Unlike the American Democratic Party, the Western news media and most of my neighbours, I do not fully understand Trump. Although, unlike all of them, I thought from the start he had a good chance of winning and, as time went on, became more confident and finally bet he would win.

One of the consistent themes of Trump's campaign was that foreign entanglements were not to the country's advantage and the wars were a waste of resources; bad for business, as it were. Now, I'm not so simple-minded as to believe campaigning politicians. Bush promised a quieter foreign policy and Obama was going to close Guantánamo; but what made me pay attention to Trump's statements was that they weren't just the disconnected laundry list of focus-groups handed out by most politicians, they had an internal consistency. (And consistent over quite some time: watch this interview from 1987.)

That consistency could be found in his slogan Make America Great Again. It was the "again" that was the clue. Shattered tells us that Bill Clinton tried to get his wife to perceive the dissatisfaction in the USA, Sanders tapped into some of it but Trump saw and understood it early and based his campaign on it; Clinton never understood. Again, that's the clue. I concluded that Trump saw a connection between the loss of "greatness" and the foreign entanglements: the "six trillion dollars" spent in the Middle East would have been better spent on infrastructure". Of course he was right: there is a direct connection. But to stop that drain, Trump, now President, has to break the entanglements and that will not be easy. Last year I formed the theory that he would try to get the allies to break these entanglements and updated the idea recently. (It was written just before we heard that Trump is considering to charging allies 150% for the cost of US bases - something that is sure to cause a lot of re-thinking and disentangling.)

Mikhail Lesin, the former Russian press minister who turned up dead in a Washington hotel room in 2015, sustained a fracture to a neck bone just below the jaw line "at or near the time" of his death, according to documents released by the city's medical examiner that provide new details about his final days.

The finding does not provide clear-cut evidence of foul play in Lesin's death; another statement in the documents suggests the bone could have been damaged "after death" -- possibly during the autopsy.

Twelve HUGE, damning bombshells dropped this week, spinning this storm into high gear. From the Lisa Page transcripts to McCain's connection to the dossier, a grand jury investigation into Facebook, massive NXIVM updates, Jeffrey Epstein back on the chopping block, and Andrew Weisman leaving special counsel. And, while Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was preparing her audition for her role as a congresswoman for New York, Paul Ryan was sabotaging democrat subpoenas. Meanwhile, Hollywood's being sliced and diced for paying off colleges and Ivy League Schools to get their children admitted. Of course, this is only the beginning of investigations into nefarious actions taking place in the upper echelons of colleges, and it's safe to say, politicians will surely make the list.

Who could forget the terrorist training camp discovered in New Mexico last year, where they had loads of guns and ammunition, along with a deceased child? The court dismissed three of the five, creating one hell of a stir in this country. Now, there is a superseding indictment charging all five with conspiracy to attack and kill officers and employees of the United States, along with multiple other charges.

While Congressman Jim Jordan was busy calling out Adam Schiff in a twitter frenzy this week, the Democrats, along with 12 Republicans voted to block the President's emergency at the southern border, which Trump immediately vetoed the following day, in his first veto as President.

But, "nothing's happening," right? Buckle up - this party is just getting started.

The art of timing, as demonstrated by Emmanuel Macron: With violence raging on the streets, the President of the Republic and his wife Brigitte decided to spend the weekend at the station of La Mongie (Haute-Pyrenees), reported La Depeche and France 3.

But according to BFMTV, the head of state will return sooner to face the crisis, as criticism mounts against Macron for insensitive to the ongoing protests.

The presidential couple has just returned from a trip to Kenya. But they were seen on Friday, March 15, by skiers, on the slopes and lifts. The press was kept away from the couple by the security services.

The president skied all morning, before stopping at l'Etape du Berger meeting one of his childhood friends, Eric Abadie. "I will spend two or three days here to recharge my batteries, to find landscapes and friendly faces," he told La Depeche. "You have to know where you come from. I am happy to see the Pyrenees like that, radiant, although I know it was difficult at Christmas. But there are people here, and Eric is an example, people who want to make things happen," he continued before returning to the slopes.

Trump's foreign policy gambles in the Middle East just continue to shake the region up, causing confusion, betrayal and, more recently, a new arms race which is all heading towards more bloodshed there, as ISIS appears to be in decline and Russia, Iran and Turkey continue to look like stronger players.

