China announces it will return U.S. underwater drone shortly after Trump statement

China announces it will return U.S. underwater drone shortly after Trump statement

by WorldTribune Staff, December 18, 2016 China has said it will return a U.S. underwater drone it seized in the South China Sea. Not long after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s statement criticizing the incident, China’s Defense Ministry said it would return the drone to the U.S. Navy. The drone, launched by the USNS Bowditch, a […]

Trump crisis in Beijing: Five ‘knowns and unknowns’ have Xi Jinping in the panic mode

Trump crisis in Beijing: Five ‘knowns and unknowns’ have Xi Jinping in the panic mode

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, ‘Inside China’, Geostrategy-Direct.com “As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t […]

White House says Iran work on nuclear marine propulsion does not violate deal

White House says Iran work on nuclear marine propulsion does not violate deal

Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty The Iranian president has ordered the country’s scientists to start planning the development of nuclear marine propulsion in response to what he called the United States’ violation of last year’s nuclear agreement between Teheran and world powers. The White House reacted to news of President Hassan […]

Report: Obama team repeatedly downplayed rogue states’ cyber attacks

Report: Obama team repeatedly downplayed rogue states’ cyber attacks

by WorldTribune Staff, December 13, 2016 After eight years of all but ignoring cyber attacks on U.S. interests by Russia, China and North Korea, President Barack Obama now has ordered a full investigation into alleged Russian cyber meddling in the 2016 election. “Any intelligence review should coincide with a companion investigation by Congress into why […]

Bolton charges ‘significant’ politicization of intelligence under Obama, questions Russian hacking allegations

Bolton charges ‘significant’ politicization of intelligence under Obama, questions Russian hacking allegations

by WorldTribune Staff, December 12, 2016 Former U.S. ambassador to the UN John Bolton believes the alleged Russian hacking of the presidential election could be a “false flag” orchestrated by the Obama administration. “I do think it’s critical to answer the question that I posed: If you think the Russians did this, then why did […]

Did Russian hackers help elect Trump? U.S. intelligence has conflicting views, one on the record, one off

Did Russian hackers help elect Trump? U.S. intelligence has conflicting views, one on the record, one off

by WorldTribune Staff, December 11, 2016 The CIA has “secretly” come to the conclusion that Russian hackers supplied stolen emails to WikiLeaks in an effort to influence the Nov. 8 election, according to unnamed sources that formed the basis for reports by the Washington Post and the New York Times. Publicly, however, Director of U.S. […]

Post-election surge seen in consumer confidence on economic outlook, stock investments

Post-election surge seen in consumer confidence on economic outlook, stock investments

by WorldTribune Staff, December 9, 2016 Consumer confidence is rapidly rising, and Americans have a much more optimistic outlook on the economy a month after Donald Trump’s election victory, a new survey says. The CNBC All-America Economic Survey for the fourth quarter found that the percentage of Americans who believe the economy will get better […]

UK’s P.M. May tells Gulf she is ‘clear-eyed’ about Iran threat but backs nuclear deal

UK’s P.M. May tells Gulf she is ‘clear-eyed’ about Iran threat but backs nuclear deal

by WorldTribune Staff, December 8, 2016 While insisting she is “clear-eyed” about Iran’s threat to the region, British Prime Minister Theresa May told the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Dec. 7 that she supports Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers. The deal “was vitally important for regional security,” May said, according to The Wall Street Journal. […]

Geostrategy-Direct: Panic in China at early signals from Trump administration

Geostrategy-Direct: Panic in China at early signals from Trump administration

“China has been ripping the U.S. off left and right, and we are going to push back without any hesitation,” said Donald Trump as the GOP presidential candidate. As President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominee team takes shape, Beijing is beginning to panic over an imminent new reality: The new administration’s reaction against China will be swift […]

Trump’s Taiwan call seen pre-empting Chinese provocation early in his administration

Trump’s Taiwan call seen pre-empting Chinese provocation early in his administration

by WorldTribune Staff, December 6, 2016 Did Donald Trump beat China to the punch? The President-elect’s interaction with Taiwan’s president was seen by some observers as a pre-emptive hit on Beijing, which some analysts suggested was intent on delivering a testing Trump early in his administration. Trump’s 10-minute phone conversation with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, […]