Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

Hungary is now the safest country in Europe because of Viktor Orbán’s leadership and its commitment to diplomacy over war, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó declared on Sunday, announcing that Budapest is preparing to host a peace summit agreed by the American and Russian presidents.

Szijjártó said Hungary is “the most vocal European member of the international peace camp” and praised Orbán as the only European leader who has maintained “mutual respect” and cooperation with both Washington and Moscow through the war in Ukraine.

He said that from the very beginning of the Russian invasion, Hungary had offered to act as a mediator and is now ready to host a summit aimed at ending the conflict.

“We have just reached the point where the American and Russian presidents have agreed that the peace summit will be held in Budapest,” Szijjártó said. He echoed Orbán’s description of Hungary as “an island of peace,” contrasting this with what he described as “war policies” pursued by almost all other EU member states except Slovakia and Hungary.

“Brussels is preparing for war; it wants to arm Ukraine, wants to finance Ukraine with the money of the European people, while Hungary is organizing a peace summit. That is the difference,” he added.

The minister said Budapest had already been mentioned as a possible venue during preparations for a previous summit in Alaska. Orbán recently spoke with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and Hungarian officials have held talks with U.S. and Russian diplomats. Preparatory meetings will now be organized, after which the summit’s agenda and date will be finalized, Szijjártó said.

Rejecting accusations that Hungary had isolated itself, he argued the opposite was true: “The European Union has isolated itself from the world’s most powerful political players.”

He accused Brussels of alienating itself from the United States through hostility toward Trump, from China by calling it a “systemic rival” and imposing tariffs on Chinese electric cars, from Russia through sanctions and soaring energy costs, and from Africa by attaching “gender-mad conditions” to trade cooperation.

Szijjártó also accused European politicians of trying to block peace efforts.

“We can be sure that the vast majority of European Union politicians will do everything in the coming weeks or days to prevent this summit from taking place, because if the summit takes place, it offers a chance for peace, and they are interested in prolonging the war,” he said.

Read more here…

Authored by Tamuz Itai via The Epoch Times,

For nearly three decades, the Western world has hardly had a calm time—terrorist attacks, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, financial meltdowns, pandemics, and deepening political fractures. Each has seized the headlines, drained treasuries, and monopolized the attention of policymakers from Washington to Brussels.

The result? A fractured focus, where urgent fires crowd out long-term threats.

But when aligning these moments of Western disarray against Beijing’s calendar, a pattern emerges. For whatever reason, many of China’s most pivotal advances—territorial, economic, institutional—have landed precisely during, or just ahead of, the West’s moments of distraction.

A Chronicle of Overlaps

It begins in the summer of 1997, on July 2. Thailand devalues its baht, unleashing the Asian Financial Crisis—that would engulf markets from Seoul to Jakarta, wiping out trillions in value and exposing the fragility of emerging “Asian Tiger” economies. Markets convulsed, currencies plummeted, and lenders scrambled.

Yet on July 1—just one day prior—Britain handed Hong Kong back to Beijing after 156 years of colonial rule. At the very moment Asia’s financial markets crashed, China assumed sovereignty over one of the world’s premier financial hubs: a gateway to global capital that would soon fuel its export machine.

Fast-forward to May 1999 during NATO’s Kosovo campaign. On May 7, U.S. warplanes, in a tragic error, bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three and wounding dozens. Fury erupts. Days of protests surge outside American missions in Beijing and beyond, a raw wound that would fester in U.S.–China relations for years.

It’s worth noting that in China, demonstrations of this scale are almost always state-managed. That embassy strike seems to have etched a scar, eroding trust at a moment when the West was consumed by the moral and military imperatives of intervention. In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched its persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual group, which continues to this day.

The turn of the millennium brought Sept. 11, 2001: Al-Qaeda’s hijackers struck the World Trade Center, claiming nearly 3,000 lives in the deadliest assault on U.S. soil. Washington, reeling, pivots to a global war on terror, reshaping alliances, budgets, and intelligence priorities.

Three months later that year, China formally joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), capping 15 years of negotiations and thrusting itself into the rules-based global economy, only to eventually flout most of them. While America mourned and mobilized, Beijing integrated, gaining access to markets that would fuel its manufacturing ascent.

By March 20, 2003, U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, toppling Saddam Hussein in a campaign that would entangle the West for two decades. That same month, whispers of a new threat came from China: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) began spreading internationally, prompting the WTO to issue its first global alert on March 12 for clusters of atypical pneumonia in Guangdong and Hanoi. As Washington’s bandwidth vanished into the sands of the Middle East, the first modern pandemic came from the East, with Beijing initially denying it and later clamping down on reporting its true scale—basically punishing officials who reported the numbers, an early warning.

