International

Wedding Convoys Bombed From the Air: Drone Warfare Deepens Sudan's Catastrophe as El Obeid Braces for Siege

Background
Sudan's civil war, now in its third year, pits the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that grew out of the Janjaweed militias notorious for the Darfur genocide. The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the two forces' leaders,…

Trump Presses NATO on Spending and Greenland as Zelensky Makes Urgent Patriot Appeal in Ankara

NATO leaders gathered in Ankara, Turkey on July 7 and 8 for the alliance's 36th summit — only the second ever hosted by Turkey — under conditions that exposed both the alliance's growing military ambitions and the deep strains running through the U.S.-European relationship. President Donald Trump used the summit to renew pressure…

U.S. Strikes Iran Again as Strait of Hormuz Crisis Reignites, Trump Declares Ceasefire “Over”

The fragile truce that had quieted, if not ended, the 2026 Iran war shattered this week after Iranian forces struck three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the United States responded with a fresh wave of military strikes across Iranian territory. The exchange, which unfolded over roughly 24 hours beginning Tuesday, marks the most…

NATO Leaders Gather in Ankara as Trump Presses Allies to Make Good on Their 5% Defense Spending Pledge

Background
NATO's 32 heads of state and government convened in Ankara, Turkiye, on July 7 and 8, 2026, for the alliance's annual summit, hosted this year by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The gathering is the first major test of the landmark spending commitment NATO members made a year earlier…

Kabul Strikes Back: Taliban Drones Hit Pakistan as the Border War Deepens

World Politics

The war between Afghanistan and Pakistan has crossed a threshold. On July 1, Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced that its air force had struck what it called Islamic State centers inside Pakistan — in Saranan, a town in Balochistan’s Pishin district, and at sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa…

Kabul Strikes Back: Taliban Drones Hit Pakistan as the Border War Deepens

World Politics

The war between Afghanistan and Pakistan has crossed a threshold. On July 1, Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced that its air force had struck what it called Islamic State centers inside Pakistan — in Saranan, a town in Balochistan’s Pishin district, and at sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa…