continue reading...