Author

admin

Browsing

Sranan Gold Corp. (CSE: SRAN) (FSE: P84) (Tradegate: P84) (‘Sranan’ or the ‘Company’) announces the commencement of its diamond drilling program for the Tapanahony Project in Suriname. Sranan’s drilling on the Randy trend is based on the positive drill results by Iamgold in 2012, small-scale mining by local community members, geologic and Lidar interpretation, and the results reported in recent news releases on high-grade grab samples from new shafts at Randy’s Pit (76.6 grams per tonne (gt) and 23.7 gt gold – see news release dated July 31, 2025) and trench channel samples of 5 metres of 36.7 gt gold (see news release dated August 7, 2025).

Sranan plans to validate the results of historical drilling by Iamgold since no core was preserved, and logs are missing structural and lithologic data. The Company is leveraging its team’s experience in the structural controls on mineralization gained from other gold projects in the Guiana Shield, and is using oriented core to better understand shear and vein orientation. Drill samples are being logged, photographed and cut using standard operating and QA/QC procedures. The first samples will be shipped soon as they are logged and sampled.

Figure 1: Recent drone image looking north showing hole 25RADD-001 in relation to channel 25RACH-001 and the shafts within the north end of Randy’s Pit.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10997/262263_srananimage.jpg

Dr. Dennis LaPoint, Executive VP of Exploration and Corporate Development, commented: ‘The drone image is an excellent figure to illustrate the potential of the Randy trend. The shafts with grab samples up to 6.5 g/t gold have been overlooked by Iamgold and the local miners, and the area of trench 25RACH-001 has not been prospected. We look forward to conducting systematic diamond drilling to test the strike and depth of the Randy trend.’

The Company will provide updates on results from the drilling program as they become available.

About Sranan Gold

Sranan Gold Corp. is engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property assets in Suriname. The highly prospective Tapanahony Project is in the heart of Suriname’s modern-day gold rush. Tapanahony covers 29,000 hectares in one of the oldest and largest small-scale mining areas in Suriname.

Sranan Gold also owns the Aida Property consisting of five mineral claims covering an area of 2,335.42 hectares on the Shuswap Highland within the Kamloops Mining Division.

For more information, visit sranangold.com.

Qualified Person

Dr. Dennis J. LaPoint, Ph.D., P.Geo. a ‘qualified person’ as defined under National Instrument 43‐101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this release. Dr. LaPoint is not independent of Sranan Gold, as he is the Company’s Executive VP of Exploration and Corporate Development.

Information contact
Oscar Louzada, CEO
+31 6 25438975

THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE HAS NOT APPROVED NOR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENT OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this release constitute ‘forward-looking statements’ or ‘forward-looking information’ within the meaning of applicable securities laws including, without limitation, the timing, nature, scope and details regarding the Company’s exploration plans and results at its projects. Such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, its projects, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as ‘may’, ‘would’, ‘could’, ‘will’, ‘intend’, ‘expect’, ‘believe’, ‘plan’, ‘anticipate’, ‘estimate’, ‘scheduled’, ‘forecast’, ‘predict’ and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results ‘may’, ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘might’ or ‘will’ be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the company’s current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this release. Further details about the risks applicable to the Company are contained in the Company’s public filings available on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca), under the Company’s profile.

Forward-looking statements and information contained herein are based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and other matters. While the Company considers its assumptions to be reasonable as of the date hereof, forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue importance on such statements as actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or information except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/262263

News Provided by Newsfile via QuoteMedia

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Here’s a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Wednesday (August 13) as of 9:00 a.m. UTC.

Get the latest insights on Bitcoin, Ethereum and altcoins, along with a round-up of key cryptocurrency market news.

Bitcoin and Ethereum price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$120,352, up by 1.5 percent over the last 24 hours. Its lowest valuation on Wednesday was $118,319, and its highest price was US$120,417.

Bitcoin price performance, August 13, 2025.

Chart via TradingView

Meanwhile, Ethereum continues to surge as it continues its weekend rally, up by over 9 percent at US$4,692.35. Its lowest valuation on Wednesday was US$4,265.81, and its highest was US$4,699.76.

