Tillerson’s stealth diplomacy in Qatar, host to largest U.S. overseas air base

Tillerson’s stealth diplomacy in Qatar, host to largest U.S. overseas air base

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― We hear so often about tight U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia that we forget the Saudis kicked out the last U.S. troops in the early 2000’s. Seems they regarded the U.S. presence as an affront to Islam more than a decade after U.S. forces drove Saddam Hussein’s […]

Senators call on Tillerson to declare Iran non-compliant with nuke deal

Senators call on Tillerson to declare Iran non-compliant with nuke deal

by WorldTribune Staff, July 13, 2017 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson must halt the Obama-era policy of “offering sheepish and faint-hearted certifications” of Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal it signed with world powers, four Republican senators said in a letter to Tillerson on July 11. Declaring Iran non-compliant with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of […]

Tillerson: Russia will decide Assad’s fate in post-war Syria

Tillerson: Russia will decide Assad’s fate in post-war Syria

by WorldTribune Staff, July 5, 2017 The United States will focus on defeating Islamic State (ISIS) and defer to Russia when the time comes to decide Syrian President Bashar Assad’s fate, a report said. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a private State Department meeting last week that Russia is […]

White House signals frustration with China on North Korea, human trafficking

White House signals frustration with China on North Korea, human trafficking

by WorldTribune Staff, June 28, 2017 While U.S. President Donald Trump continues to press China to rein in North Korea, the State Department on June 27 called out Beijing on its human rights record. “China was downgraded to Tier 3 action in this year’s report (on human trafficking) in part because it has not taken […]

Regime change: Momentum building for new U.S. Iran policy

Regime change: Momentum building for new U.S. Iran policy

by WorldTribune Staff, June 26, 2017 Last week, Iran filed a formal protest to comments Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made earlier this month in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. Tillerson said the administration would support “a philosophy of regime change” for Iran. Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican agrees saying it should become official U.S. […]

Congress to request probe of China pressure on VOA; Rubio challenges budget cut

Congress to request probe of China pressure on VOA; Rubio challenges budget cut

by WorldTribune Staff, June 15, 2017 Congress is “putting together a formal request” for an investigation into whether China pressured Voice of American (VOA) to cut off a live broadcast of an exiled Chinese businessman who has attempted to expose what he says is corruption in Beijing’s leadership. The April 19 interview with Guo Wengui […]

Leading from the front: Trump, not China, mobilizes key Asian states on N. Korea crisis

Leading from the front: Trump, not China, mobilizes key Asian states on N. Korea crisis

by WorldTribune Staff, May 1, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump is reaching out to leaders of Asian states to ensure “that we have everyone in line backing up a plan of action” to solve the North Korea crisis, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said. Priebus said Trump was in regular contact with Japanese […]

Tillerson: Iran deal failed in key denuclearization objective

Tillerson: Iran deal failed in key denuclearization objective

by WorldTribune Staff, April 20, 2017 “Buying off” Iran with a flawed nuclear deal was not “a prudent way” to be deal with the Islamic Republic, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. The deal pushed by former President Barack Obama “fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran,” and only delays it becoming […]

As N. Korea threatens nuclear attacks, U.S. calls on China ‘to take additional steps’

As N. Korea threatens nuclear attacks, U.S. calls on China ‘to take additional steps’

by WorldTribune Staff, April 11, 2017 As North Korea warned it has its “nuclear sight focused” on the United States, the Trump administration said it has called on China “to take additional steps” to rein in the Kim Jong-Un regime. President Donald Trump tweeted on April 11: “I explained to the President of China that […]

National security team unified on attack from U.S. missile destroyers that killed 7

National security team unified on attack from U.S. missile destroyers that killed 7

by WorldTribune Staff, April 7, 2017 A little more than 24 hours after convening his National Security Council (NSC), President Donald Trump ordered the missile strike on an airfield from which Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces had earlier in the week launched a chemical weapons attack. “Everybody agreed that this was the option that they […]