Migrant workers wearing protective face masks make their way to the train station as they leave the city over worries about SARS in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China, on May 2, 2003. Christian Keenan/Getty Images

On July 7, 2005, suicide bombers shattered London’s transit system, killing 52 in a coordinated assault that, per the UK government’s inquiry, exposed gaping holes in counterterrorism readiness. Europe was alarmed, tightening borders and redoubling intelligence-sharing.

Meanwhile, Beijing, undeterred, accelerated its outbound investments through eased merger-and-acquisition rules and launched the inaugural U.S.–China Senior Dialogue in August that year—a forum for economic and security talks that would evolve into deeper bilateral ties. As Europe focused on anti-terrorism, China wove itself more tightly into Western financial webs.

August 2008 brought the Beijing Olympics, a dazzling showcase of China’s having “arrived.” By Sept. 15, Lehman Brothers’ collapse ignited the Global Financial Crisis, plunging the West into recession and prompting bailouts from Wall Street to London to Frankfurt. By November, Beijing unveiled a staggering $586 billion stimulus package—a lifeline that not only stabilized its own economy but propped up global commodity demand, from iron ore to oil. As Western banks teetered, China’s fiscal firepower accelerated its trajectory from factory floor to a creditor nation.

Protesters hold signs outside the White House during a demonstration organized by Amnesty International calling on China to respect human rights ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, in Washington on Feb. 11, 2008. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

Europe’s sovereign debt implosion followed in May 2010, with Greece’s first bailout exposing fissures in the eurozone. Beijing responded by ramping up overseas lending through state banks and, in September, imposing restrictions on rare-earth mineral exports. Massive investments and loans from Beijing began to buy European nations’ silence and acquiescence.

The early 2010s had multiple events: the Arab Spring protests of 2011 and 2012; Libya’s NATO-backed civil war; and persistent eurozone tremors. Western capitals juggled regime change, refugee flows, and austerity. In the shadows, Beijing methodically prepared its own transition of leadership: Xi Jinping’s elevation as heir apparent at the 2012 Party Congress, locking in a leadership transition primed for a more assertive posture. Global chaos provided the perfect cover for internal stealing and less scrutiny.

In March 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea, defying current international norms and drawing Western sanctions. Then, in October, 21 nations—including several U.S. allies—signed the memorandum to found the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Beijing’s rival to the World Bank. As the West isolated Moscow, China was building a parallel financial architecture.

In 2015, in Europe, ISIS’s rampage culminated on Nov. 13 in the Paris attacks, killing 130 in gunfire and bombs that sent the continent into mourning and heightened alerts. That summer, China’s stock market had already cratered, erasing trillions in value by July; Beijing responded with capital controls in August, throttling outflows to stem the bleed. The EU’s gaze was on the jihadists, while Beijing fortified its financial ramparts.

The Brexit vote on June 23, 2016, fractured the façade of the European project, ushering in years of negotiation and uncertainty. Mere weeks later, on July 12, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled against the CCP’s expansive South China Sea claims, invalidating its “nine-dash line.” Beijing dismissed it outright, doubling down on island-building and patrols. The EU disarray mirrored—and perhaps muted—any unified Western rebuke.

By June 2019, Hong Kong’s streets ignited over an extradition bill, with mass protests that tested the CCP’s grip. This overlapped with escalating U.S. scrutiny: indictments against Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, unsealed in January but roiling through the year with arrest and extradition battles. Tech security emerged as the new fault line in great-power rivalry.

An “anti-extradition” parade with a million people packed the entire street in Hong Kong on June 9, 2019. Sung Pi-Lung/The Epoch Times

The pandemic arrived in late 2019, and in March 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a global emergency, with a reaction that overwhelmed hospitals and economies. Three months later, on June 30, Beijing imposed its National Security Law on Hong Kong, criminalizing dissent and drastically eroding the “one country, two systems” promise. Health crises drowned out major criticism.

August 2021 marked the United States’ exit from Afghanistan, which many have described as dismal, stranding allies and degrading U.S. credibility. Beijing wasted no time, hosting Taliban delegations in July and August to signal budding ties and position itself to fill the power vacuum in Central Asia.

On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leading to a protracted war of attrition. Just three weeks earlier, on Feb. 4, Xi and Putin had inked their “no-limits” partnership, a pact that would deepen military and economic bonds as missiles rained on Kyiv.

Hamas’s assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, unleashed the Gaza war, polarizing allies and straining Western unity. Earlier that year, in March, Beijing had brokered a surprise détente between Iran and Saudi Arabia. As the West navigated the renewed focus on the Middle East, China hedged, courting all energy-rich states while supporting Hamas.