Altcoin price update

  • Solana (SOL) was priced at US$201.23, up by 15.2 percent over 24 hours. Its lowest valuation for the day was US$174.20, and its highest price was US$201.58.
  • XRP was trading for US$3.29, up 5.2 percent in the past 24 hours and at its highest valuation of the day. Its lowest was US$3.12.
  • Sui (SUI) was trading at US$4.04, up by 11.7 percent over the past 24 hours. Its lowest valuation of the day was US$3.62 and its highest level was US$4.05.
  • Cardano (ADA) was trading at US$0.8755, up by 13.5 percent over 24 hours. Its lowest valuation on Wednesday was US$0.7682 and its highest was US$0.8828.

Today’s crypto news to know

World Liberty Financial sets up US$1.5B crypto treasury

World Liberty Financial, a digital asset venture backed by Donald Trump and his sons, has announced plans to establish a US$1.5 billion “crypto treasury” in partnership with Nasdaq-listed blockchain firm ALT5 Sigma.

Under the deal, ALT5 will sell US$1.5 billion worth of shares, half of which will be paid for in World Liberty Financial’s in-house token, $WLFI. The remaining funds will go toward purchasing $WLFI on the market, settling litigation, paying down debt, and other corporate uses.

The company says unnamed institutional investors and venture capital firms have participated in the share sale. Crypto treasury models have grown in popularity this year amid a friendlier US regulatory stance under Trump’s administration.

The project’s leadership is heavily tied to the Trump family, with Donald Trump listed as “co-founder emeritus” and Eric, Donald Jr., and Barron Trump holding co-founder titles.

As part of the arrangement, Eric Trump will join ALT5’s board and Zach Witkoff will serve as its chair.

Ethereum approaches all-time high on institutional buying surge

Ethereum (ETH) continues its weekend run, currently trading within the US$4,300–US$4,400 range and closing in on its November 2021 record high of US$4,878.

Analysts attribute the rally to strong technical momentum, reduced exchange supply, and a surge in institutional investment.

On August 8, ETH exchange-traded funds saw US$460 million in inflows, surpassing Bitcoin’s US$400 million on the same day. ETF and treasury-owned ETH holdings have risen from YS$24 billion in July to US$33 billion, driving available supply on exchanges to its lowest since 2016.

Investment firm BlackRock reportedly purchased over $12 billion worth of ETH on August 12, while Bitmine Immersion is seeking US$20 billion to acquire more, according to SEC filings.

While some analysts expect ETH to test its all-time high imminently, others caution that a pullback in September is likely.

Bullish raises US$1.1B in oversubscribed IPO

Crypto exchange operator Bullish has completed a US$1.1 billion initial public offering, pricing its 30 million shares at US$37 each and above the marketed range.

The higher pricing gives the firm a market capitalization of roughly US$5.4 billion, based on SEC filings. The IPO, which was more than 20 times oversubscribed, drew interest from major investors including BlackRock and ARK Investment, which together considered buying up to US$200 million in shares.

Bullish had previously abandoned a 2021 SPAC merger that would have valued it at US$9 billion, but has since positioned itself as an institutional-grade platform offering spot, margin, and derivatives trading.

The exchange’s largest shareholders after the offering will be co-founder and Block.one CEO Brendan Blumer with 30.1 percent, and board member Kokuei Yuan with 26.7 percent.

The IPO was led by JPMorgan, Jefferies, and Citigroup, with the company set to debut on the NYSE under the ticker BLSH.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Lithium prices and mining stocks around the world soared this week after Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) (SZSE:300750,HKEX:3750) suspended operations at one of the world’s largest lithium mines.

The halt at the Jianxiawo lepidolite mine in Jiangxi province’s Yichun city, a hub for China’s lithium production, came after the mine’s permit expired on August 9.

CATL confirmed the closure on Monday (August 11), saying it is seeking a permit extension but offering no timeline for resuming output. The shutdown will last at least three months, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg.

The mine produces around 65,000 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) annually, equivalent to roughly 6 percent of global output, according to estimates.

That makes the stoppage one of the most significant supply interruptions in recent years for a metal central to electric vehicle (EV) batteries, grid storage, and consumer electronics.

The most-active lithium carbonate futures contract on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GFEX) jumped the daily limit of 8 percent on Monday (August 11), closing at 81,000 yuan (US$11,280) per ton for November delivery.

Meanwhile, spot prices in China also climbed, with Asian Metal reporting a 3 percent increase to 75,500 yuan per ton, the highest margin since February.

