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Foreign Affairs (News/Activism)

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  • Hungary's Tisza party seen winning two-thirds majority in parliament, Median projection shows

    04/08/2026 10:37:11 PM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 8 replies
    Reuters ^ | 4/8/2026
    Bungary's opposition party Tisza is on track to win a two-thirds parliamentary majority in Sunday's election, allowing it ‌to amend the constitution and key laws needed to unlock ‌EU funds, a projection from polling agency Median showed on Wednesday. Veteran nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban ​and his Fidesz party are facing the biggest challenge to their rule in 16 years as the centre-right Tisza party, led by Peter Magyar, is leading in independent polls. Tisza is seen winning between 138 and 142 seats in the ‌199-member parliament, according to ⁠an estimate based on an analysis of Median's five most recent...
  • Trump's abrupt Iran reversal exposes limits of his leverage

    04/08/2026 9:48:10 PM PDT · by McGruff · 21 replies
    REUTERS ^ | April 8, 2026 | Matt Spetalnick, David Brunnstrom and Gram Slattery
    Donald Trump's dramatic climbdown from his chilling threat to wipe out Iran's civilization has exposed the limits - and the rising risks - of the U.S. president's typically unpredictable negotiating style. His decision on Tuesday to back down and agree to a two-week ceasefire – which critics mockingly called another example ​of “TACO,” or “Trump always chickens out” – marked the biggest step so far toward de-escalating a 40-day-old war that has shaken the Middle East and disrupted global energy markets. But Trump’s claims of victory over Iran overlooked questions about ‌the effectiveness of mixing maximalist demands, erratic rhetoric and...
  • Politics U.S. has violated ceasefire agreement, Iran parliamentary speaker says

    04/08/2026 7:11:18 PM PDT · by BenLurkin · 42 replies
    CNBC ^ | Wed, Apr 8 20262:42 PM EDT | Spencer Kimball Kevin Breuninger
    Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, accused the U.S. on Wednesday of violating the two-week ceasefire agreement. “The deep historical distrust we hold toward the United States stems from its repeated violations of all forms of commitments — a pattern that has regrettably been repeated once again,” Ghalibaf said in a statement posted on social media. Three parts of Iran’s 10-point ceasefire proposal have been violated, Ghalibaf said. The violations are Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon, the entry of a drone into Iranian airspace, and the denial of the Islamic Republic’s right to enrich uranium, he said. “In such situation,...
  • Report: Chevron Importing 250,000 Barrels of Venezuelan Oil to U.S. per Day

    04/08/2026 6:07:26 PM PDT · by SoConPubbie · 29 replies
    Breitbart ^ | 8 Apr 2026 | Christian K. Caruzo
    American multinational energy corporation Chevron is now importing an average of 250,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude oil per day into the United States, the BBC reported Tuesday.According to recent reports, Venezuela’s monthly crude oil exports have once again surpassed one million barrels per day. Andy Walz – president of downstream, midstream, and chemicals at Chevron – confirmed to the BBC that the company is importing the equivalent a quarter of a million barrels of Venezuelan oil per day. The BBC detailed that the crude oil tanker Minerva Gloria recently docked at a wharf in the Mississippi sound, carrying 400,000 barrels...
  • Hugh Poate, father of Robert Poate questions why war hero Ben Roberts-Smith behind bars

    04/08/2026 5:00:00 PM PDT · by naturalman1975 · 2 replies
    Daily Telegraph (Sydney) ^ | 9th April 2026 | Matthew Benns
    Former SAS soldiers warn the prolonged war crimes investigation into Ben Roberts-Smith threatens to create life or death hesitation for troops in combat situations.The father of an Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan has questioned why a dedicated team of investigators has spent six years building a case against Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith while his son’s killer remains free.It comes as former SAS soldiers warn the Office of the Special Investigator’s (OSI) prolonged investigation into alleged war crimes is causing mental health issues to military families and creating life or death issues for soldiers in combat.Hugh Poate’s son Robert was...
  • Ben Roberts-Smith’s war crimes allegation ‘difficult’ to convict, former Army Legal Corps Colonel claims (Australian Victoria Cross recipient facing war crimes charges)

    04/08/2026 4:56:44 PM PDT · by naturalman1975 · 5 replies
    Daily Telegraph (Sydney) ^ | 9th April 2026 | Jake McCallum and Eliza Barr
    Australia’s most decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith faces five war crimes murder charges, but a retired army Colonel and ADF legal expert claims prosecutors will struggle to secure a conviction.Prosecutors squaring up against the nation’s most decorated soldier will struggle to get a successful war crimes conviction regardless of the quality of the evidence, according to a retired colonel of the Australian Army Legal Corps.Bruce Levet, who served the Australian Army Legal Corps until 2022, told The Daily Telegraph he did not believe Victoria Cross recipient and former Special Air Service corporal Ben Roberts-Smith would be convicted of five counts of...
  • White House warns Iran to keep Strait of Hormuz open, claims reports of closure 'unacceptable'

