…The end of the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict is much bigger than the resolution of a disputed border. The impact is sure to reverberate throughout East Africa and beyond. The Greater Horn of Africa has been a region of multiple conflicts, from Somalia to South Sudan, Djibouti, and Sudan. There is a threat of terrorism from al Shabaab in Somalia that spills over into neighboring countries.

Hostilities between Eritrea and Ethiopia have greatly contributed towards destabilizing the region, as former Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and President Isaias both supported the other’s opposition groups and often took opposite sides on regional issues instead of working together. A new government in Ethiopia has brought sweeping changes.

Peace will not be a magic bullet, but it will greatly contribute towards resolving conflicts in the region, as well as across the Red Sea in Yemen. It may also lessen the heavy flow of refugees to Europe that is putting political pressure on governments throughout Europe. Eritrea, with its 1000 kilometers of coastline, two ports, and more than 300 islands along the southern end of the Red Sea, has major strategic importance. This is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, and with global integration and increased trade and investment, the region will continually grow in importance.

With the United States on the sidelines, a number of new international players are now present, including China, Turkey, several Gulf nations, Russia, Egypt, and more. There is also heightened competition for influence in the region due to its strategic importance for trade and security issues.

Mulvaney noted that American taxpayers’ dollars were offered and denied depending on whether the countries in question rejected what he referred to as “Christian values” but specified as opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

Mulvaney stated: “Our US taxpayer dollars are used to discourage Christian values in other democratic countries. It was stunning to me that my government under a previous administration would go to folks in sub-Saharan Africa and say, ‘We know that you have a law against abortion, but if you enforce that law, you’re not going to get any of our money. We know you have a law against gay marriage, but if you enforce that law, we’re not going to give you any money’.”

“That’s a different type of religious persecution… That is a different type of religious persecution that I never expected to see. I never expected to see that as an American Christian. The Obama administration also revoked Gambia’s preferential trade status following what the Associated Press described as an ‘LGBT crackdown.’ A 2015 New York Times report noted that over half a billion dollars were earmarked by the Obama administration for global spending on ‘marginalized groups,’ tens of millions of which went to ‘support gay communities and causes’.”

The reference was to emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta, released by WikiLeaks during the 2016 US presidential campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller has accused the Russian military intelligence service GRU of obtaining the emails by hacking and of using WikiLeaks as a “cutout” to make them public.

US prosecution of Assange would be shameful, McGovern argued, but the real shame would be on those who “profess to believe in a free press but, when push comes to shove, they’re obsequious to the powers that be.”

Former FBI agent and whistleblower Coleen Rowley agreed that going after Assange was shameful, and that the mainstream media clamoring for his head are going against their own self-interest. “They aren’t thinking ahead at all. They will be the next Julian Assanges, as soon as they try to expose any serious wrongdoing,” Rowley told RT America.

If approved by other investors and Facebook management, the proposal would see Zuckerberg removed as chairman of the company with an independent party taking over the position, but Zuckerberg would still remain CEO of the company. The proposal states:

“A CEO who also serves as chair can exert excessive influence on the board and its agenda, weakening the board’s oversight of management. Separating the chair and CEO positions reduces this conflict, and an independent chair provides the clearest separation of power between the CEO and the rest of the board.”

As it alternated between normal readings of 00.1 and 00.2, a monitor display showed that Woodward’s heart patterns were normal and symmetrical. But during times when it spiked to 139.3 – this being the time when the smart meter initiated data transmissions – Woodward’s EKG pattern changed dramatically in response.

In other words, when the smart meter was not sending high amounts of power, Woodward’s EKG readings were normal and natural. But when it kicked into higher output mode, the changes were “massive.”

Senior figures in Australia's Turnbull government have told ABC they believe the US is prepared to bomb Iran's nuclear capability. The bombing could be as early as next month. Crucially, Australia is part of the so-called "Five Eyes" global intelligence partnership which includes the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and plays in a key role in hosting top-secret facilities that guide American spy satellites. 

