On March 25, President Donald J. Trump signed an order proclaiming U.S. support for Israel's annexation of the Golan. This act ended Washington's opposition to any acquisition of territory by force- a principle that has been a key pillar of the global order since the United Nations was founded in 1945.

It also raised the prospect that Washington's support for Israel's other major act of Anschluss (= annexation)- that of Greater East Jerusalem, which Israel announced in 1967- may not be far behind.

This is far from the first time that Trump has upended long-held principles of U.S. foreign policy or international law. But with many still awaiting the long-delayed release of details of his "deal of the century" for Arab-Israeli peace, Trump's open embrace of Israel's Anschluss of the Golan just about guarantees that this new peace effort will be dead on arrival, if not aborted before birth.

Mike Lee uses velociraptors, tauntauns And Aquaman to dismantle the Green New Deal

Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee argued against the Green New Deal on Tuesday by mocking two of the most controversial, and often ridiculed, policy proposals in the resolution: eliminating air travel and flatulating cows.

"Unlike others, I'm not immediately afraid of what the Green New Deal would do to the economy and our government. After all, this isn't going to pass - not today, not any time soon certainly," Lee said on the Senate floor. "After reading the Green New Deal, I'm mostly afraid of not being able to get through this speech with a straight face - I rise today to consider the Green New Deal with the seriousness it deserves."

Syria's UN ambassador has suggested the US hand "a couple" of its own states over to Israel instead of flouting international law and selling others' land for favors with the Israeli lobby, like it did with the Golan Heights.

Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari offered a stark rebuke to the US-backed Israeli claim to the occupied Golan Heights at the UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday. Jaafari said the Trump administration does the bidding of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN to curry favor with the powerful Israeli lobby in the US.

In a remark that elicited a chuckle and a head-shake from his Israeli counterpart, Jaafari suggested that Washington bargain away land that is actually its to give.

You can give them North and South Carolina, for example, why not? South Carolina is a great piece of land... So, give Israel a couple of states if this administration really wants to have Israeli support...

Nigel Farage has likened Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement to the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War, claiming it represents a "betrayal".

The former Ukip leader claimed the financial settlement was similar to the reparations imposed in Germany and that the inclusion of Northern Ireland in an EU customs area was like the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine.

The post-WWI treaty was key in Adolf Hitler's early rise to power and was central to the right-wing "stab in the back" myth that Germany was sold out by its civilian leaders.

"We're witnessing a slow- motion betrayal - perhaps the greatest betrayal of any democratic vote in the history of our nation. The reason is of course this withdrawal treaty," Mr Farage said in a speech in the European Parliament.

Bejing's multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will complement the growth of Africa's continental free trade, according to Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of Djibouti Ports and Free Zone Authority.

"I am expecting more movements of goods, infrastructure development from the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation slated for April in Beijing, as well as stronger interconnection between Africa and the rest of the world," he told Xinhua News on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum.

Hadi explained that projects involving cooperation with China (such as the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway and the Doraleh Multi-Purpose Port and international free trade zone) are helping Djibouti promote trade in Africa as well as distribution across the East African region.

One of Asia's biggest security headaches since the end of World War II has been a potential choke point on crude oil shipments that sail through the Strait of Malacca.

China receives more than half its oil imports via the strait from the Middle East. Japan gets 90%; South Korea about 80%. A hostile navy could block the narrow waterway between Malaysia and Indonesia, paralyzing a foe's economy.

The 890 km strait that divides Indonesia and Malaysia is only 2.7 km wide (1.7 miles) at its narrowest near Singapore, forming a natural bottleneck. It is the second-largest oil trade choke point in the world after the Strait of Hormuz.

Beijing has long recognized this maritime Achilles heel, as do Tokyo and Seoul. It's one reason why China is building bases in the South China Sea and sending submarines into the Indian Ocean. The idea is to position military assets closer to the strait to deter potential foes like the US and India from closing the channel to oil shipments.

Recently, Boeing (NYSE:BA) reported earnings that smashed expectations and its guidance came in far higher than consensus. Boeing's share price then soared, taking out its all-time high as annual sales topped $100 billion for the first time in its 102-year history. Many analysts claimed the American airplane maker was set for even more gains in 2019 after bouncing back from production snarls with its 737 jetliners but with their airplanes falling from the sky everything rapidly changed.

The sales of jetliners are very important because they play into the bigger picture of world trade and trade imbalances and China is a massive battleground for Boeing and Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF) because of the sheer size of its market. China's air travel market is expected to surpass the United States by 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association which estimates that 927 million people will travel to or from China by air in 2025. This compares to the 904 million passengers to and from the United States. Translate that into actual orders, and you're looking at something on the order of 2,800 new planes with a book value of $329 billion. Boeing has projected it could sell China 6,330 planes worth $950 billion during the next 20 years. Nearly three-quarters of the planes for its civilian airlines will be single-aisle with about 700 widebodies. Boeing wants to sell China as many of those airplanes as it can and beat out its arch-rival, Airbus.

Unfortunately, Airbus won't be the only rival Boeing has to contend with because China is rapidly pushing its own aviation sector forward. The C919, being built by Chinese state-owned aviation manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), is a perfect example of Chinese intentions and should send fear into the hearts of Americans. COMAC has spent 11 years and $6.5 billion developing the C919, which is seen as China's answer to the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320. The C-919 has a flight range of up to 3,451 miles (5,555 kilometers), which means it can fly non-stop from Shanghai to Jakarta or from Paris to Montreal and it can fit 158 to 168 seats. This hits right at the heart of its competitors, different models of Boeing 737 can seat 85 to 215 passengers, while an A320 can accommodate 100 to 240 people.

The conspiracy known as 'Russiagate' should have ended with the news that, after intense investigation, no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia was found - but die-hard collusion truthers are finding it hard to move on.

Attorney General William Barr sent a four-page letter summarizing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings to Congress on March 24. Quoting the report directly Barr wrote that the investigation "did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government" in 2016.

That unambiguous conclusion was reached with the help of 19 lawyers, 40 FBI agents, intelligence analysts and forensic accountants, among other professionals. In pursuit of any evidence to prove Trump colluded with Moscow, Mueller issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants, obtained more than 230 orders for communication records and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses.

But none of that was enough to satisfy or dent the resolve of the Russiagate true believers (on social media or in the mainstream media) who are still convinced that they were right all along and are coming up with new theories in a last-ditch effort to prove it.

A report in Huffington Post recently revealed the case of Wikipedia editor Ed Sussman, who was paid by media clients such as NBC and Axios to help diminish critical material. Paid editors operating in a similar manner to Sussman have worked on behalf of CNN contributor Hilary Rosen and the CEOs of Reddit and Intel, among other clients.

Other conduct by Sussman not covered by the Huffington Post shows him authoring fluff pieces for NBC executives and getting his proposed changes approved by another paid Wikipedia editor.

The report by Ashley Feinberg detailed former journalist Ed Sussman's work as a paid Wikipedia fixer for clients such as Axios, NBC, and Facebook. Sussman did this work through the firm WhiteHatWiki, which he argues follows Wikipedia policies. Sussman disclosed his paid editing on Wikipedia and ostensibly worked within the rules by having other editors approve proposed changes.

Germany is being pressurized to act against its own economic interests - and put those of US business first.

Wolfgang Kubicki, deputy leader of the opposition Free Democrats (FDP), called last week for the US Ambassador to Germany to be expelled for acting like a "high commissioner of an occupying power." And it isn't hyperbole.

We're coming up in a few months time to the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, which began the liberation of western Europe by Allied forces from the Nazis. Who would have thought that in 2019, we'd have a high ranking German politician from a party, known for its strong support of the Atlantic Alliance, calling for the American Ambassador to his country to be booted out for interfering in his country's affairs?

Last week, Ambassador Grenell criticized Germany's military spending plans within NATO as insufficient - echoing President Trump's calls for European NATO members to spend more on defense.