    04/08/2026 2:52:16 PM PDT · by Mariner · 125 replies
    Just the News ^ | April 8th, 2026 | By Misty Severi
    The White House warned Iran Wednesday to keep the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf open amid reports that it is closing the strait over Israeli military action in Lebanon.The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire Tuesday night but Iran claimed Wednesday that the U.S. must rein in Israel and end the fighting in Lebanon if it wants to maintain the ceasefire.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the alleged closure of the strait, based on reports from Iranian state media, is "completely unacceptable."
  • Understanding the Iran Ceasefire

    04/08/2026 2:13:21 PM PDT · by EnderWiggin1970 · 30 replies
    The American Conservative ^ | 4/8/26 | Jude Russo
    No shortage of surprises around here. President Donald Trump, less than half a day after announcing his intention to destroy “a whole civilization” if the Iranians didn’t reopen the Hormuz, declared via Truth Social that the Pakistanis had brokered a two-week ceasefire on the premise that the Iranian 10-point framework is a “workable basis” for a peace deal. This is a bit of a headscratcher to everyone who has actually seen the Iranian framework, which, among other things, asserts the Islamic Republic’s right to uranium enrichment, institutionalizes an Iranian-Omani toll system in the Hormuz, and demands immediate sanctions relief. The...
  • Keir Starmer: “We just reached a ceasefire”. (video)

    04/08/2026 1:38:12 PM PDT · by MarlonRando · 32 replies
    X ^ | 4-8-26 | Chris Rose
    Keir Starmer: “We just reached a ceasefire”. We? WE!?? No, they reached a ceasefire. You had nothing to do with it.
  • Iran Closes Strait of Hormuz Again Over Israeli Attacks in Lebanon

    04/08/2026 12:15:49 PM PDT · by thegagline · 73 replies
    NewsMax ^ | 04/08/2026 | Staff
    Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again Wednesday in response to Israeli attacks against the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon, casting doubt over whether an already precarious ceasefire to end more than a month of war will hold. The United States and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries. Israel also intensified its attacks in Lebanon, hitting several commercial and residential areas in Beirut without warning. At least 112 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in one of the deadliest days...
  • Trump And Rubio To Meet With NATO Chief Amid Betrayal by European Allies in Operation Epic Fury

    04/08/2026 11:41:22 AM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 42 replies
    Townhall ^ | April 08, 2026 | Dmitri Bolt
    President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are set to meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House Wednesday, following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire with Iran. The Trump administration has expressed strong frustration with the alliance for refusing to support U.S. objectives, including securing the Strait of Hormuz, on which many European nations depend. Alleged “allies” offered little more than calls to resume negotiations, questioned President Trump’s plan, and in some cases even closed their airspace to U.S. military aircraft, moves widely viewed as a betrayal by European partners. This comes after Secretary of State...
  • Kuwait reports damage at oil facilities, power stations after Iranian drone attack

    04/08/2026 10:13:08 AM PDT · by MarlonRando · 55 replies
    Middle East Eye ^ | 4-8-26 | Gregor Hassan
    Kuwait's interior ministry reported "severe material damage" at several vital facilities of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and the energy and water resources ministry after an Iranian drone attack on Wednesday. The ministry said fires broke out in some of the attacked sites, which it said include oil facilities and three power stations and water desalination plants.
  • Pete Hegseth Declares ‘Historic and Overwhelming Victory’ in Iran: Trump ‘Forged This Moment’

    04/08/2026 9:44:30 AM PDT · by SoConPubbie · 53 replies
    Breitbart ^ | 8 Apr 2026 | Hannah Knudsen
    Iran “begged” for a ceasefire agreement, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced during a press conference Wednesday morning, claiming total victory for the United States and noting that President Donald Trump “forged this moment.”Speaking of the eleventh-hour ceasefire following Trump’s threat to end an entire civilization, Hegseth pointed to the broader picture, reminding Americans that Iran has a history of “targeting our people, killing Americans, [and] lying and blackmailing their way toward a nuclear weapon.”“So they thought. No longer. Not on our watch,” Hegseth said, explaining that other presidents have kicked the can down the road. However, he said, Trump...
  • Oil Plunges Below $95, Dow Rises 1,000 Points on Ceasefire