The report cites high level Aussie government officials who say that secretive Australian defense and intelligence facilities would likely cooperate with the United States and Britain in identifying targets in a strike on Iran. One particular facility, the Pine Gap joint defense facility in the Northern Territory, would play a significant targeting role in joint US-led strikes on Iran, according to the report, it's "considered crucial among the so-called 'Five Eyes' intelligence partners… for its role in directing American spy satellites."

However, though officials speaking to ABC on condition of anonymity say intelligence plans for targeting suspected Iran nuke sites have begun, Australia's foreign ministry is still seeking to avoid war through intense diplomatic efforts. "Australia is urging Iran to be a force for peace and stability in the region," Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told ABC's AM program on Thursday.

The report comes after President Trump's all caps twitter tirade on Sunday which warned Iran to "NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE…"

On paper Israel and China are unlikely close trading partners. China, the world’s second-largest country, is the biggest exporter on the planet. While Israel, a tiny strip of land in the Middle East, is only in 45th place on the global exporting league table. And importantly – Israel has always been a steadfast ally of the US. So given the current trading spat between the US and China, you would expect Israel to be firmly on the American side.

Yet what many people don’t know is that Chinese investment in Israel is continuing to boom, at the same time as a growing number of Israeli firms are entering the Chinese marketplace. So while President Trump is slapping tariffs on Chinese exports and talking tough, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu is happily encouraging his country’s firms to accept Chinese investments, as the figures show.

In 2016 China’s direct investment in Israel almost tripled to $16 billion (£12 billion), according to a report in the South China Morning Post newspaper. Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post predicts that China will overtake the US as the number one source of overseas investment in Israel. “The Pentagon is increasingly worried that artificial intelligence capabilities acquired by Chinese firms through civilian investments or licensing deals could find their way into a new generation of Chinese weapons that would threaten American troops and American allies.”

“The Pentagon is also worried that Israel could become a back door through which China could acquire capabilities that it could not get in the US due to regulatory scrutiny.”

That is unless somehow the International Monetary Fund (IMF) can find a way to mediate an acceptable solution to the two parties.  At the heart of present US-German trade frictions is Germany’s massive external current account surplus. At almost $300 billion, Germany has the world’s largest such surplus. Meanwhile, at almost 8 percent of GDP, Germany’s current account surplus is a large multiple of China’s sub-2 percent-of-GDP surplus.

Given President Trump’s seeming antipathy to international organizations and given Germany’s moral conviction of the correctness of its pursuit of budget balance, I am not holding out much hope that this will happen. Instead I am bracing myself for the US and Germany to sleepwalk their way to a trade war.

Haley then outlined how much Arab and Islamic countries were donating to the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA. In 2017, Haley said, “Iran’s contribution to UNRWA was zero. Algeria’s contribution to UNRWA was zero. Tunisia’s contribution to UNRWA was zero.” “Last year, while Algeria was providing nothing to UNRWA, and Turkey was providing $6.7 million, the United States gave $364 million,” Haley continued. “That’s ten times the combined amounts from every country I just named.”

And the lip service extended beyond matters of finance, Haley said. “Where are the Arab countries when it comes to encouraging reconciliation between Palestinian factions, which is essential to peace?” she asked. “Where are the Arab countries when it comes to denouncing Hamas terrorism? Where are the Arab countries when it comes to supporting compromises that are necessary for peace?”

Claiming that the “Palestinian leadership has been allowed to live in a false reality for too long because Arab leaders are afraid to tell them the truth,” Haley asserted that the “United States is telling them the truth because we care about the Palestinian people.”

At the same time, a “sweeping Pentagon review” of special ops missions on the continent may result in drastic cuts in the number of commandos operating there. US Africa Command has apparently been asked to consider the impact on counterterrorism operations of cutting the number of Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and other commandos by 25 percent over 18 months and 50 percent over three years.

While media reports have focused on the possibility of imminent reductions, the number of commandos deployed in Africa is nonetheless up 96 percent since 2014 and remains fundamentally unchanged since the deadly 2017 ambush in Niger.