And now, in 2025, the cycle spins on. The Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs—up to 60 percent on Chinese imports—face mounting court challenges, including a U.S. Supreme Court review set for its September term following the Federal Circuit’s Aug. 29 strike-down of IEEPA-based duties. Beijing adapts by rerouting supply chains through new trade blocs and circumvention paths, as global commerce hardens into rival spheres—a new name for the much-denied decoupling.

Emerging Patterns 

We can identify six tendencies when looking at the above ledger of corresponding events:

1. Distraction windows: China’s boldest strokes cluster amid Western crises, from territorial grabs to institutional launches.

2. Counter-cyclical advantage: When Western economies falter—think 2008 or 2010—Beijing expands, lending abroad or hoarding resources.

3. Institutional stress tests: As Wall Street wobbles or NATO strains, China erects alternatives, such as the AIIB, or defies rulings, such as those of The Hague.

4. Domestic consolidation: Global uproar muffles internal clampdowns, from Xi’s elevation to Hong Kong’s National Security Law.

5. Hedging and broker posture: In Gaza or Ukraine, Beijing plays the seemingly neutral broker, as with the Iran–Saudi Arabia deal.

6. A rhythm of 6 to 12 months: Moves happen within crisis windows, not dragging into years.

Sometimes, China acts just before the storm—the Olympics pre-Lehman, the Xi–Putin pact pre-Ukraine—and the distraction mutes retaliation. Did Beijing foresee these events, or worse? Perhaps. We have no proof either way. But the CCP’s ceaseless boundary-probing pays off when the West is otherwise occupied.

Addressing the Skeptics

To be clear, this pattern is far from flawless. But reality often is. For example, the Hong Kong handover was planned decades prior; the WTO accession was in the works for 15 years. Some moves, such as the 2008 stimulus, seemed to stem from China’s export problems. More generally, it is known that great powers act ceaselessly in many directions, so overlaps are inevitable.

However, so far, we’ve been pointing to a correlation, not a causation. The pattern does hold as a tendency. It is a signal, not noise. For whatever reasons, around the time distractions happen, Beijing pushes—and often prevails. 

We can see that the War on Terror devoured trillions—$8 trillion on Iraq and Afghanistan alone, per Brown University’s Costs of War project—diverting the executive branch, Congress, and alliances’ energy from China strategy. The Obama administration’s 2011 “pivot to Asia” was under-resourced and hampered by ongoing Middle Eastern quagmires.

The same goes for internal drivers—for example, the Chinese 2008 stimulus. One might say that it was to salvage China’s export economy, not to exploit the Western crisis. However, those domestic imperatives do gain extra runway when rivals are suddenly sidelined.

When it comes to criticizing China’s conduct, even in the Iraq era, American diplomacy still hammered human rights violations and undervaluation. But try to imagine the alternative: undivided focus yielding sharper sanctions, faster alliances, and bolder industrial policies. Distraction didn’t completely erase a response—it greatly diluted it.

It is important to note here that the CCP is extremely sensitive about public human rights criticism. This could be a huge leverage point for the West, which sadly it rarely uses.

Interpretation and Implications

All of the above does indicate strategic timing: opportunism, at minimum. Distractions slash the price of audacity, whether post-facto or preemptive. It’s also a dual-track advance: outwardly, institutions such as AIIB court the Global South; inwardly, controls tighten from Xinjiang to Hong Kong. Gains are then baked in before resistance forms.

This pattern reveals as much about Western vulnerabilities as it does about Chinese strategy, and perhaps a lack of a bird’s-eye view of the true picture of geopolitics. Our responses have been either too little or too much—and decidedly too late—creating gaps for the CCP to fill. 

As Mark Twain reputedly said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Here, the verse is unmistakable: When the West averts its gaze, China steps forward. It is up to us to be attuned to the rhyming and be ready to act.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Authored by Rebecca Day via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

As country music grew in popularity in America throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the roots of the genre also took hold in an unlikely place: Japan.

During World War II, the Armed Forces Radio Service provided entertainment for American troops stationed in Japan. But in the days after the war ended in 1945, the United States established a more permanent, far-reaching band of stations for its servicemembers remaining on bases in the rebuilding country. Until it was disbanded in 1997, this was known as the Far East Network.

Despite the ban on American music in Japan at the time, there was a local demand for it. Japanese people found ways to tune into Far East Network radio stations to hear singing cowboys and Appalachian banjo pickers. By listening in, they got a formal introduction to country music—to the art of the fiddle and Western twang.

Music Inspires ‘Cultural Exchange’

Japanese culture became increasingly acquainted with American culture during WWII, and country music’s themes resonated far beyond those listening to it in the United States.

