The COVID Playbook Returns: Energy Rationing & The Politics Of Crisis Control

Italian Diplomatic Sources Deny Talks With Iran To Open Hormuz Update(1140ET): Italy denies talks with Iran, but still nothing official on a public level from government ministers: No negotiations are under way with Iran to guarantee safe passage through the Hormuz Strait for Italian ships or oil tankers, an Italian Foreign Ministry source has told Reuters, denying a report in The Financial Times. “In their diplomatic contacts, Italian leaders want to favour the conditions for a general military de-escalation, but there is no under-the-table negotiation aimed at preserving only some merchant ships...

Deadlocked At Square Zero: Very First Line Of Iran's Latest Proposal 'Unacceptable,' Trump Says Tehran and Washington are truly not just back to square one, but it's as if no rounds of dialogue - direct or indirect - have even taken place. It's more like being back at square zero - and the US President has just acknowledged it. President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday while departing Beijing that even the very first first sentence of Iran's latest proposal was "unacceptable" and blamed the Iranians for backtracking on...

The Trump administration’s downsizing USAID has brought the usual claims: that without US aid, millions of poor people around the world will die of starvation and disease. Not surprisingly, the claims are exaggerated.