On the Liyang Zhonglianjin E-Commerce platform, November delivery prices surged over 10,000 yuan to around 85,500 yuan per ton.

Chandler Wu, senior analyst for battery raw materials at Fastmarkets, estimated that the shutdown would cut about 5,000 tons of LCE from China’s monthly output.

Market sentiment had been building for weeks amid speculation the mine’s license might not be renewed. By Wednesday, contracts on the GFEX were already posting sharp gains, with sellers in the spot market pushing up offers in line with futures prices.

Global mining stocks rally

The supply shock sent lithium miners’ shares higher from Sydney to New York.

In the US, Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) jumped more than 15 percent, Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) by 13 percent, and Chile’s SQM (NYSE:SQM) by 12 percent.

Australian producers saw similar gains: Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS,OTC Pink:PILBF) climbed up to 20 percent, Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR,OTC Pink:LINRF), surged 25 percent, and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN,OTC Pink:MALRF) advanced 14 percent.

Analysts say the suspension may be linked to Beijing’s “anti-involution” campaign — an initiative aimed at curbing overcapacity and promoting more sustainable production across industries.

The policy theme has recently swept China’s financial markets and affected sectors from steelmaking to e-commerce and EVs.

China has been the world’s top processor of lithium for years. CATL, the world’s largest battery maker, has also aggressively invested in raw material supply chains to secure long-term access to critical minerals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt.

That vertical integration has helped China dominate the global EV market, but it has also contributed to oversupply concerns in the lithium sector.

CATL emphasized that the Jianxiawo shutdown would have “little impact” on its overall operations.

Even so, traders warn that the effects could be far-reaching if the suspension extends beyond Jianxiawo. Local authorities in Yichun have reportedly asked eight other miners to submit reserve reports by the end of September after audits revealed non-compliance in registration and approvals.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Elon Musk on Monday threatened Apple with legal action over alleged antitrust violations related to rankings of the Grok AI chatbot app, which is owned by his artificial intelligence startup xAI.

“Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action,” Musk wrote in a post on his social media platform X.

Apple declined to comment on Musk’s threat.

“Why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your ‘Must Have’ section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps? Are you playing politics?” Musk said in another post.

Apple last year partnered with OpenAI to integrate its ChatGPT chatbot into iPhone, iPad, Mac laptop and desktop products. Musk at the time said: “If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation.”

Prior to his legal threats against Apple, Musk had celebrated Grok surpassing Google as the fifth top free app on the App Store. When contacted by CNBC, xAI did not immediately respond to a request for further information on a potential lawsuit.

CNBC confirmed that ChatGPT was ranked No. 1 in the top free apps section of the American iOS store, and was the only AI chatbot in Apple’s “Must-Have Apps” section. The App Store also featured a link to download OpenAI’s new flagship AI model, ChatGPT-5 at the top of its “Apps” section.

OpenAI on Thursday announced GPT-5, its latest and most advanced large-scale AI model, following xAI’s release of its newest chatbot, Grok 4, last month.

Musk has an ongoing feud with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which he co-founded in 2015. The billionaire stepped down from its board in 2018, four years after saying that AI was “potentially more dangerous than nukes.”

He is now suing the Microsoft-backed startup, and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging they abandoned OpenAI’s founding mission to develop artificial intelligence “for the benefit of humanity broadly.”

Robert Keele, who headed the legal department at xAI, announced last week that he had left the company to spend more time with his family. In his announcement, Keele also acknowledged “daylight between our worldviews,” referring to Musk.

In response to Musk’s antitrust threats against Apple, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in an X post: “This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”

This is not the first time Apple has been challenged on antitrust grounds. In a landmark case, the Department of Justice last year sued the company over charges of running an iPhone ecosystem monopoly.

In June, a panel of judges also denied an emergency application from Apple to halt the changes to its App Store resulting from a ruling that the company could no longer charge a commission on payment links inside its apps, nor tell developers how the links should look.

— CNBC’s Kif Leswing and Lora Kolodny contributed to this article.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

President Donald Trump has renewed his call for Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, to undergo a cognitive test. 

”Congresswoman’ Jasmine Crockett is a Low (Very!!!) I.Q. Individual, much in the mold of the AOC Plus Three Gang of Country Destroying Morons – Only slightly dumber,’ Trump wrote on TRUTH Social on Monday. 