Toru Mitsui, author of “Popular Music in Japan: Transformation Inspired by the West,” is featured in “Far Western,” a documentary covering the rise of country music in Japan. According to music site Whiskey Riff,  “Mitsui explains how the Western ideals of freedom, individuality, and personal storytelling began to resonate through the music itself.”

“It wasn’t just music anymore. It was a cultural exchange.”

A Good Story

One of Japan’s longstanding musical forms, the Enka genre, is sometimes described as “Japanese blues.” The narrative style focuses on lyrical themes like those found in American country music—love, loss, hardship, and triumph—and this helped pave the way for Japanese people to relate to the music of a culture so seemingly different from theirs.

In other words, like America, Japan loves a good story. It is through that love of story that a bridge was built between the two cultures.

Japanese listeners of country music were enthralled by the genre’s artistic tradition of emotive storytelling. They embraced singing cowboys like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, as well as pioneering artists like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.  

In September 1945, the first radio station for the Far East Network went live in Tokyo: WVTR. The station aired a cowboy-themed radio show called “Chuck Wagon Time” featuring country music. By the late 1940s, the show had grown significantly in popularity. Today, some of Japan’s most well-known singing cowboys were first inspired by the program.

The influential radio program became a “catalyst for the development of a western or cowboy band movement in the capital city, a function duplicated by WVTQ in the Kansai area (western Japan),” wrote Michael Furmanovsky, professor at Kyoto’s Ryukoku University.

In his paper, “American Country Music in Japan: Lost Piece in the Popular Music History Puzzle,” Furmanovsky noted:

“According to Mitsui, the first ever ‘cowboy’ group was the Western Melodians, formed in 1947 by Toyama Takehiko. … A year later Toyama formed the Western Ramblers and recruited vocalist ‘Teddy’ Hara, a 17-year-old high-school student from a wealthy family who had first encountered cowboy songs on a short morning-time western music show broadcast by WVTR.”

‘Country Gold’

One of Japan’s most popular singing cowboys from the 1950s is musician Charlie Nagatani. Born in 1936, he discovered the genre when he was 20 years old while taking in a night of live music to celebrate his birthday. He quickly fell in love with the genre and began performing with a series of bands, ultimately heading up his own band, The Cannonballs. In 1989, he organized Japan’s first country music festival, Country Gold, held in his birthplace of Kumamoto. The inaugural event drew around 8,000 people, sparking a movement that made it a yearly festival.

In 2013, the international country event celebrated its 25th anniversary and featured contemporary artists who have popularized some of country’s modern classic hits, including Aaron Tippin and the late Daryle Singletary. The 2013 show garnered a 25 percent increase in festival attendance compared to the previous year. Over its tenure, country stars like Dierks Bentley and the Charlie Daniels Band took the stage.

In 2019, the festival opened its gates for the final time after running for 31 years.

But Nagatani hasn’t slowed down. He remains a pioneering figure of country music in both his home country of Japan and in America. He makes the long trek to Nashville on a regular basis, where he has performed many times at the Grand Ole Opry. His Opry performance in May 2025 marked his 30th appearance on the iconic country stage.

‘Rich Musical Culture’

Over time, America and Japan have developed a symbiotic relationship, with music-lovers of both cultures embracing each other’s tastes and styles.

Today, Rocky Top is a frequented live music venue in the Ginza district of Tokyo. It features country, bluegrass, and Americana performers. The musical hub is named after one of country music’s classic hits made famous in 1967 by the a bluegrass band called the Osborne Brothers.

Like America, the bluegrass genre also has a significant following with our neighbors in the Pacific. The annual Takarazuka Bluegrass Festival features Japanese performers each year who honor the genre. The festival first took place in 1972, and it is considered to be “the third longest-running bluegrass festival in the world.”

The 2023 Chigasaki Jamboree festival featuring bluegrass music was in part inspired by the father of the genre, Bill Monroe, and his band, the Blue Grass Boys.

Western classical music remains an active part of Japanese culture, and America has since embraced pop stylings emanating from the country.

Lasse Lehtonen from the Finnish Music Quarterly notes the delicate balance that Japan fosters to maintain their cultural autonomy.

“The country has a rich musical culture that today is closely aligned with the West yet continues to explore its own unique pathways.”

Vice President JD Vance was in Israel Tuesday, where expressed confidence that the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip would hold, despite a brief flare-up in fighting on Sunday which saw Israeli forces launch dozens of new airstrikes.

During visit to the newly established US-Israel ceasefire coordination center in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel, Vance emphasized he’s optimistic the truce will hold, but also that Hamas must be fully disarmed. He was joined by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Trump on Tuesday had warned from Washington that he could deploy international forces to fight Hamas, but that he will give the group a chance to honor the ceasefire, and return more bodies of hostages.

