Author: Michael

Six months after President Donald Trump predicted a short war with Iran, Washington is ramping up economic pressure in a bid to push Iran into concessions.

U.S. Continues Sanctions and Blockade

President Donald Trump participates in the swearing-in ceremony for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz, Friday, April 18, 2025, in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)

Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix, Arizona. Credit: Gage Skidmore.

Russia’s rapidly expanding use of the S8000 Banderol cruise missile is contributing to a dramatic deterioration in the security of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, with repeated attacks increasingly disrupting commercial shipping and port operations. The Banderol is particularly significant because it combines capabilities normally associated with substantially more expensive cruise missiles with an emphasis on relatively inexpensive mass production.

The U.S. military has cleared Iranian sea mines from the transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz, the head of U.S. Central Command said Friday. In a video address. Adm. Brad Cooper announced that a combination of forces, led by Navy divers and SEALs, has removed mines laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the spring.
“The circumstances were challenging and dangerous, to say the least, but we got the job done,” Cooper said.
The Strait of Hormuz is a vital but narrow waterway where ships ferrying oil and other important chemicals pass daily, in normal circumstances.

This video describes the military situation in

If you’ve ever watched DreamWorks’ “Trolls” movies, you know they’re more than a colorful animated movie series with catchy songs that get stuck in your head. Beneath the glitter, scrapbooks, subtle adult humor, and dancing, lies some surprisingly relevant lessons for today’s military-connected community.
It’s a lesson that is applicable for adults and children alike.
Also Read: 6 reasons why the military community loved Dolly Parton
Military life isn’t unlike the world of the Trolls.

The war in Ukraine has become increasingly technological. Take unmanned systems: Kyiv has successfully implemented a drone strategy that combines a drone wall along the immediate front, long-range drones that strike deep inside Russia, AI-enabled mid-range drones that target logistics behind the front, and naval drones that help enforce a blockade at sea. Cheap technology, paired with intelligence operations, is also expanding Ukraine’s global reach.

The media narrative is familiar and seductive. Ukraine has become a battle laboratory for inexpensive, rapidly iterated drones—FPV (first-person-view) strike systems, fiber-optic variants that shrug off jamming, sensor-to-shooter networks, and production tempos measured in the hundreds of thousands per month. American officials praise the innovation, integration, and rapid adaptation. Pentagon programs are already purchasing selected Ukrainian systems or facilitating U.S. production lines. Ukrainian manufacturers have shipped FPV drones to U.S. forces.

Let me be unequivocally clear from the outset: I fully support taking proactive military action against the Islamic Republic of Iran. For over four decades, Tehran has posed a clear and present threat to global stability, continuously destabilizing the Middle East, sponsoring proxy terror, and maintaining a blood-stained record of complicity in the deaths of hundreds of Americans. The necessity of confronting this fanatic regime—particularly as it inched dangerously close to the nuclear threshold—is unassailable.

Marine Corps Compass Points
What is not well known outside the Marine Corps, is for the last seven years, the Marine Corps’ global combined arms, crisis response capabilities have been badly…

A. Hastings, J. Casey & E.