‘Each of these political hacks should be forced to take a Cognitive Exam, much like the one I recently took while getting my ‘physical’ at our GREAT Washington, D.C., Military Hospital (WR!),’ Trump said. ‘As the doctors said, ‘President Trump ACED it, something that is rarely seen!’ These Radical Left Lunatics would all fail this test in a spectacular show of stupidity and incompetence. TAKE THE TEST!!!

Trump previously said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., should take a cognitive test in June when the progressive ‘Squad’ leader demanded his impeachment over the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. 

Meanwhile, as the White House pushes Republican states to redistrict mid-cycle ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Crockett has accused Trump of pushing a ‘white supremacy agenda’ and ‘diluting the voices of people of color.’ The Trump administration asserts that Democratic states have engaged in ‘gerrymandering’ for years and encouraged illegal immigration to boost their congressional influence. 

In Texas, Democratic state lawmakers fled the state in an effort to stop the vote on a GOP redistricting plan that likely would have resulted in Republicans picking up five House seats. 

Crockett has accused Trump of hurling the low IQ insult as a racially-coded tactic to insult ‘people of color,’ including ‘The Breakfast Club’ host Charlamagne tha God. 

‘Newsflash, Wannabe Dictator: I don’t care how many times you shake the Etch A Sketch trying to redraw these lines,’ Crockett wrote on X last week. ‘I’m not disappearing. I’ll be back, still on your behind every step of the way. We’ve already been over this. I’ve got the degrees, the credentials, and the receipts. If you’re looking for ‘low IQ,’ try looking in the mirror – or at your own Cabinet.’ 

Despite the president describing her as having a low IQ, Crockett said Trump has the ‘most incompetent Cabinet in the history of this country,’ referring to the Signal-gate scandal earlier this year. 

Crockett has also dubbed Trump a ‘Temu dictator.’ At a progressive rally in Phoenix, Arizona, earlier this month, the congresswoman said on stage, ‘Donald Trump is a piece of sh–.’ 

‘This is a person who has a problem with people of color. Period,’ she told CNN. ‘I don’t care how many Black MAGA [are] out there with [their] hats, I want to be clear, when we look at who it is that he’s kicking out of this country, it’s people of color.’ 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

President Donald Trump took aim at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a press event on Monday over his frustration with the Ukrainian leader’s objection to ‘land swapping.’

‘I get along with Zelenskyy, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done, very, very severely, disagree. This is a war that should have never happened,’ Trump said, reiterating his belief that the Ukrainian president is in part at fault for Russia’s illegal 2022 invasion.

‘I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelensky was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval’,’ Trump said. ‘I mean, he’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap, because there’ll be some land swapping going on.’

‘I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody,’ Trump added, noting it was ‘for the good of Ukraine.’

Zelenskyy – who did not declare war on Russia, as Moscow had already invaded, did declare Martial Law on Feb. 24, 2022 with the approval of Ukraine’s parliament, which gave him presidential powers to mobilize a military response — made clear over the weekend that he objected to Trump’s ‘land swapping’ proposal and has repeatedly said it would require a national referendum under the nation’s constitution, not a unilateral decision by him. 

Trump wouldn’t detail what exactly he hopes to get out of the meeting with Putin and described it as a ‘feel-out meeting,’ saying within ‘the first two minutes [he’ll] know exactly whether or not a deal can be made.’

‘I’m going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I’m going to be telling him, you got to end this war, you got to end it,’ Trump said, reiterating his belief that if he had won the 2020 election, Putin wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine, saying ‘he wasn’t going to mess with me.’

‘I go into that thing fully loaded right up there, and we’re going to see what happens,’ he continued. ‘It could be a good meeting, and we’ll go a step further. We’ll get it done. 

‘I’d like to see a ceasefire very, very quickly, very quick,’ he continued. ‘And, we’re going to be dealing with the European leaders and, we’re going to be dealing with President Zelensky and hopefully we’re going to have a great success.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

A Democratic whistleblower told the FBI that Adam Schiff approved leaking classified information in order to discredit President Donald Trump, according to newly-released documents.

The documents, which were obtained by Just The News, were recently handed over to Congress by FBI Director Kash Patel. 

The whistleblower reportedly worked for Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee for over ten years, and reported Schiff’s alleged behavior to the FBI in 2017.

According to the report, the intelligence staffer called the leaking ‘treasonous’ and ‘illegal,’ in addition to being unethical. He was most recently interviewed by the FBI in 2023.