The president posted the following to Truth Social on Tuesday morning:

“Numerous of our NOW GREAT ALLIES in the Middle East, and areas surrounding the Middle East, have explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm, informed me that they would welcome the opportunity, at my request, to go into GAZA with a heavy force and ‘straighten our Hamas’ if Hamas continues to act badly, in violation of their agreement with us.”

However, he didn’t name any specific countries. But he did praise Indonesia, interestingly, for its humanitarian response related to the crisis.

In southern Israel, Vance’s most interesting statement involved denunciation of the mainstream press, which he accused of rooting for failure as another opportunity to trash the Trump White House:

Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday denounced what he called “a weird attitude” in the American and Western press, accusing some in the media of “rooting for failure” as a historic Middle East peace plan moves forward.

“Things are going, frankly, better than I expected that they were,” Vance said at a news conference in southern Israel, announcing the opening of the new Civilian-Military Cooperation Center. “This is a very, very tough situation. You have two peoples, two enemies who fought a very tough conflict against each other.

He took the opportunity to also praise Israel for defending itself against terrorism – a common refrain among US officials. “You have a terrorist organization on one hand that murdered a lot of innocent people,” he said. “You’ve got an Israeli army that was defending itself on the other, that has learned a lot over the past couple of years.”

Vance also took the opportunity to reiterate there will be “no American boots on the ground” inside Gaza…

🇺🇸VP Vance praises President Trump’s historic peacemaking in Israel:

“The only real mediators are the United States of America…I think the American people should be proud of it, but they should know that there are going to be no American boots on the ground in Gaza.” pic.twitter.com/bQlzWJgQFp

— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) October 21, 2025

As for the coordination center in Kiryat Gat’s industrial zone, which was established as part of the comprehensive Trump peace plan, it hosts Israeli and American troops along with civilian contractors.

Further there are military personnel from the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Denmark, and Jordan. Flags from each participating nation are displayed inside the large facility, according to Israeli media descriptions.

Authored by Franke Miele via RealClearPolitics,

In a sense, it’s old news. In December 2021, CNN reported that the House’s select January 6 Committee had subpoenaed phone records of more than 100 people.

But that was mostly Trump officials, including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. No surprise there. After all, the January 6 Committee was empaneled for the specific purpose of turning President Trump into a criminal for supposedly aiding and abetting the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol.

But when this story resurfaced earlier this month, there was something new, too. For one thing, the scope of the investigation was almost unbelievable – it turns out those subpoenaed phone records consisted of a staggering 30 million lines of phone data.

And when the select committee’s investigation went nowhere, one of the members – GOP malcontent Adam Kinzinger of Illinois – informed the FBI about the phone data in December 2023 when it was becoming apparent that former President Trump was the favorite to win the Republican nomination in 2024.

More revelatory than the size of the phone records hauled in by the J6 Committee was the news that the FBI had gone after these same records – and possibly more – in an effort to target Trump and his conservative allies. Not only did the agency have its eyes on Trump, it also went after nine Republican members of Congress – eight senators and a stray congressman, in an obvious effort to sweep up accomplices in the coup that never was.

Whether the FBI obtained the same phone records as the J6 Committee is unclear. Kinzinger’s tip may have been moot, because an FBI memo released by Sen. Chuck Grassley shows that by September 2023, the agency had already “conducted preliminary … analysis” on the call data of several members of Congress, including Lindsey Graham, Bill Hagerty, Ron Johnson and Marsha Blackburn.

According to CNN, “the FBI, as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 investigation, used court orders in 2023 to obtain the phone records of nine GOP lawmakers.” These were not actual phone calls or text messages, but rather information about who called or texted whom, and when.

Grassley posted the memo to his X account, with the message,

“This document shows the Biden FBI spied on 8 of my Republican Senate colleagues during its Arctic Frost investigation into ‘election conspiracy.’ Arctic Frost later became Jack Smith’s elector case against Trump.”

He concluded, in all caps: “BIDEN FBI WEAPONIZATION = WORSE THAN WATERGATE.”

Which brings up the question, why did the story turn out to be a one-day wonder? Here, we have the discovery of a partisan investigation seeking to uncover dirt on fellow members of Congress (if the records did indeed start with the January 6 Committee), or at the very least a rogue element of the executive branch targeting political enemies in the legislative branch.

As Sen. Johnson said, “They’re casting this net, this fishing expedition against members of the Senate and the House. There is no predicate. There’s no reason for this other than a fishing expedition, which, again, should outrage and shock every American.”

There is that suggestion once more that we are witness to a political scandal (one of many in the Biden administration) that is among the worst in our history. Yet when you do a Google search for stories related to phone toll records being subpoenaed by either the J6 Committee or the FBI, virtually nothing comes up beyond Oct. 7, the day after Grassley released the memo.

