This week, the US-China trade war escalated dramatically. The Trump administration announced 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese exports, which will jump to 25 percent in January unless China offers concessions. China countered with tariffs ranging from 5-10 percent on $60 billion in US products that may likewise rise to 25 percent. President Trump then shot back with a threat of tariffs on yet another $267 billion in Chinese exports.

as Syria’s horrific civil war grinds towards its conclusion, the country will remain a battleground of competing geopolitical interests, with Russia, Iran, Turkey, the US, Israel, the Syrian government, the Kurds, and foreign-backed jihadists all maneuvering for position ahead of any type of peace settlement.

No surprise, President Trump on Monday actually followed through on his threat to impose tariffs on another $200 billion worth of Chinese exports to the US. Here is how it works. A 10 percent tax will go into effect immediately, increasing to 25 percent on 1 January 2019. China, undeterred by Trump’s willingness to up the ante, has already pledged to retaliate, and they have done so in the past and they won't be shy this time. Remember that negotiated compromise to end the US-China trade war. Well, it looks pretty much dead.

If you remember correctly almost 10 years ago this time, Lehman Brothers, the financial services giant, collapsed BIG TIME. It was a pivotal moment in what became the most severe global financial crisis since the 1930s depression. US banks wobbled. European markets shivered. Growth slowed in Asia. Furthermore, if you remember China’s slowing demand for oil, gas, various metals, and minerals hit emerging markets in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.

Several days ago President Trump went on Twitter to explain that if Apple wants to avoid the new tariffs he is preparing on billions of dollars of Chinese consumer goods, Apple should make its products in the US instead of China. “Start building new plants now,”. Welcome to a new chapter of US-China Trade War.

Last winter, Xi Jinping was doing very well. Perhaps more powerful than any Chinese leader since Mao, he was also feeling good about China’s handle on North Korea and ready to stand toe to toe with Trump on trade.

In Sweden’s nationwide elections over the weekend, the anti-EU, anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats maintained their political rise, while the main center-left and center-right blocs have suffered big time. I have three quick thoughts on what this election says about the shifting political winds in the broader Europe.

This may be the final major battle of Syria’s seven-year civil war. In defiance of warnings from the US and Turkish governments, Syrian government forces, with Russian military support, look poised to begin an assault on Idlib province, the last rebel-controlled area in the country. There are tens of thousands of rebel and jihadist fighters in Idlib. Three million civilians, half of them refugees from other regions, are trapped in harm’s way.