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Oct 26, 2026 - World

Critics have exposed a little-known flaw in President Donald Trump’s "unlawful" diesel deal with Russia that threatens to scare off the banks and ports needed to bring the fuel ashore.Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), five other Democrats and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) warned six major banks and four port authorities about that legal risk in an Oct. 24 letter, Axios reported Monday.The recipients include Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and port authorities in New York, New Jersey and Texas, Axios reported.“[A]ny importation of Russian diesel into the U.S. raises significant legal questions and may be subject to legal action, as well as congressional investigations,” the lawmakers wrote.Asked about the letter, the administration told The Hill that its move is legal.White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers accused Democrats of continuing their “decade-long obsession with investigating President Trump.”The first tanker carrying Russian diesel under the deal, the Agioi Fanendes, loaded 40,000 metric tons at Russia’s Primorsk port on Oct. 22 and is expected in New York on Nov. 7, Reuters reported. Axios noted that ships’ planned destinations often change.Trump announced the deal on Truth Social on Oct. 9, promising lower diesel prices.The Treasury Department issued a license the same day allowing Russian diesel transactions, including “importation into the United States,” through April 7, 2027. Critics say the license conflicts with the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act, a 2022 law that bans imports of Russian energy products, including diesel, Time reported.The lawmakers wrote that “criminal penalties may apply to any company that knowingly buys Russian diesel or facilitates its importation, and not simply the importer of record,” the company named on customs forms.Trump could pardon those crimes but not civil fines, which can equal the fuel’s value and include seizure of the ships that carried it, Scott R. Anderson, a senior editor at Lawfare and a former State Department lawyer, wrote on Oct. 15.The administration can pursue those fines for up to five years after the fuel arrives, giving the next administration a chance to bring them, Anderson wrote.As a result, he wrote, the license “seems unlikely to lead to an actual increase in U.S. imports” of Russian diesel.“Those enabling the administration’s unlawful acts should generally be on notice about the risks they are taking,” former Rep. Tom Malinowski, a New Jersey Democrat, wrote on X Monday.In March 2022, when Treasury issued a license letting Russian oil shipments already under contract enter the country, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it would hold the cargo and bar unloading until it verified the paperwork, according to a CBP bulletin.This time, Raw Story found no similar CBP notice.Treasury’s terrorism and financial intelligence office has said on X that the new license “is in compliance with all applicable laws.”The 2022 law lets a president lift the ban only after consulting Congress, certifying that Russia has agreed to leave Ukraine on terms Kyiv accepts and waiting 90 days so lawmakers can block it, Time reported.A bipartisan group of senators, including Tillis, said Oct. 11 that the administration “failed to consult with Congress or submit any explanation” for its decision.Rival fuel sellers would likely have grounds to sue, but only once the imports actually happen, Anderson wrote.Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced a bill to nullify the license, and three House committees have referred it, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.Investigating the deal will be a priority if Democrats win control of either chamber in next week’s midterm elections, Axios reported.The lawmakers asked the banks and ports to confirm by Wednesday that they are preserving contracts, shipping documents and payment records tied to Russian diesel.

Oct 26, 2026 - World

Commanders suspected of sexual violence during the largest and fastest slaughter of civilians in more than 30 years have been subjected to travel ban and asset freezeSenior Sudanese commanders implicated in a “campaign of rape” have been targeted by the UK on the first anniversary of a mass atrocity that saw tens of thousands of civilians killed over several days.A year after the fall of El Fasher, the British government said it had sanctioned military leaders from both sides in the country’s ongoing conflict whom it suspected of sexual violence during the siege of the city. Continue reading...

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.