A few news outlets reported in the following days that Kash Patel had fired agents involved in the Arctic Frost investigation. In addition, there were scattered reports on Sen. Hagerty questioning why Verizon released his phone records without informing him. Verizon told Fox News Digital: “Federal law requires companies like Verizon to respond to grand jury subpoenas. We received a valid subpoena and a court order to keep it confidential. We weren’t told why the information was requested or what the investigation was about.”

Grassley and Johnson followed up with their own letter to Verizon and three other telecommunication companies demanding to be supplied with the same data that was provided to the FBI or Special Counsel Jack Smith. In addition, the senators expressed their belief that the records should have been privileged because they concerned the official constitutional duties of certifying the 2020 presidential election.

It seems like a real story – one that deserves the full attention of the press – but where are the special investigation teams at the New York Times and the Washington Post? What have you heard about this story on CBS, NBC, and ABC newscasts? Very little if anything. Certainly nothing in comparison to the coverage provided to Watergate.

Most recently, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Smith demanding a transcribed interview and documents and communications related to the special counsel’s investigation of Trump. Well and good, but that interview will be conducted in secret, as were the interviews of Smith’s subordinates – one of whom, according to Jordan, “invoked the Fifth Amendment approximately 75 times.”

It is well past time for the Republican Congress to fulfill its promise to hold accountable those who weaponized the federal government against Trump and his allies. Press releases and secret interviews won’t do the job. We need public televised hearings, with witnesses ranging from members of the J6 Committee like Kinzinger, former Rep. Liz Cheney, and now-Sen. Adam Schiff to former FBI director Chris Wray and former Special Counsel Smith.

Would the legacy media networks cover it? Probably not, because as we all know by now, those outfits are still after Trump’s scalp, and they will only seek to discredit Jordan and the other congressional investigators who want to know the truth. But that doesn’t mean Republicans should give up.

Watergate started as a one-day story about a botched break-in. But even without Woodward and Bernstein, the famous team of reporters from the Washington Post, the story would never have been kept quiet unless Democrat senators and congressmen didn’t do their job.

Now it’s time for Jordan, Grassley, and Patel to do theirs.

President Donald Trump commended the FBI in an Oct. 20 Truth Social post, saying that the agency is doing an “incredible job,” having arrested thousands of criminals and disrupting criminal activity across the nation.

“Since January 20th, more than 28,000 Violent Criminals have been arrested (RECORD BREAKING!), with over 6,000 illegal weapons seized, more than 1,700 child predators and 300 human traffickers taken off the streets, 5,000 innocent children rescued, 2,000 Criminal Enterprises disrupted, 1,900 kilos of Fentanyl (Enough to kill 125 Million people!) taken out—HISTORIC RESULTS,” Trump wrote.

“We are bringing LAW AND ORDER back to America. Kash, Dan, Andrew, and the men and women of the FBI, are doing a tremendous job, MAKING AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!” he said, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and Co-deputy Director Andrew Bailey.

As Naveen Athrappully details below for The Epoch Times, a key part of the FBI’s crackdown against violent criminals has been the agency’s Operation Summer Heat, which ran from June to September and targeted such individuals.

On Oct. 15, Trump and Patel announced that more than 8,700 violent criminals were arrested from major U.S. cities during the operation. Around 11,000 murderers were arrested, with around half of them wanted for more than one homicide.

Some places, such as Nashville and New Orleans, saw a 250 percent jump in arrests of people Trump described as the most violent offenders.

Nationwide, crime fell 20 percent from the same period last year, with Trump calling the recent summer the “safest and most peaceful summer in two decades.”

“There’s still much more work to be done, which is why the FBI continues to work alongside the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of War to defend law and order and combat violent crime, arrest illegal aliens, and make American cities the safest in the world,” Trump said.

“Every American deserves to live in a community where they’re not afraid of being mugged, murdered, robbed, raped, assaulted, or shot.

“And that’s exactly what our administration is working to deliver.”

Multiple FBI offices have released stats related to Operation Summer Heat, touting its success in cracking down on violent crime.

In an Oct. 8 statement, the FBI’s Baltimore office announced 224 arrests during the operation, including making 62 drug seizures and recovering 17 weapons.

FBI Houston announced the arrest of 64 individuals, recovering 65 weapons and seizing more than 85 kilos of cocaine and 28 kilos of fentanyl. The agency’s Cleveland office revealed it has made 125 arrests during Summer Heat.

Democrat Opposition, Arresting Criminal Illegals

Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard in cities has faced criticism from Democratic lawmakers.

Earlier this month, a group of Democratic senators issued a joint statement warning against what they called “illegal deployments,” according to an Oct. 7 statement from Sen. Alex Padilla’s (D-Calif.) office.

