Putin Won't Stop at Ukraine, Says Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff
Gen. Dan 'Razin' Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators on June 11 that he does not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin would stop at Ukraine if he succeeds in conquering the country.
Caine made the comment during
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Trump's top diplomat in Africa leaving State Department
President Trump's top diplomat in Africa, Troy Fitrell, will retire from the State Department next month, and Jonathan Pratt, the Bureau of African Affairs deputy assistant secretary, will take his place. 'After a long and distinguished career, the Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs Senior Bureau Official Ambassador Troy Fitrell is retiring in mid-July as planned,' a State Department spokesperson told The Hill in an emailed statement on Thursday. 'The Bureau of African Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jonathan Pratt will step into the Senior Bureau Official role after Ambassador Fitrell's departure,' the spokesperson added. Fitrell, a foreign service official, previously worked as the United States ambassador to Guinea. He has served in various State Department posts across Africa, including serving as the director of the Office of Western African Affairs and Southern African Affairs. He was also the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassies in Ethiopia and Mauritius. Fitrell has been the head of the State Department's African bureau since the assistant secretary, a Senate-confirmed position, has not yet been chosen. Fitrell, who has been a diplomat for more than three decades, previously said that the Trump administration is changing the U.S. approach to Africa from 'one rooted primarily in development assistance to a strategy that prioritizes robust commercial engagement.' The administration sees trade as a way to counter Chinese and Russian influence on the continent. Semafor first reported on Fitrell's forthcoming exit. Pratt, who will succeed Fitrell, previously served as the U.S. ambassador to Djibouti from 2021 to 2023. He also had other assignments within the State Department, working in places such as Pakistan, Sudan and Angola. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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What Mongolia's New Prime Minister Means for Its Democracy
Gombojav Zandanshatar looks on during a meeting with his counterpart in the Hungarian parliament in Budapest on March 6, 2024. Credit - Tibor Illyes—MTI/AP It's either a triumph for people power or a worrying lurch towards authoritarianism, depending on whom you ask, but Mongolia has a new Prime Minister: Zandanshatar Gombojav, a Russian-educated former banker who previously served as Foreign Minister, Chief of the Cabinet Secretariat, and speaker of the State Great Khural parliament. 'I will work forward, not backward,' Zandanshatar told the State Great Khural, whose lawmakers overwhelmingly approved his elevation to the premiership by 108 out of the 117 members present. 'By respecting unity, we will overcome this difficult economic situation.' They're economic woes that contributed to the downfall of outgoing Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, who belongs to the same Mongolian People's Party (MPP) but quit after failing to receive sufficient backing in a June 3 confidence vote he called to quell popular protests demanding his ouster. For several weeks, thousands of predominantly young demonstrators have thronged central Ulaanbaatar's Sukhbaatar Square in outrage at the lavish displays of wealth that Oyun-Erdene's son and fiancée posted on social media, including helicopter rides, an expensive engagement ring, a luxury car, and designer handbags. The crowds called for Oyun-Erdene to disclose his personal finances, but he declined saying that they had already been provided to the nation's Anti-Corruption Agency, as required by law. However, public trust in that body and the wider judiciary is scant following a slew of high-profile graft scandals coupled with a conspicuous lack of prosecutions or accountability. 'Oyun-Erdene was the one who was talking about morals, transparency, and corruption,' protest leader Unumunkh Jargalsaikhan, 27, tells TIME. 'But Mongolia is actually degrading when it comes to the economy and freedoms. The corruption scandal was just the spark.' Unumunkh blames rising living costs and torpid wages for driving public anger, especially among young people. Mongolia is facing an economic crunch with government spending rising 20% year-on-year for the first four months of 2025 but goods exports falling by 13% over the same period, owed not least to a 39% decline in coal exports. Still, Oyun-Erdene was dismissive of the protesters and in a statement instead blamed 'a web of interests, tangled like a spider's web' for toppling him. Oyun-Erdene's supporters say his ouster had three drivers: Firstly, and with a dash of irony, his relentless pursuit of official graft, including a draft law his cabinet just submitted that would compel all public officials to justify their income. Secondly, last year's updated Minerals Law, which puts 34% of the equity of 'strategic' mines—defined as producing over 5% of GDP—into a Sovereign Wealth Fund. Today, nine of Mongolia's 16 strategic deposits are privately owned by influential industrialist families. 'Those private companies are very unhappy and completely opposed to 34% belonging to the state,' says Jargalsaikhan Dambadarjaa, a Mongolian broadcaster and political commentator. Read More: The Promise of Nuclear Energy Brings the West to Mongolia The third alleged driver is more contentious: that Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh deviously undermined Oyun-Erdene in order to change the constitution to boost presidential powers and extend term limits from the single, six-year stint currently permitted. True, incoming Prime Minister Zandanshatar's most recent posting was as chief-of-staff to Khurelsukh, who chose to give a midnight speech to the State Great Khural on the eve of Oyun-Erdene's no-confidence vote that urged lawmakers to represent their constituents rather than a single political leader. Despite the MPP having enough lawmakers to reach the 64-vote threshold required to save Oyun-Erdene, his own party deserted him, with the secret ballot totaling just 44 votes for, 38 against. Oyun-Erdene's camp paints Khurelsukh as an aspiring autocrat intent on aligning Mongolia with authoritarian neighbors China and Russia, noting how he hosted Vladimir Putin in Ulaanbaatar in September, flouting an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, and also attended Moscow's Victory Day Parade in May. A doctored photo depicting Khurelsukh as having commissioned a giant golden statue of himself in the manner resembling a Central Asian despot is doing the rounds on social media. However, this narrative has some problems. Gladhanding Putin is a political necessity for landlocked Mongolia, whose 3.5 million population relies on Moscow for 90% of imported gas and petroleum and is completely beholden to Russia for security. 'Turning up in September was Putin showing the rest of the world his middle finger,' says Prof. Julian Dierkes, a Mongolia expert at the University of Mannheim in Germany. 'There was no option for Mongolia to say no.' Moreover, Khurelsukh has proven an internationalist, first addressing the U.N. General Assembly soon after his inauguration in 2021 and returning every year since. (His predecessor, Khaltmaagiin Battulga, rarely showed up.) While not outright condemning Russia's aggression in Ukraine, Khurelsukh's latest UNGA address in September did pointedly voice opposition to 'using force against the territorial integrity and political independence of any state.' Khurelsukh has also repeatedly gone on record to oppose amending the constitution, which was just updated in 2019 to strengthen the legislative branch. 'Honestly, there isn't a lot of worry about the President trying to stay in power,' says Bolor Lkhaajav, a Mongolian political analyst and commentator. Dierkes agrees: 'I call baloney on the 'evil President thesis.'' It's also a thesis that completely ignores the concerns of the Sukhbaatar Square protesters while presuming that things in Mongolia were otherwise rosy and improving under Oyun-Erdene. However, Mongolia's score on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index had fallen from 35 out of 100 when he came to power in 2021 to just 33 last year. Meanwhile, human-rights groups have condemned the prosecution of peaceful protesters and prominent journalists under his watch. Mongolia's press freedom ranking dropped to 109 out of 180 countries last year, down from 88 in 2023, according to Reporters Without Borders. 'On corruption, he's taken rhetorical actions,' Dierkes says of Oyun-Erdene. 'And on democracy promotion, he's taken negative actions. He is no democracy warrior.' Moreover, while Zandanshatar is clearly close to the President, he is by no means a lacky, being a highly educated career politician—a former visiting scholar at Stanford—with his own power base. Still, what Zandanshatar's rise to the premiership means for Mongolia going forward is a big question. A married father-of-four, Zandanshatar, 55, developed a reputation as a thoughtful, steady speaker of parliament. Following his posting at Stanford, he returned enthused about deliberative polling, which was subsequently employed to gauge public opinion prior to the 2019 constitutional amendment. Zandanshatar does, however, have a democratic deficit given he's one of the few senior MPP figures not to have won a seat in the 2024 election, though he had been elected three times previously. Although choosing a non-lawmaker as Prime Minister is not unprecedented, Dierkes fears this may serve as a 'legitimacy achilles heel' should the winds turn against him. Jargalsaikhan also notes Zandanshatar was one of the proponents of Mongolia's 2006 'windfall tax' on copper and gold mining profits. (The 68% levy—the world's highest—was repealed in 2009 after decimating investor confidence.) Oyun-Erdene had earmarked 14 new mega projects to boost economic growth, including a major expansion of renewable energy and cross-border railway connections with China, which receives 90% of Mongolian exports. He also promised to diversify the country's economy, which is heavily dependent on a mining industry that accounts for a quarter of GDP. But policy continuity is key to attracting the foreign investment necessary to realize these goals. 'Until investment laws are consistent here, investors are going to be wary,' says Steve Potter, an honorary member and former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ulaanbaatar. 'Constant changes in rules and regulations have long been a problem. Consequently, foreign investment has been very lackluster.' Investor uncertainty isn't the only worry. Having lasted in power four-and-a-half years, Oyun-Erdene was the longest-serving of Mongolia's 18 Prime Ministers since its 1990 democratic revolution. The revolving door of governments and leaders has augmented the idea that parliamentarian democracy is flawed or inherently unsuited to Mongolian society, while rendering a centralized political system more appealing for some—an idea that is being amplified by shadowy actors on social media and galvanized by Oyun-Erdene's tone deaf response to protesters' demands. 'The protests were organic, but instead of showing his financial papers the Prime Minister's response was so political,' says Bolor. 'His reaction showed just how disconnected he was from the people, who only care about how his policies are impacting their daily lives, such as air pollution, unemployment, and corruption.' So while Oyun-Erdene's demise was likely rooted in factional bickering rather than a nefarious power grab, the debacle contains a stark warning that Mongolia's political class needs to start pulling in the same direction for cherished freedoms to be secured. 'Democracy itself is very fragile,' says Jargalsaikhan. 'But it's so important and can only be protected by a thriving parliamentarian system. And we must not lose democracy in Mongolia.' Write to Charlie Campbell at
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Israel launches 'preemptive strikes' on Iran, likely targeting nuclear program
Editor's note: This is a breaking story and is being updated. Israeli forces launched "preemptive strikes" on Iran overnight on June 13, the country's Defense Minister Israel Katz said. 'Following the State of Israel's preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future' Katz said in a statement. The strikes reportedly targeted Iran's nuclear programs as well as other military targets, CNN reported. Multiple explosions were also reported in Tehran. U.S. President Donald Trump, who plans to convene a cabinet meeting in response to the strikes, expressed concerns about escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, warning that a "massive conflict" could erupt in the Middle East. The United States was not involved in the strikes on Iran, according to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Speaking to reporters at the White House on June 12 ahead of the reported strikes, Trump warned that an Israeli strike on Iran "could happen" if a nuclear deal is not reached with Iran. Talks between Washington and Tehran were set to resume this weekend on Iran's nuclear program. Earlier in the day, Trump emphasized that, despite the tensions, he is committed to avoiding conflict and prefers a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear aspirations. "I want to have an agreement with Iran," Trump said, referring to ongoing Iran-US nuclear talks in Oman. Writing on Truth Social later in the day, Trump reaffirmed his commitment to a "diplomatic resolution to the Iran nuclear issue," and insisted that his "entire administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran." Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and has expressed willingness to accept limited restrictions in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Coinciding with Trump's remarks, the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report highlighting Iran's failure to comply with its obligations to fully disclose activities at its nuclear facilities. Beyond the Middle East, Iran has emerged as a key ally of Russia in its war against Ukraine, supplying Moscow with drones used in attacks on Ukrainian cities. In April 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin ratified a strategic partnership with Iran, vowing to strengthen bilateral ties and pledging not to support any third party engaged in conflict with the other. Read also: Iran's parliament ratifies 20-year strategic agreement with Russia We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
