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Jan 20, 2026 - World

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) lashed out at world leaders who were groveling to President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos.During a Tuesday interview with Sky News, Newsom faced a question about how world leaders should handle Trump's effort to acquire Greenland."Yeah, it's time to buck up. It's time to get serious and stop being complicit," Newsom said. "You know, it's, I've seen this in the United States, the supine Congress, playing both sides,""But when you say standing tall, what do you mean?" the reporter asked."Just I can't take this complicity," the governor replied. "People rolling over. I should have brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders. I mean, handing out crowns and handing, I mean, this is pathetic.""Nobel Prizes, they are being given away. I mean, it's just pathetic," he continued. "And I hope people understand how pathetic they look on the world stage. I mean, at least from an American perspective, it's embarrassing."

Jan 20, 2026 - World

Donald Trump acknowledged to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a weekend phone call that he didn't know what he was talking about when he reacted to a report on NATO military deployments to Greenland.According to CNN, Trump had threatened new tariffs on U.S. allies based on the belief that NATO nations were escalating military presence in Greenland in response to his military threats. A UK official reported that Trump admitted he may have received "bad information" about the troop deployments, CNN reported Tuesday.Several European NATO countries announced military personnel deployments to Greenland to participate in joint exercises with Denmark. Trump initially criticized these deployments, but a Danish official clarified to CNN that the deployment was pre-coordinated through established European and U.S. military structures and communicated in advance.Despite clarifying his misunderstanding, Trump is scheduled to appear in Davos with plans to continue pressing for U.S. control of Greenland, a proposal that has drawn widespread international criticism and from Republicans at home..

Jan 20, 2026 - World

China is not recruiting its spies through meetings in dark alleys, nor by courtship over covert drinks. Rather, the intelligence agency and military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are using LinkedIn, the professional networking site, to send as many as 30,000 messages per hour to recruit spies, according to a new book, “The Great Heist: China’s Epic Campaign to Steal America’s Secrets.”David R. Shedd, a former director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), called the book he co-wrote with Andrew Badger, a former DIA case officer, “a real, urgent call” to Americans, from corporations to government, to better respond to China’s success in stealing tech and defense innovations.“I still don't think America has woken up on how serious the problem is,” Shedd told Raw Story. “We’ve got to take this much more seriously, but also much more urgently, in terms of responding to the threats, because I don't see any let-up by China.” David R. Shedd (provided photo)From nanotechnology to chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence, Shedd said, China succeeded in accomplishing ahead of time eight of 10 objectives under “Made in China 2025,” a 10-year national strategic plan by President Xi Jinping to turn his country into a global technology and manufacturing powerhouse.China is now the leader in 37 out of 44 emerging critical technologies, according to Shedd and Badger.“They are on a trajectory to overtake us and have overtaken us already in a number of areas, and that's only going to get worse,” Shedd said.‘An enormous behemoth’Shedd and Badger interviewed William Evanina, former director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center. He offered insight into the use of LinkedIn by China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to contact intelligence targets. Andrew Badger (photo provided by David Shedd)“This astounding number — never before reported— showcases Beijing's commitment to mass recruitment that can be best described as a ‘flood the zone’ strategy,” the authors write. “The MSS doesn't need all its targets to respond. Just a handful can be enough; a single successful recruit can make the entire endeavor worthwhile.”Examples of LinkedIn outreach might include contacting an academic about writing a research paper or meeting a worker at a coffee shop to discuss their expertise, exchanges possibly unknowingly resulting in intelligence reported back to the MSS, the authors write.“The MSS is the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency, Cyber Command and all other cyber components,” Shedd said. “It is an enormous behemoth of internal or domestic and international security, and over the … last 13 years, it has become one, if not a premier, service in terms of its capabilities.”In response to Raw Story’s questions about the use of LinkedIn by the MSS and PLA, Autumn Cobb, a LinkedIn spokesperson, shared links about verification and spotting scams.‘Threatens lives’When it comes to China stealing intellectual property from Americans, the stakes are high. “American military technologies once considered strategic advantages — stealth aircraft, silent propulsion systems, hypersonic missile platforms – are now widely found in the inventories of China’s armed forces,” Shedd and Badger write.“These thefts are not abstract; they represent the very real threats to the American warfighters who one day may have to face down such advanced technology. The theft of these assets doesn't just threaten markets; it threatens lives.”Corporations are also threatened.When Tesla became the first foreign-owned automaker in China, with CEO Elon Musk building a factory in Shanghai from 2019, concerns rose about theft of intellectual property. The Great Heist (provided image)Shedd and Badger quote a former senior Tesla staffer: “Elon always worried about the so-called billion-dollar thumb drive. A single USB stick with the Autopilot source code. That was the nightmare.”Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. ‘National security at stake’Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, Shedd said, an apparent “diminishment” of U.S national security policies on China has been observable, compared to the first Trump administration, which took China more seriously.Shedd speculated that the shift has to do with China’s control of the majority of rare earth minerals, which are used in magnets manufacturing and technology.President Xi is definitely watching how Trump has made taking over Greenland a priority, as well as Trump’s decision to “run” Venezuela after capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Shedd said.“My fear is the administration has turned it into everything's transactional,” Shedd said. “Our national security is at stake, and I … fully expect Xi Jinping to move on Taiwan next year.”Taiwan is a major U.S. trading partner. In December, the Trump administration announced the largest-ever U.S. arms package for Taiwan, valued at $11 billion. ‘Great Heist’Prior to Trump’s arrival in the White House, Chinese threats to American intelligence and national security were not a priority for the FBI or DIA, Shedd said.During his tenure at DIA from 2010 to 2015, Shedd said, much of the agency’s focus was on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, concerns which became “all consuming.”“There was this almost fear of taking on China operationally, and to really focus in on it was viewed in the FBI counterintelligence as second-rate to Russia,” Shedd said.“China, I won't say it was a total afterthought, but it certainly wasn't the main focus.”Shedd and Badger’s book explains how China pulled off its theft of so many American ideas, tracing the effort back to when President Bill Clinton advocated for China to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). When China joined the WTO in 2001, both Democrats and Republicans had a “naivety” that China would “play by the rules of international trade,” Shedd said.That set the stage for a flood of Chinese-made, cheaper versions of other country’s products.“It was framed as diplomacy, as engagement with a potential trading partner, possibly even a future ally,” Shedd and Badger write. “In hindsight, it was the moment the proverbial virus entered the global trade system and the launching pad for the CCP’s Great Heist against America.”In 2017, China’s National Intelligence Law legalized espionage, meaning citizens could be required to spy for the CCP.‘Counter Heist’To take on China, Shedd said, the U.S. must invest in research and development as well as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, in which China is "leaping way ahead of us.”Shedd and Badger also outline a seven-pillar “Counter Heist” strategy to put America on an “active counteroffensive” against China and disrupt the “Chinese espionage apparatus and to reassert America’s place as the world’s innovation superpower.”If Washington doesn’t get ahead of Beijing’s spying, Shedd said, he fears China will beat the U.S. to a quantum computing breakthrough that will decode all cryptology.“It will have enormous, dramatic implications for the United States and for the west more generally, and we won't ever have seen it coming,” Shedd said.The Great Heist is out now