The staffer also said that he personally attended a meeting where Schiff greenlit the leak.

‘When working in this capacity, [redacted staffer’s name] was called to an all-staff meeting by SCHIFF,’ the documents state, per Just The News. 

‘In this meeting, SCHIFF stated the group would leak classified information which was derogatory to President of the United States DONALD J. TRUMP. SCHIFF stated the information would be used to indict President TRUMP.’

‘[The whistleblower] stated this would be illegal and, upon hearing his concerns, unnamed members of the meeting reassured that they would not be caught leaking classified information,’ the report added.

John Solomon, who co-authored the piece with Just The News’ Jerry Dunleavy, appeared on Fox News Channel’s ‘Hannity’ to discuss the report.

‘This is the first of several major leak investigations we’re going to see over the next several days,’ Solomon said. ‘You’re going to see other major people that were clearly identified by the FBI, having leaked classified secrets.’

‘Their own staff turned them in when interviewed by the FBI. Nothing, again, happened,’ he added. ‘It’s a common pattern. The question now is, in Donald Trump’s Justice Department, does that dynamic change?’

Soon after the report was published, Patel shared it on X, saying that the FBI ‘found it [and] declassified it.’

‘Now Congress can see how classified info was leaked to shape political narratives – and decide if our institutions were weaponized against the American people,’ Patel’s post read.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Curto contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

In a lengthy and beautifully crafted address on Independence Day, July 4, 1821, then-President John Quincy Adams delivered an extraordinarily detailed and learned lesson on the founding of America. It’s one that still deserves repeated and close reading — though much of it will simply not be understood by most Americans today, for it is dense in references to history no longer taught widely in the United States. 

Adams’ most memorable sentences are often quoted:

‘[America] has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations while asserting and maintaining her own. She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when the conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart. She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that Aceldama the European world, will be contests of inveterate power, and emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence, has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example.’

The declamation that America ‘goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy’ is a favorite text of both the pre-World Wars One and Two isolationists in America, but of course both global conflicts reached out and drew the United States into them. 

Now, far, far more than in 1917 and 1941, the assumptions of our sixth president simply no longer apply. 

There is no longer any ‘abroad.’ 

The idea of an ‘abroad’ about which Americans could be either indifferent or at most the subject of a distant approval or remote scorn, is dead.

To repeat: There is no such thing as ‘abroad.’ 

Not even remotely. 

What remained of the concept after Pearl Harbor was shattered by Sputnik in 1957, and then by successive generations of missile technology.  With the rise of hypersonic missiles only fools would believe that there is an ‘abroad’ anywhere on the globe that the United States can disregard. 

Beijing’s hypersonic arsenal can reach Washington, D.C. in two hours or less, and that margin is going to shrink rapidly. Russia’s hypersonic missiles can reach the lower 48 even sooner and Alaska in a blink. 

Other nations will inevitably add to the number of potential adversaries that can change the world via hypersonic missilery and wreck enormous, perhaps Republic-ending damage on the country. 

Of course, America possesses a ‘second strike’ capability deep under the seas in our Ohio-class submarines, and even an enormous fusillade of thousands of hypersonic missiles would be unlikely to cripple all of our B-2s and B-21s or ever missile silo. The United States would take down with it all of the evil powers that combined to strike it first, just as it did from 1941 to 1945. 

But there would be no ‘Marshall Plan’ waiting for anyone or any country on the other side of such an unimaginable catastrophe. Thus it must be deterred. Deterrence is only accomplished by the reality of American military power and the military power of the allies on which it can rely.

To repeat a third time: There is no ‘abroad.’ 

This very dangerous word will only grow more so with the years. President Trump’s decision to destroy the Iranian nuclear weapons program alongside Israel’s blows against that fanatical theocracy’s ballistic missile capability shielded the entire world from the most unstable and terror-addicted regime in the world obtaining the ability to threaten all of the West and beyond with Armageddon. 

For a time, at least, the precise and purposeful application of American military force to the missile and nuclear arsenal of an enemy on the brink of ‘breakout’ kept the number of nuclear powers stable. 

Bravo, President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Whatever criticisms come their way on whatever other subject, the most important mission of their careers is complete. (Though both men may be obliged by the fanatics in Tehran to do it again.)

