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What are the potential implications of increased defense spending on national security and international relations?

The US raid on Venezuela and tensions over Donald Trump’s plans for Greenland have refocused attention on global military spending, handing fresh impetus to Europe’s rallying defense stocks

How might a deal between the U.S. and Iran change our country's approach to the Middle East?

Washington doesn’t need to be the region’s micromanager. The post The U.S.–Iran Deal Could Help Transform America’s Mideast Strategy appeared first on The American Conservative

What lessons can we learn from history about leadership in international conflicts?

President Trump has been criticized from both the Left and the Right for his conduct of the Iran War and

How should Sweden respond to incidents involving Russian jets near its borders?

What impact could foreign support for leaders like Orban have on democracy in other countries?

Vice President Vance on Tuesday will plunge into Europe's most volatile election in years — a Hungarian campaign engulfed by spy scandals, sabotage and unprecedented peril for MAGA's favorite foreign ally. Why it matters: Viktor Orbán is the cornerstone of President Trump's vision for Europe. The pro-Kremlin, anti-EU strongman has spent 16 years building a template for Christian nationalist rule now embraced by the American right. Trump's national security strategy openly calls for "cultivating resistance" in Europe by empowering nationalist forces like Orbán's. His defeat would shatter that model at its source. Zoom in: Vance arrives in Budapest with a clear mission: Boost Orbán as an indispensable U.S. ally in the fight against migration and the liberal European order. Orbán has led Hungary since 2010, systematically reshaping its courts, media and electoral maps to entrench his party's power — a playbook the European Parliament has called "electoral autocracy."His challenger, former ally Péter Magyar, has channeled voter anger over corruption and a struggling economy into the most serious threat to Orbán's rule in years. The big picture: Hungary's April 12 election is exposing a rare geopolitical convergence: The U.S. and Russia are both intervening to try to keep Orbán in power, while the EU and Ukraine are eager to see him gone. Washington: Trump's administration has made Orbán's survival a strategic priority — his government has served as both ideological inspiration and proof of concept for MAGA's vision of nationalist governance.Moscow: Orbán's government is Russia's most valuable ally inside both NATO and the EU — blocking Ukraine aid, vetoing sanctions and allegedly leaking sensitive information to Moscow.Brussels: No single member state has done more damage to EU unity than Hungary under Orbán. A Magyar victory would unlock billions in frozen EU funds and remove the bloc's most disruptive member overnight.Kyiv: Orbán has grown openly hostile to his war-to

What should be done to reduce tensions between Israel, Hezbollah, and Iran to promote peace in the region?

Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs Sunday in retaliation to a Hezbollah missile attack on northern Israel, Israeli officials said. Why it matters: Iran threatened last week to launch a missile attack against Israel if it attacks Beirut, while the U.S. has backed Israel's right to self-defence. Such a move could unravel U.S.–Iran negotiations and reignite the war. Israel notified the Trump administration before the strike, a U.S. official and two other sources with knowledge tell Axios."The United States supports Israel's right to self-defense and stands with the legitimate Government of Lebanon as it works to deliver a better future for its citizens," a U.S. official tells Axios. Hezbollah "must stop firing immediately and allow these agreements to take effect." Driving the news: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike answered Hezbollah missiles fired at northern Israel earlier Sunday, which the Israeli military says it intercepted. Israeli officials said the Beirut strike targeted a Hezbollah command center in Dahieh — a Shia district known as a Hezbollah stronghold. At least two people were killed and a dozen wounded, according to Lebanon's state news agency. Threat level: Senior Iranian lawmakers publicly threatened retaliation. Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, wrote on X that Iran "will give a decisive and painful response to the Zionist regime's attack on Dahieh."He told followers to "watch the skies" over Israel tonight.Iranian speaker of parliament and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf echoed that.Ghalibaf wrote on X: "They neither adhere to the ceasefire nor believe in dialogue, and with the naval blockade and violation of agreements on Lebanon, they showed that they only understand the language of force. The naval blockade against the Iranian nation and today's U.S. green light to the Zionist regime turn American and regime bases and assets in the region into legitimate targets