Despite Iran sanctions, Tehran continues to show its strength in its sheer resilience and its brash cavalier attitude towards other countries in the region; barely days after if foreign minister resigns - but then withdraws it - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani takes a trip to Iraq, to remind the Americans that Tehran still wields considerable power and influence there, as well as Syria, Lebanon and also Qatar and Turkey.

Originally appeared at Red Star; Translated by J.Hawk exclusively for SouthFront

Army General Valeriy Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, spoke at the general assembly of the Academy of Military Sciences

The assembly had the format of a military science conference dealing with the development of military strategy in current conditions. The conference was opened by Army General Makhmut Gareev, the Academy's president. Participants included Academy members, leadership of the Ministry of Defense (MoD), representatives from the Presidential Administration, State Duma, and Federation Council, as well as the leading scientists from the Russian Academy of Science, universities, research institutes working for the MoD. They all discussed the nature of future wars, armed conflicts, and the most pressing defense problems.

The General Staff Chief and First Deputy Minister of Defense, Army General Gennadiy Gerasimov, presented a report on the main trends in the evolution of military strategy and the tasks facing military science. We are presenting this report for our readers.

We are currently seeing the development of the concept of conducting war through a coordinated application of military and non-military instruments, with the decisive role played by the Armed Forces.

Theresa May urged MPs "to do a patriotic thing" and vote for her Brexit deal unless they want leaving the EU to take months, "if ever." The last-ditch appeal comes as the Corbynites vow another confidence vote if the deal fails.

The UK prime minister didn't sit idle this weekend, trying to win the hearts and minds of stubborn MPs who last week rejected the Brexit deal she agreed on with the EU. If her plan is backed before Thursday's EU summit, she would seek "a short technical extension" beyond the March 29 deadline to leave the bloc, May wrote in the Sunday Telegraph.

Admitting that it will not be "an ideal outcome," May argued that "it is something the British people would accept if it led swiftly to delivering Brexit." Otherwise, "we will not leave the EU for many months, if ever."

That aside, the British people face the prospect of going to the polls to elect members of the European Parliament in May - an obligation which comes with the UK's extended membership in the EU.

"There could be no more potent symbol of Parliament's collective political failure," the Prime Minister wrote.

America's trade war resulted in $7.8 billion in losses for the nation's economy, while the subsequent higher costs of imports took more than $68 billion from consumers and producers, economists at leading US universities found.

Imports from targeted countries declined 31.5 percent, while targeted US exports fell by 11 percent, the evaluation of the short-term impact of trade conflicts with partners across the globe has shown.

The findings were presented in a study titled 'The Return to Protectionism', written by researchers from Yale, Columbia, UCLA, and the University of California, Berkeley. The paper was published by the National Bureau of Economic Research earlier in March.

While $7.8 billion is a relatively small figure for the country's whole economy, amounting to 0.04 percent of GDP, the authors note that American "consumers bear the incidence of the tariff." Annual consumer and producer losses from the higher costs of imports totaled $68.8 billion, or 0.37 percent of GDP.

'Republican counties bore the largest cost of the full war'

While "all but 30 counties experience a reduction in tradeable real income," Trump's actions surprisingly brought the largest losses to GOP counties, according to the research.

Turkey and Russia are in the process of reopening an imperative highway that links the cities of Aleppo, Syria and Gaziantep, Turkey.

According to a government source that spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Russian and Turkish armed forces are working to restore access to the Aleppo-Gaziantep Highway as the situation along the border begins to calm down.

The source said Turkish and Russian armed forces met earlier this week to discuss logistics and map out a plan to install checkpoints from Kilis to Aleppo city.

Donald Trump has once again lashed out at his political opponents after the ex-spy responsible for the infamous 'Steele dossier' admitted that he used an unverified internet post as a source while compiling the dubious document.

Christopher Steele, the ex-British spy who fueled Russiagate hysteria with his DNC-commissioned opposition research on Donald Trump, admitted during a lawsuit deposition that he relied on unverified information contained in a report published by CNN iReport - a now-defunct "user-generated" news site. Stories featured on iReport were submitted by citizen journalists and were not edited, fact-checked, or screened before being published.

Steele acknowledged under questioning that he had used a July 28, 2009 report published on iReport to substantiate claims he made about internet hosting company Webzilla and its alleged Kremlin ties. However, the former British intel officer insisted that he thought iReport boasted the same thorough journalistic standards as CNN.

When asked if he understood that content on the site was not generated by CNN reporters, he said, "I do not." He was then asked: "Do you understand that they have no connection to any CNN reporters?" Steele replied, "I do not."