The West still has enemies, of course, and the most formidable one is the Chinese Communist Party that dominates the People’s Republic of China, and its ruthless leader, Xi Jinping. Xi and the CCP are followed in second place by Xi’s equally ruthless if not quite as powerful ally in Putin’s Russia, not to mention the unstable nuclear powers of North Korea and Pakistan. 

The West’s nuclear arsenal —distributed among our allies Great Britain and France and especially alongside that of Israel and our sometimes friend India— combines with our own prodigious, yet in-need-of-modernization nuclear arsenal to hold the most dangerous enemies at bay. 

There are only four actual superpowers in the world —the quartet of nations that can project nuclear power far beyond their borders and which possess intelligence and espionage capabilities that are unmatched except by each other’s capabilities: The United States and Israel on the side of the West and the PRC and Russia on the side of despotism. All others in the ‘nuclear club’ have limitations imposed by their own chaotic domestic politics or lack of deliverable firepower and the will to use it. 

That’s national security realism in a nutshell. 

When two of the leaders of any of these four nations meet, it is a significant occasion. It is a very good thing that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu have met three times in 2025 and have spoken far more frequently than that. 

Xi and Putin have only met in person twice in this year, but their ‘partnership’ is very close even though Xi is to Putin as Trump is to Netanyahu: the senior partners to their powerful but not nearly as powerful junior partners. 

This is the basic geopolitical structure of the world and only with that understanding of reality can analysts judge what President Trump gets out of his meeting with the Russian tyrant this week —if anything is even made public afterward. It will take months, if not years, to assess what happens this week. 

Putin has attempted to play every American president since Bill Clinton, sometimes successfully, sometimes fooling them only for a time. The temptation to ‘strike a deal’ with Putin is the same as the apple on the forbidden tree in Genesis. That way lies ruin. But sizing up the tree and the apple at close range can have benefits. 

President Trump has met with Putin six times prior to this week and has spoken with him often. The real estate developer-turned-television force-turned president has as much of the skills set anyone could have to deal with such a stone-cold killer as Putin. Trump survived not just two assassination attempts in 2024 but years of lawfare preceded by the plots of the permanent left embedded in our vast administrative state during his first term. 

Trump is as tough and as resilient as any president since Richard Nixon. There will be no hot mic whisperings of weakness, nor will there be blunt assessments spoken like that of former Vice President Dick Cheney: ‘[W]hat I see [in Putin is] a KGB colonel.’

Trump is a realist, just like his friend of old from New York in the 1980s and early 1990s, RN. Trump is as tough as W standing in the ruins of the Twin Towers, as tough as the genuine war hero H.W., as tough as Reagan, Ford and Ike. 

If Trump can bring an end to the savagery underway in Ukraine on terms acceptable to President Zelensky, it will be an achievement greater than his interventions to stop the hostilities between India and Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, Thailand and Cambodia and last week’s peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.   

Trump’s destruction of the Iranian nuclear program is the biggest building block of his legacy, rivaled only by the Abraham Accords.  If he can bring a ceasefire to Central Europe that is acceptable to our allies and the Ukrainian people, it will be the third pillar of his legacy, with the fourth —the rebuilding of the American military into so potent a force that no one, not even China’s Xi, dares to risk a confrontation with us— as his fourth. On top of those four pillars can rest an era of prosperity and renewed American growth and innovation. 

If anyone is hoping for the president to fail in this endeavor as described, they are not patriots but partisans blind to the realities of the world. There are a lot of those sorts of partisans in the U.S., and increasingly our NATO allies are showing themselves to be unreliable. 

Like it or not, the near-term security prospects of the West rest on Trump, and serious people must prefer that to the infirmities of President Biden or the illusions of President Obama. 

Trump has confidence in his own abilities and serious analysts of realpolitik should too. At this point, after ‘Midnight Hammer’ and the other ceasefires, after all of the decade since he came down the escalator, there is very good reason to believe he can achieve as much as any other American at the table with Putin. Anyone hoping for his failure should assess their own mental health. It is in the interests of everyone on the planet that knows no ‘abroads’ that stability break out everywhere, beginning in Alaska this week. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Senate Democrats have undergone a steady tonal shift on Israel, with a recent vote to block arms sales to the Jewish State giving a glimpse at the evolution on the Hill.

More Democrats in the upper chamber than ever before voted alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to halt the $675 million sale of thousands of bombs and guidance kits for the bombs and to block the sale of automatic rifles to Israel.