They accused Trump of “stretching the limits” of presidential authority beyond its breaking point and pushing the country closer to authoritarianism.

“Whether in Los Angeles, Chicago, or Portland, the Trump Administration continues fabricating claims of chaos and crime on American streets to justify his false assertions that there is a ‘need’ to deploy troops into our cities—all while literally defunding our police by cutting funding that helps local law enforcement make our cities safer,” the lawmakers said.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s drive has led to more than 480,000 criminal illegal aliens being arrested over a nine-month period, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in an Oct. 20 post on X.

She said that 70 percent of these arrested individuals have either been convicted or have pending charges.

What law enforcement has achieved under Trump is “nothing short of extraordinary,” Noem said.

In an Oct. 20 statement, DHS detailed a new measure at the southern border to deter illegal immigration into the United States.

Operation River Wall is aimed at securing the Rio Grande region against illegals, narco-terrorists, and other criminal activity at the border, the department said.

The Coast Guard will mobilize more than 100 boats and numerous personnel to secure the roughly 260 miles of the Rio Grande Valley.

“President Trump delivered the most secure southern border in U.S. history in record time, and now, our goal is to make sure it stays that way for the long run,” Noem said.

“The men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard are experts at defending America’s maritime borders–they have been doing that with honor, respect, and devotion to duty since 1790. Now, Coast Guard Forces Rio Grande and Operation River Wall will be a force multiplier in defending against illegal immigration.”

DHS said that for five straight months, no illegal immigrant has been released into the United States.

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

President Trump said on Monday that he doesn’t think China wants to invade Taiwan and expressed optimism about reaching a trade deal with Beijing despite his recent threat to increase tariffs in response to China’s rare earth export restrictions.

“I think we’ll be just fine with China. China doesn’t want to do that,” Trump told reporters in response to a question about China invading Taiwan, according to Politico. “As it pertains to Taiwan, and that doesn’t mean it’s not the apple of his eye, because probably it is, but I don’t see anything happening.”

The president’s comments contradict claims from US War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said earlier this year that the threat China poses to Taiwan could be “imminent.”

For years, the Pentagon has been claiming that China was preparing to be ready to invade by 2027, but the claim has never been confirmed by Beijing.

Trump is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in South Korea, and he believes he can work out a deal before 100% tariffs on Chinese goods are supposed to take effect in November.

“I think when we finish our meetings in South Korea, China and I will have a really fair and really great trade deal together,” Trump said. He also said that he was planning to visit China in early 2026 after receiving an invitation from Beijing.

Watch rare moment that President Trump suggests to reporters that China had no designs on invading Taiwan:

US President Trump suggested to reporters that China had no designs on invading Taiwan but acknowledged he expected the issue to be on the agenda at a planned meeting with Xi on the sidelines of an economic conference in South Korea next week https://t.co/UmDWYHGzWr pic.twitter.com/yPWqqk5dk1

— Reuters (@Reuters) October 20, 2025

Trump made the comments on Monday while hosting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House. While downplaying the threat of China, Trump also endorsed AUKUS, a military pact between the US, the UK, and Australia meant to counter Beijing that focuses on technology sharing and will arm Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines.

A United Nations panel on Tuesday condemned the Trump-ordered military build-up in the south Caribbean as well as what it called covert action which threatens the South American country’s sovereignty. It did this while invoking past 20th century history of CIA interventions in the region.

“These actions also violate the fundamental international obligations not to intervene in the domestic affairs or threaten to use armed force against another country,” the UN panel of independent rights experts said.

President Trump has repeatedly stated the aim is choke the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States – but has also framed it as a war on ‘terrorism’ as well as mass migration of criminal elements.

“These moves are an extremely dangerous escalation with grave implications for peace and security in the Caribbean region,” the rights experts continued.

The panel then went so far as to accuse the US of engaging in extrajudicial killings on the high seas:

“Even if such allegations were substantiated, the use of lethal force in international waters without proper legal basis violates the international law of the sea and amounts to extrajudicial executions.”

“Preparations for covert or direct military action against another sovereign State constitute an even graver breach of the UN Charter,” the panel said, which included the special rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions and on protecting human rights while countering terrorism.

“The long history of external interventions in Latin America must not be repeated,” the stated added. “The international community must stand firm in defending the rule of law, dialogue, and the peaceful settlement of disputes.”

At least 27 people have been killed in about a half-dozen drone strikes. The US has labeled them ‘narco-terrorists’ – but little is known as to their identifies. War Secretary Hegseth and Secretary of State Rubio have positively cheered the military action – often posting videos of the boats being blown up.

