In assessing the new world situation, we should start here in the U.S. At this moment, the epicenter of the struggle is Minneapolis. What’s happening there poses a fundamental question that is germane to the changing world situation, the global class struggle and the struggle for world socialist revolution. The same conditions, the repression and the angry mass response of the people are spreading and will continue to spread throughout the country.

The New World Situation: The decline of U.S. imperialism and the centrality of the class struggle

By Larry Holmes

The writer is the First Secretary of Workers World Party.

The idea that the United States should lead the world, replacing the British Empire, had been advanced by various U.S. leaders and influential citizens since the late 19th century.  This ambition was in keeping with age-old aspirations of great states and empires, and also with the trajectory of U.S. history.  The U.S. expanded across North America in the 19th century, became an imperial power in Asia in 1899, declared Latin America an exclusive sphere of influence in the early 20th century, and became the foremost global economic power prior to the First World War.

Cold War interventionism, 1945-1990

UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY

Presumably, Melania is meant to show us the woman behind the woman behind the man. It’s a lavish, beautifully shot documentary that deploys many of the tropes of commercial cinema (director Brett Ratner’s principle stomping ground until accusations of sexual assault – which he has denied – derailed his career in 2017). But actual revelations and insights into the first lady of the United States (FLOTUS, for short) are as thin on the ground as the hairs are on her husband’s head.

Melania Trump was a model before she became the girlfriend of property developer Donald Trump circa 1998. Born in Slovenia, she grew up watching her seamstress mother devote herself to the business of making things beautiful.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said she “will be very smart” by the end of her term thanks to her reading habits.

Kallas made the remark at a press conference on Thursday after a journalist offered to give her a book on Kurdish history by Masoud Barzani, the first president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

“You know, my reading list is quite long,” she replied. “I am not telling you what I am reading right now but it is also about the history of different regions. So, by the end, when I finish this job, I will be very smart.”

Syrian Kurds, who served as a US proxy in the war that ultimately ousted President Bashar Assad, recently suffered a defeat from the forces of the new US-backed Türkiye-allied government seeking to reintegrate Syria.

Science in the Arctic — and Greenland — is on the frontline of pressing challenges facing humanity, like climate change and genetics. Some researchers worry international collaboration is at risk.

Decades of successful scientific collaboration could be at risk if political relations between Europe and the US continue to fray over trade and defense issues.

For more than 30 years, Arctic nations have worked together across the physical, biological and social sciences to understand one of the world's fastest-changing regions. Since the late 1970s, the Arctic has lost around 33,000 square miles of sea ice each year — roughly the same area as Czechia.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has declared that the military is fully prepared to “deliver whatever” President Donald Trump orders regarding Iran, as a major naval armada moves toward the region.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Hegseth warned Tehran against pursuing nuclear weapons, which Iran has consistently denied seeking.

“We will be prepared to deliver whatever this president expects of the War Department,” he stated.

Hegseth framed the recent US operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as a demonstration of capability and intent.

“That sends a message to every capital around the world that when President Trump speaks, he means business,” he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has stated that the principle of self-determination does not apply to the people of Crimea and Donbass, drawing sharp condemnation from Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week accused the UN Secretariat of “playing into the hands” of Kiev and failing to act with impartiality, citing what he called glaringly different stances on self-determination for Crimea and Greenland.

Asked about this perceived double standard at a press conference on Thursday, Guterres said the body had held “very interesting discussions” on the matter and concluded that in Ukraine’s case, the “principle of territorial integrity” prevails over the will of the people.

London: A photograph of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin standing side by side in Alaska has been framed and put on display in the White House.

The posed portrait of the US and Russian presidents, taken at the Alaska summit in August, has been hung on a wall in the Palm Room, which links the West Wing to the presidential residence.

Below it, in a matching gold frame of the same size, is a photo of Trump with his granddaughter, Carolina Dorothy Trump, six.

The photograph appears to be the same image Trump showed off to reporters in the Oval Office in August, telling them it had been sent to him by Putin following their summit in Anchorage.

Trump said he thought the Russian leader looked “nice” in the photo, which recorded the first face-to-face meeting between US and Russian leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

She though I’d be a good catch.

I though we were a poor match.

She took me to a concert.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings.

Boring Lieders by Franz Schubert.

In German with piano no strings.

And none of Wagner’s Rings.

His voice was of a baritone.

Made me think of a big drone.

I was falling asleep.

She was in ecstasy deep.

She was nice, a good sort.

My mind was saying abort.

I preferred her friend. 

The beauty of an angel.

Soul of a fallen devil.

With a juicy sex appeal.

She did not want me.

I was lanky too scrawny.

She preferred muscle men.

With no brain.

As roses wilt in the sun.

Faster than ever before.

Having painted so much fun.

Unable to do an encore.

I thought Dietrich was dun’.

He came back for one more.

Board of Peace refers to a proposal articulated during the 2025–2026 period and publicly associated with Donald J. Trump’s post-presidential foreign policy platform on Gaza. The initiative was presented as a response to what its proponents described as institutional paralysis within the United Nations system, particularly the Security Council’s inability to agree on a post-conflict governance framework for Gaza.

The 'Board of Peace' vs. International Law

Washington: A “massive armada” of US warships now in the Middle East is ready to strike Iran, President Donald Trump says, as he issued his most direct threat to date for the Islamic Republic to negotiate or face American military action.

A strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was redirected to the region from the Indo-Pacific this month and entered the Middle East at the start of this week. It was reportedly tracked to the coast of Oman on Tuesday, within 1000 kilometres of Iran.

THE SPEECH BY MARK CARNEY IN DAVOS WAS AN EYE OPENER ON WHAT THE DECEIT OF THE WEST HAS BEEN — AND A CON-JOB ON WHAT THE FUTURE SHOULD BE... IT HAS BEEN EXTRAODINARILY WELL RECEIVED AROUND THE WESTERN COUNTRIES AS A "MEA CULPA"... IT IS FAR FROM IT.

YES, THE WEST HAS BEEN LYING WITH ITS SIGN ON THE BANK'S' DOORS THAT "GREED IS GOOD" [CARNEY'S REMARK WAS ABOUT "WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE" IN THE CZECH GREENGROCERS WINDOWS DURING COMMUNISM]... THE DIFFERENCE HERE IS THAT MARK SAID NO-ONE BELIEVED IN THE "WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE" BUT GUS CLAIMS THAT EVERYONE (MOST PEOPLE) STILL BELIEVE IN "GREED IS GOOD"...

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD (Alternative for Germany) party, has given a speech to which every observer of Germany should pay close attention. And not simply because of Weidel’s inherent political weight.

She is among the country’s most important politicians and with serious prospects for very high office: if her New-Right party breaks through to leading a Berlin government, Weidel is the most likely chancellor. Next to her co-chairman Tino Chrupalla, she is the only real opposition that matters inside the current German parliament.

At least someone in Berlin knows the true enemy

The devastation of Israel’s war on Gaza has not spared the besieged strip's cultural heritage and museums, mosques, churches, and archaeological sites have been destroyed or heavily damaged.

As of September, Unesco confirmed damage to 69 cultural heritage sites since the war started on 7 October 2023.

These include 10 religious sites, 43 buildings of historical and artistic interest, two repositories of movable cultural property, six monuments, one museum, and seven archaeological sites.