Sanders’ push ultimately failed late last month, but over half of all Senate Democrats voted alongside him, with many voting with him for the first time. Meanwhile, all Senate Republicans voted against them.

‘The tide is turning,’ Sanders, who routinely caucuses with Democrats, said in a statement. ‘The American people do not want to spend billions to starve children in Gaza. The Democrats are moving forward on this issue, and I look forward to Republican support in the near future.’

Getting Republicans on board for future attempts, as Sanders hoped would happen, is a stretch at best.

‘Republicans stand with Israel,’ Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch, R-Idaho, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

‘Senator Sanders’ resolution to block arms sales would have reinstated the failed policies of the Biden administration and would abandon America’s closest ally in the Middle East,’ he continued. ‘We can’t afford to go back there.’

But the change within the Democratic caucus was likely spurred by the release of photos of starving children in the Gaza Strip, which earned shocked reactions from both lawmakers and President Donald Trump.

Many Democrats have pinned the blame on Israel and argued that the Jewish state has put a chokehold on aid that is meant for civilians in Gaza, while Republicans contend that the terrorist organization Hamas is stealing the food.

‘What’s going on is unacceptable, and Israel has the power to fix it,’ Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told Fox News Digital.

Like Sanders, King typically caucuses with Senate Democrats. But unlike his fellow Independent colleague, he has routinely stood firm in his support of Israel. But the photos and reports of widespread malnutrition prompted him to vote to block arms sales.

‘Israel’s the one that’s not letting the aid get in,’ he said. ‘The humanitarian response is entirely within Israel’s hands, and they’ve been blocking, slowing, starting and stopping, to the point where I just could no longer stand silent.’

And like King, Sen. Jean Shaheen, the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, changed course and voted in favor of blocking arms sales out of concern that food aid was not making its way to Palestinians.

‘I think it’s important to send the message to Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his government that things need to change,’ the New Hampshire Democrat said in an interview with PBS Newshour.

But Republicans charged that it was not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fault that food aid was not making its way into Gaza, and instead believed that it was Hamas stealing the food.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said that Israel wants to make sure that the food aid actually makes it to civilians in Hamas.

‘Israel and the US have cut out, cut off most of Hamas’ cash flow,’ Kennedy said. ‘And a lot of their cash flows depends on stealing the food and selling it, sometimes to their own people, absorbing the prices.’

And not every Senate Democrat is on the same page when it comes to their position on the Jewish State.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has routinely slammed Democrats for criticizing Israel, and believed that his party was moving further away from his position.

‘What I really fundamentally believe, there’s been a wholesale shift, even within my party, to blame Israel for the situations and the circumstances overall,’ Fetterman told Fox News Digital. ‘And I don’t really understand. It’s like we’ve seen the same pictures and, of course, what’s happened in Gaza is devastating.’

‘But so, for me, I blame Hamas and Iran,’ he continued. ‘And I don’t know why there’s not like a collective global outrage.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s Democratic mayoral nominee, continued his ‘Five Boroughs Against Trump’ tour in Brooklyn on Tuesday, as President Donald Trump’s agenda continues to take center stage on the New York City campaign trail. 

Speaking at the Flatbush Gardens Community Center, Mamdani’s second anti-Trump event of the week was focused on housing, a hot-button issue in the New York City mayoral race as former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has spent days criticizing Mamdani’s rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria. 

‘We must remember that Andrew Cuomo has spent more time talking about my apartment than asking why so many New Yorkers are being forced out of theirs. He has spent more time criticizing me than he has in criticizing the legislation that Donald Trump has passed,’ Mamdani said on Tuesday. 

Mamdani began his week-long tour alongside Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., in Manhattan on Monday morning. After visiting Brooklyn on Tuesday, Mamdani will travel to Staten Island on Wednesday, the Bronx on Thursday and Queens on Friday, Fox News confirmed. 

The 33-year-old self-described socialist’s tour is a rejection of the Trump administration’s sweeping second-term agenda and his so-called ‘authoritarian’ attack on working New Yorkers, with Tuesday’s event focused on housing.

‘While housing experts are ringing the alarm, Andrew Cuomo is ringing Donald Trump,’ Mamdani said. 

During Mamdani’s events on Monday and Tuesday, reporters peppered the 33-year-old socialist candidate with questions about Cuomo’s latest policy proposal – ‘Zohran’s law.’

