Nine years ago, when Trump last had a state visit to China, Beijing strove to assert and convince that it was a great power of similar standing to the US. This time, it had no need to do anything of the sort.

These are mafia-like tactics: gangsters visit you to offer protection for a fee; if you refuse to join their racket, they break your legs, trash your shop, or you end up riddled with bullets.

The current death toll stands at over 2,500 (not including the many uncountable bodies under rubble), while 1.2 million people, a fifth of the country’s population, have been displaced.

The war has exposed the deep instability of world capitalism and sharpened existing contradictions in economies already weighed down by debt, austerity, and declining living standards.

Donald Trump is now in an impossible position in which any action he takes will be wrong.

The Shield of the Americas is nothing more than a political and military tool to control the hemisphere and coordinate reaction at a central level.

The ceasefire is very fragile and could fall apart at any minute. But whether it holds or not, this is a serious defeat for the US and Trump personally.

Iran has succeeded not only in disrupting the world energy market, but also in destroying energy production and export capacity in the Gulf States.

Experience is directly drawing a connecting line between this war and the rising cost of gas, mortgages and every other commodity. But, in the minds of millions, it is also being connected with Epstein.

All politicians lie. It comes with the job description. But one has to say that Trump has taken this to an art form!