Below: President Nicolas Maduro blasts the Trump Admin for approving CIA operations in Venezuela to attack his government, and lists just a few examples of US-backed coups in Latin America…

A speech they won’t show you on US corporate media:

Venezuela’s🇻🇪 President Nicolas Maduro blasts the Trump Administration for approving CIA operations in Venezuela to attack his government, and lists just a few examples of US-backed coups in Latin America pic.twitter.com/X5Vxak9jef

— Going Underground (@GUnderground_TV) October 17, 2025

It at least a couple of cases, they were Colombian or Ecuadorean nationals, but Washington has still said it is ultimately the Maduro government overseeing and facilitating this illegal trade.

Venezuela has put its military on high alert, and has even organized citizen militias, but the armed forces’ strength and weaponry is miniscule compared to that of the Pentagon – and it’s even weak by comparison to other global south countries.

By Irina Slav of OilPrice.com,

Japan will base any decisions about energy imports on its national interests, the country’s trade minister Yoji Muto has said, following suggestions from the Trump administration that Japan suspends all purchases of Russian oil and gas.

“Since the invasion of Ukraine, Japan has been steadily reducing its dependence on Russian energy,” Muto told media earlier today, as quoted by Reuters, following a meeting between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato, at which Bessent urged Kato to stop buying Russian oil and gas.

In a sign of conformity with is European G7 peers, Japan in September lowered a price cap on Russian crude from $60 to $47.60 although it was more of a token gesture than anything else—Japan has a waiver from the price cap due to the essential nature of Russian oil for its energy security, per Japanese government officials.

“We recognise that LNG from Sakhalin-2 plays an extremely important role in Japan’s energy security,” Trade Minister Muto also said, adding that it accounted for 3% of Japan’s electricity generation.

While small as a percentage, the amount is likely not insignificant in absolute terms, given the size of Japan’s economy.

The Trump administration has embarked on a pressure campaign against all large importers of Russian hydrocarbons on the grounds that depriving Russia of energy export revenues would deprive it of the financial means to continue fighting the Ukrainian forces. Yet it is unlikely that the campaign will succeed as planned, even with the deployment of stick-and-carrot approach that President Trump has chosen in his dealings with the two top buyers of Russian oil and gas, China and India.

However, sanctions and price swings on international markets have already affected Russian energy export revenues in a negative way, which has failed to change anything about Moscow’s goals in what it calls a special military operation and has had zero effect on developments on the battlefield.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

During an interview with Univision, Colombian President Gustavo Petro threatened to “take out” President Trump after he called Petro “an illegal drug leader.”

There are heightened tensions between the U.S. and Colombia after Trump took out a narco boat, killing a Colombian national who they claim was just a fisherman, but who had a lengthy criminal record.

Colombia has recalled its ambassador to the U.S. and the U.S. State Department has revoked Petro’s visa, primarily owing to the fact that after the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, he went to speak at a pro-Palestinian rally and called on U.S. troops to disobey orders.

During the Univision interview, Petro said that if Trump won’t change, the solution is to “take out Trump,” and loudly snapped his fingers for emphasis.

“Humanity has a first offramp, and it is to change Trump in various ways,” he said in Spanish, adding that “The easiest way may be through Trump himself–the easiest. If not, take out Trump.”

JUST IN: Colombia’s President Petro wraps his Univision interview by saying that if @realDonaldTrump won’t change, the solution is to “get rid of Trump” pic.twitter.com/JzRYHGPIzX

— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) October 21, 2025

The interviewer, who also happens to be the President of Univision remarked afterward “I’m leaving more worried than when I arrived.”

Me voy más preocupado de lo que llegué

— Daniel Coronell (@DCoronell) October 21, 2025

In a lengthy post Sunday, Trump blasted Petro, urging that “President Gustavo Petro, of Colombia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia.”

“It has become the biggest business in Colombia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America,” Trump continued. 

The President further stated that “AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA. The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc.”

“Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely,” Trump asserted, signing off with his usual  “Thank you for your attention to this matter! President Donald J. Trump.”

This is a mask-off moment where Petro tells the world his true alliance is with the cartels.

Popularly, in America, it will have a galvanizing effect. Americans don’t like foreigners telling us what to do. It’s a knee-jerk contrarian reaction.

— J6_Matt_da_Silva_the_most_famous_Matt_da_Silva (@EMassSurvivor) October 21, 2025

Get rid of the President of the United States? Sounds like a threat from Colombia 🇨🇴 Narco aligned President against President Trump & the United States.

— Jeff Wright (@1991Wolfpack) October 21, 2025

Sounds like a direct threat.

Perhaps we need to take the threat seriously.

— Jim Collins (@JimCollinsJr) October 21, 2025

If Colombia’s President Petro won’t change, the solution is to get rid of Colombia.

— gmwaid (@gmwaid_71) October 21, 2025

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