Jan 20, 2026 - World

A former UK Prime Minister has detailed how Europe may react to Donald Trump's ongoing push to take over Greenland. Gordon Brown, who served as Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010, suggested there must be a tough stance from NATO member states against the US president, who has made it clear he will not rest until his administration takes over Greenland. Writing in The Guardian, ex-PM Brown wrote, "But if Greenland marks the end of the world looking to the US for leadership, it has also become the moment for Europe and the democracies of the global south to lift their heads out of the sand.""They, and other democracies, should now set out a new statement of values and rules that show how we will champion peace, stability and justice, and deliver meaningful progress in areas where international cooperation is essential.""So how to proceed? The democracies of the world should draft a short values statement, echoing the UN charter’s starting point – 'We the peoples...' – and this time showing we mean it."Trump has introduced a new 10% tariff order against eight nations, including Germany, the UK, and Denmark. The president also passed comment on the UK's decision to give up ownership of an island with a US military base on it. He posted to Truth Social, "hockingly, our 'brilliant' NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.""There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness. These are International Powers who only recognize STRENGTH, which is why the United States of America, under my leadership, is now, after only one year, respected like never before.""The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired. Denmark and its European Allies have to DO THE RIGHT THING. Thank you for your attention to this matter. PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP."

Jan 20, 2026 - World

The former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has slammed Donald Trump over a letter the president sent to Norway.In it, Trump confirmed to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre the US would look to subsume Greenland into its territory for the purpose of national security. In his letter, Trump also told Frederiksen that NATO members would have to do something for the US, rather than the US doing something for them.The letter reads, "Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.""Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.""I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT."Buttigieg has since denounced the letter and called on Americans to push back against Trump's rhetoric and keep the pressure on the GOP when it comes to healthcare subsidies.He said in a video posted to his YouTube channel, "On the House side, pressure works, do not let up. Don't let up on Senate Republicans, and don't let up on the White House that those Senate Republicans tend to obey.""Meanwhile, the president sent an unhinged message to Norway, like a 'take away the car keys' level of crazy message. Basically saying because the Norwegian government didn't give him the Nobel Peace Prize, the Danish government needs to give him Greenland or else he will punish all of Europe.""This isn't just crazy and embarrassing, it is dangerous. These are our allies. I remember serving side by side with troops from Denmark in Afghanistan. These alliances have kept us safe for generations. Tearing them up makes all of us less safe, here at home."Buttigieg went on to say Trump is bringing about a "destabilizing event" for the western world.