    04/08/2026 9:39:35 AM PDT · by SoConPubbie · 79 replies
    Breitbart ^ | 8 Apr 2026 | John Carney
    Investors around the globe on Wednesday cheered what appears to be the beginning of the end of the military clash between the U.S. and Iran, sending stocks higher and government bond yields lower. Oil prices plunged on the promise that the Strait of Hormuz may soon be open for shipping.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 1,000 points by midday, a 2.3 percent gain. The S&P 500 rose 2.1 percent. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.6 percent. Stocks had been even higher earlier in the morning but pared gains as reports on ongoing missle strikes and a drone attack on...
  • Iran shuts Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Hezbollah - report

    04/08/2026 8:39:41 AM PDT · by sopo · 146 replies
    Jerusalem Post (Reuters) ^ | 4/8/2026 | Reuters
    Iran has once again closed the Strait of Hormuz, blocking oil tankers from transiting the waterway, in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Hezbollah, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-tied outlet Fars News reported on Wednesday. Oil tankers attempting to transit the strait received threatening messages from the Iranian Navy, according to several shipping sources. "Any vessel trying to travel into the sea ... will be targeted and destroyed..." the message, which was received by several vessels, said. This is a developing story.
  • Iran and the collapse of the trade-for-peace theory

    04/08/2026 8:05:49 AM PDT · by Twotone · 20 replies
    Arab News ^ | April 7, 2026 | Salman Al-Ansari
    European countries, after the Second World War, came to a painful but profound conclusion: if they wanted to stop centuries of bloodletting among themselves, they had to make war materially irrational. The answer they found was not idealism alone, but interdependence. Trade. Shared markets. Shared interests. Over time, that logic helped give birth to what became the European Union. As the EU notes in its official history of postwar integration, the European Coal and Steel Community was created so that no single country could build the weapons of war against the others as in the past. Established by the Treaty...
  • Pete Hegseth claims 'Iran begged for this ceasefire' and says Trump has 'achieved victory with a capital V (DM might change title)

    04/08/2026 5:57:46 AM PDT · by dennisw · 97 replies
    UK Daily Mail ^ | 8 April 2026 | PERKIN AMALARAJ,
    US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth claimed today that Iran begged for Donald Trump's 11th-hour ceasefire. Last night, just a few hours before Trump's deadline for Iran to agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the US president said via Truth Social that he had agreed to 'suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,' after earlier sparking doomsday fears when he threatened to wipe out its 'entire civilisation'. In a later post, the US President hailed 'a big day for world peace' after agreeing to pause the attacks. At a Pentagon press briefing, Hegseth...
  • 'Political disaster': Israeli leaders lash out over ceasefire, split on who’s to blame

    04/08/2026 5:54:06 AM PDT · by McGruff · 92 replies
    The Jerusalem Post ^ | April 8, 2026 | TOBIAS SIEGAL
    Opposition leader Yair Lapid sharply criticized on Wednesday the ceasefire with Iran announced earlier in the day, calling it a failure of political and strategic leadership and warning of long-term consequences for Israel’s security. “There has never been such a political disaster in all of our history,” Lapid wrote in a statement, arguing that “Israel wasn't even part of the discussions when decisions were made concerning our national security.” He added that while “the military carried out everything that was asked of it” and “the public demonstrated amazing resilience,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “failed politically, failed strategically, and didn't meet...
  • Iran Launches Missiles at Israel Immediately After Ceasefire

    04/08/2026 4:58:32 AM PDT · by MarlonRando · 65 replies
    Patriot tv ^ | 4-7-26 | Miriane Angela
    “Jesse, as soon as we got the ceasefire, we got a bunch of missile fire. [It] wasn’t five minutes from the Truth Social post to the point where the phones started alerting that missiles had launched from Iran. The first of the missiles was intercepted, and the shrapnel landed outside of Jerusalem, not causing any problems,” Tobin told Jesse Watters. “What we saw here in Tel Aviv were these cluster bombs, like you see on your screen right now. They break up and look a bit like a 4th of July firework and usually has one bright point that comes...
  • Iranian Oil Refining Company confirms attack on Lavan refinery, Shana reports

    04/08/2026 4:45:13 AM PDT · by McGruff · 18 replies
    REUTERS ^ | April 8, 2026
    An oil refinery ​on Iran's Lavan ‌Island was targeted in an "enemy attack" ​on Wednesday ​without causing casualties, ⁠the National Iranian ​Oil Refining ​and Distribution Company said, according to the ​Oil Ministry's ​news outlet, Shana. The company ‌said ⁠the facility was hit at around 10 a.m. (0630 ​GMT), ​adding ⁠that safety and firefighting ​teams were ​working ⁠to contain the blaze and ⁠secure ​the site.