President Trump declared a US Hormuz toll of 20 percent on all cargo shipped through the strait, naming America the guardian of the waterway. Iran's foreign minister mocked the move but agreed with the premise. Oil prices jumped over 7 percent as the world waits to see who ends up paying to keep the Persian Gulf open, stirring debate.
The US missile shortage is real. America fired half its THAAD and Patriot interceptors and 30 percent of its Tomahawks in just weeks of war, but factories only replace 15 Tomahawks and 20 Patriots a month. Congress stalls new funding while China quietly expands its own missile stockpile by 50 percent in just four years.
Colombia election results confirm De la Espriella's win, but Petro refuses to accept it and even calls Cepeda the real president. The U.S. and twelve allies just warned Petro to respect the vote, while the president elect plans a military garrison inauguration to honor Colombia's soldiers and police, and the region keeps shifting right.
China invested for two decades while Washington looked away. Now Uruguay warns Europe to ratify Mercosur or lose South America to Beijing. A hard look at how Washington, Brussels, and China have approached Latin America, and why America needs a real Latin America strategy before it loses the hemisphere for good, before it is too late.
Germany's auto lobby admits it cannot keep all factories open and proposes selling them to foreign buyers. That means China. Green mandates, expensive energy, and Brussels' failed tariff policy created the German auto crisis. Europe's industrial sovereignty is at stake, and the buyers are already inside the gates.
The NATO summit in Ankara revealed the West's uncomfortable secret: everyone knows Turkey is unreliable, yet Trump and Europe still courted Erdogan for two days. Trump offered to lift S-400 sanctions and mulled F-35 sales, alarming Israel and Greece, while Europe chased energy routes and migration control through Turkish territory.
Iran's attacks in Hormuz on three tankers triggered a powerful American military response on July 7, with U.S. airstrikes hitting Iranian ports, air defenses, and missile sites. The Department of the Treasury also revoked Iran's oil sale license, cutting off Tehran's main revenue, testing Trump's peace through strength doctrine weeks after the ceasefire.
The new military headquarters of Egypt, called the Octagon, is now the largest military complex on Earth, bigger than the U.S. Pentagon and the size of Lisbon. While Sisi celebrates the fortress, poor Egyptians ask why, and Coptic Christians still wait for protection from persecution amid Turkey drills, Russian missiles, and Israel's cold peace.
The Founders were not isolationists. They were global traders who guarded their political sovereignty jealously. Washington, Jefferson, and Monroe built a foreign policy compass that still points true 250 years later. From the Barbary Coast to the Strait of Hormuz, the principles endure. Founders foreign policy and America First share the same principles, separated only by history.
Twin earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela on June 24, killing over 2,295 people. The Venezuela earthquake 2026 revealed who Venezuela's real friends are. Trump sent Marines and 300 million dollars. Bukele rescued some survivors personally. China pledged little. Russia sent nothing. And 137 hero dogs searched the rubble.
On July 1, 2026, the U.S. officially refused to renew USMCA. "The United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form," said USTR Jamieson Greer. The trade deficit is Trump's primary concern: 197,000 million dollars with Mexico plus 46,000 million with Canada in 2025, more than double what it was when USMCA took effect.
On June 29, 2026, Peru's ONPE completed the official vote count confirming Keiko Fujimori wins with 50.13%. Her fourth attempt at the presidency. Her first win. The JNE will officially proclaim her president-elect on July 3. Behind her: Sendero's terror, nine presidents in ten years, Rolexgate, Chifagate, and a crime crisis that shocked even Peruvians.