The former governor, who lost the Democratic mayoral primary to Mamdani in June, began trolling the assemblyman over the weekend with an edited video of Mamdani admitting he pays ‘$2,300 for my one bedroom in Astoria.’

‘Rent-stabilized apartments when they’re vacant should only be rented to people who need affordable housing, not people like Zohran Mamdani,’ Cuomo told reporters in a video posted on social media

Cuomo said ‘Zohran’s law’ was designed to prevent high-income individuals from occupying rent-stabilized apartments.

But Mamdani fired back at Cuomo’s criticism on Tuesday, telling reporters, ‘It pains me to say that in our disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s mind, these units, these buildings, these tenants are but a political pawn.’

Chief among Mamdani’s now-infamous progressive policy proposals is his commitment to freezing rents. 

‘As Mayor, Zohran will immediately freeze the rent for all stabilized tenants, and use every available resource to build the housing New Yorkers need and bring down the rent,’ according to Mamdani’s campaign website. 

Mamdani has accused incumbent Mayor Eric Adams of appointing Rent Guidelines Board members to raise rents on stabilized apartments. While landlords and advocates argue the freeze would be illegal, Mamdani can accomplish this goal by appointing members to the board who wouldn’t vote to increase the rent. 

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s board voted to freeze the rent three times during his tenure. 

Cuomo had previously called the democratic socialist’s plan to freeze rent a ‘politically convenient posture,’ and said such a move would hurt landlords who would be ‘unable to maintain their buildings.’

As Cuomo’s fiery social media posts about Mamdani’s rent-controlled apartment made the rounds, de Blasio – who has yet to endorse a candidate in the race to run the nation’s most populous city – fired back at his former governor. 

‘I did a rent freeze and almost 2 million hard-working New Yorkers benefited. @ZohranKMamdani wants to do a rent freeze. You know who doesn’t want to do a rent freeze? @andrewcuomo, and he thinks he can trick us into forgetting that,’ de Blasio trolled on X.

During the first stop on his anti-Trump tour on Monday, Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s freshly proposed law ‘that will keep the rich out of New York’s affordable housing.’

‘What do we know about this policy proposal beyond the fact that it seeks to evict me from my apartment?’ Mamdani questioned on Monday.

‘Like so much of Andrew Cuomo’s politics, it is characterized by a petty vindictiveness. It leaves far more questions than it has answers. How many New Yorkers would this apply to? How many New Yorkers would be evicted from their apartments? How many New Yorkers would have their lives upended by a former governor who is responding to the fact that he was handily beaten by a tenant of a rent-stabilized apartment?’ Mamdani asked. 

‘I live rent-free in his head,’ Mamdani trolled Cuomo, arguing that he had many years to implement such policies as governor but is now only focused on trying to reckon with a ‘political defeat.’ 

Soon after Mamdani’s criticism, the Cuomo campaign unveiled his proposal to protect rent-stabilized apartments from being occupied by high-income individuals. 

‘Under Cuomo’s proposal, when a rent-stabilized apartment becomes vacant, the incoming individual income would be capped so that the annual rent makes up at least 30 percent of that income. For example, if an apartment rents for $2,500 a month ($30,000 per year), the new tenant’s income could not exceed $100,000,’ according to the plan. 

The Cuomo campaign also clarified that ‘Zohran’s law’ would only apply to vacant apartments. 

Mamdani poured cold water on Cuomo’s plan during the press conference on Tuesday, telling reporters, ‘What is so absurd to me about Andrew Cuomo’s proposal is that it wouldn’t even apply to me. The way that he has put forward this language does not actually apply to me, and yet he uses my name in it.’

When reached for comment regarding Mamdani’s anti-Trump tour, White House spokeswoman, Abigail Jackson, told Fox News Digital, ‘Comrade Mamdani is the American people’s worst nightmare. His communist policies will crater our economy, increase crime, crowd out Americans with free health care for illegal immigrants, and defund the brave men and women of law enforcement who keep us safe.’

The White House added that ‘Mamdani’s idea of ‘immigration reform’ is no borders and amnesty for all the violent criminal illegal aliens that Joe Biden released into our country. The American people have repeatedly rejected this Communist agenda and the more Mamdani shares his radical policies, the more the American people will recoil.’ 

Fox News’ Marly Carroll and Bryan Llenas contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS