A love letter to US Route 50, America’s loneliest highway

The essence of lonely is embodied after peeling off Highway 50 into a dusty parking lot at Middlegate Station, a pit stop in the Nevada desert about an hour from any cities in both directions.  There’s a small wooden building that appears to have been standing for at least 100 years and near the front … Read more

Iranian warship enters Red Sea as tensions rise – POLITICO

Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Iran dispatched a naval frigate to the Red Sea amid an escalating standoff between Western nations and Tehran-backed militants that has seen maritime traffic attacked by drones, missiles and speedboats. Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported Monday that the warship Alborz crossed the Bab el-Mandeb … Read more

What the Middle East will look like in 2024

The Middle East experienced a year of intense activity. With 2023 drawing to a close, experts reviewing the region’s changes agree that the Israel-Gaza war, sparked by Hamas’s terrorist incursion on October 7, was the year’s most significant event. However, this was not the only significant development. For more stories from The Media Line … Read more

Biden’s foreign policy headache in 2024 – POLITICO

Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, is CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and host of the weekly podcast “World Review with Ivo Daalder.” United States President Joe Biden starts 2024 in circumstances that any incumbent would envy. The economy is … Read more

Israel begins partial drawdown of troops from Gaza – POLITICO

The Israeli military has started withdrawing units from Gaza, indicating that a new phase of the war has begun, though officials said the conflict is far from over. “Some of the reservists will return to their families and employment this week,” an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said. The decision to move soldiers out of Gaza … Read more

Iran stations warship in Red Sea as US aircraft carrier leaves Mid East

Iran’s Alborz warship has passed through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and entered the Red Sea, the country’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday. Iranian warships have been operating in the region “to secure shipping lanes since 2009,” Tasnim said. Iranian-backed groups have not reduced their attacks in the Middle East. On the opposite, … Read more

Bitcoin (BTC) price predicitions for 2024

Filip Radwanski | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images Bitcoin had a huge rally in 2023, with the digital currency up some 152% for the year. And a number of commentators CNBC spoke to — both inside and outside of the cryptocurrency industry — expect the rise to continue. After hitting a record high … Read more

New Year, new strategy: How will Iran shift threats to Israel?

Iran has been dictating the tempo of the conflict against Israel for more than a year. It began in the fall of 2022 to heat up threats in the West Bank using Palestinian Islamic Jihad. After seeking to empower this proxy group and fill a vacuum left by the failure of the Palestinian Security … Read more

What is home in the age of exile? – POLITICO

Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Tatyana Margolin is co-founder of STROIKA, with a mission to reverse the tide of rising authoritarianism by building, resourcing and connecting resistance movements around the globe. One can reliably gauge the latest geopolitical upheaval by who is sleeping on the red pullout couch in … Read more

Democracy is in peril in the world’s bonanza year of elections – POLITICO

Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Is 2024 the year when democracy hits a tipping point and slides toward autocracy? It may seem like an odd question to ask at a time when countries representing nearly half the world’s population, or an estimated 3.8 billion people, are sending their voters … Read more