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‘Sesame Street in Iraq’: USAID’s ‘wasteful and dangerous’ spending exposed by senator

Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst published a list of projects and programs she says the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has helped fund across the years, highlighting it as ‘wasteful and dangerous’ spending that has gripped taxpayers until the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) stepped in. 

‘From funneling tax dollars to risky research in Wuhan to sending Ukrainians to Paris Fashion Week, USAID is one of the worst offenders of waste in Washington… all around the world,’ Ernst posted to X on Monday before rattling off a handful of examples. 

Ernst highlighted that the agency ‘authorized a whopping $20 million to create a Sesame Street in Iraq.’ 

Under the Biden administration, USAID awarded $20 million to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshopto produce a show called ‘Ahlan Simsim Iraq’ in an effort to ‘promote inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding across ethnic, religious, and sectarian groups.’ 

‘As Iraq recovers from years of conflict, communities struggle to find a new sense of normalcy while physical and emotional wounds remain,’ an archived link to USAID’s website reads. ‘The legacy of Iraq’s conflict with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) left many children without a stable home or displaced, especially those from Iraq’s ethnic and religious minorities. Additionally, Iraqi youth, who make up over half of the population, are unable to find jobs in an economy strained by war and corruption, creating vulnerabilities to radicalization.’ 

USAID’s website shut down this week as DOGE and tech billionaire Elon Musk put the agency under its microscope. 

The show is styled like the American kids’ show ‘Sesame Street,’ and was granted funding that began in 2021 and runs until 2027, according to the achieved website. The show continues to air in the Middle East, a review of its website shows. 

In another example Ernst highlighted, USAID was found to have provided millions of dollars to farmers in Afghanistan in an effort to get them to grow food instead of poppy fields and opium. 

The plan, however, backfired and led to an increase in poppy production, and thus opium production, during the war in Afghanistan. 

‘During the height of the war in Afghanistan, USAID spent millions of dollars to help Afghans grow crops instead of opium,’ Ernst posted to X Monday. ‘The results: opium poppy cultivation across the country nearly doubled, according to the UN.’ 

USAID, as well as the U.S. military, paid farmers to build or rehab miles of irrigation canals in the Helmand province, Afghanistan, during the Obama administration in an effort to persuade the farmers to grow fruits and other plants, the Washington Post reported in 2019. The farmers, however, used the canals to grow poppies. 

Poppy production almost doubled in the region between 2010 and 2014, the Post reported, citing U.N. figures. 

In another example, Ernst said USAID spent $2 million to fund ‘Moroccan pottery classes and promotion.’ Morocco has for thousands of years created pottery, dating back to 6,000 B.C.  

Former Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, who died in 2020, published a government ‘waste book’ in 2012 detailing that USAID ‘began pursuing a four year plan to improve the economic competitiveness of Morocco’ beginning in 2009, which included $27 million in funding. 

A portion of the funding was directed to a program that ‘involved training Moroccans to create and design pottery to sell in domestic and international markets,’ according to the report. 

The American pottery instructor hired to teach local artists, however, was unable to communicate with them as a translator for the program was ‘not fluent in English,’ according to the waste book. 

‘An American pottery instructor was contracted to provide several weeks of training classes to local artists to improve their methods and teach them how to successfully make pottery that could be brought to market,’ the waste book reported. ‘Unfortunately, the translator hired for the sessions was not fluent in English and was unable to transmit large portions of the lectures to the participants.’ 

Ernst added in another example that USAID ‘funneled nearly $1 million into batty research on coronaviruses at China’s infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology, which the CIA admits was the likely source of COVID-19.’ 

The Government Accountability Office published a report in 2023 finding that both USAID and the National Institutes of Health directed taxpayer funds to American universities and a nonprofit organization before the money found its way to Chinese groups, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The report found that between 2014 and 2021, U.S. taxpayer funds were redirected to entities, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Wuhan University and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, which is part of the Chinese Communist Party. The three groups each received more than $2 million combined from the U.S. government ‘through seven subawards,’ according to the report.

‘The selected entities are government institutions or laboratories in China that conduct work on infectious diseases, including pandemic viruses, and have had actions taken by federal agencies to address safety or security concerns,’ the report states. ‘All three selected Chinese entities received funds.’

In January, the CIA under the second Trump administration released an updated assessment on the origins of COVID-19, favoring the theory that the contagious disease was due to a lab leak. The CIA previously had maintained that it did not have sufficient evidence to conclude whether COVID originated in a lab or a ‘wet market’ in Wuhan, China.

Ernst claimed in the X thread that USAID also provided funds to boost tourism to Lebanon and to send Ukrainian models to fashion week. 

‘The agency spent $2 million promoting tourism to Lebanon, a nation the State Department warns against traveling to ‘due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, unexploded landmines, and the risk of armed conflict,” she wrote. 

‘USAID spends money like it’s going out of fashion, literally,’ she wrote. ‘Trade assistance to Ukraine paid for models and designers to take trips to New York City, London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, and South by Southwest in Austin.’

The Trump administration and DOGE, which is led by Musk, put USAID in its line of fire over the weekend, as DOGE continues tearing through government agencies to strip them of reported overspending and corruption. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that he is now the acting director of USAID, and told the media on Monday that the agency needs to be brought in line with Trump’s ‘America First’ policies, which include heightened scrutiny over the distribution of taxpayer funds overseas. 

Musk has meanwhile slammed the agency as a ‘viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America,’ and reported in an audio-only message on X overnight on Sunday that ‘we’re in the process’ of ‘shutting down USAID’ and that Trump reportedly agreed to shutter the agency.

Democrats have slammed the Trump administration’s efforts on USAID. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., accused Trump of starting a dictatorship while she protested outside USAID headquarters on Monday. 

‘It is a really, really sad day in America. We are witnessing a constitutional crisis,’ Omar said. ‘We talked about Trump wanting to be a dictator on day one. And here we are. This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like when you gut the Constitution, and you install yourself as the sole power. That is how dictators are made.’

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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Who is Samantha Power? Meet the Biden-era USAID leader facing backlash amid Musk’s DOGE crackdown

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has recently become the target of Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts to slash government waste and spending, bringing increased scrutiny to the record of Samantha Power, the agency’s administrator during almost the entire Biden administration.

Power, who previously served as the United States ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017 in the Obama administration after serving on his National Security Council, took the reins of USAID in the early days of the Biden administration and was tasked with overseeing the tens of billions of dollars budgeted for foreign aid. 

‘One of the most pressing challenges facing our nation is restoring and strengthening America’s global leadership as a champion of democracy, human rights, and the dignity of all people,’ then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said in a statement at the time of Power’s appointment. ‘Few Americans are better equipped to help lead that work than Ambassador Samantha Power.’

Power was directly involved in the Obama administration’s surveillance of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and sought to obtain Michael Flynn’s redacted identity using an ‘unmasking’ request on at least seven occasions, Fox News Digital previously reported, despite testifying under oath before the House Intelligence Committee that she had ‘no recollection’ of ever making such a request even once.

Fox News reported in 2017 that Power was ‘unmasking’ at such a rapid pace in the final months of the Obama administration that she averaged more than one request for every working day in 2016, and she even sought information in the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration, according to multiple sources close to the matter.

Power’s tenure at USAID was also not without controversy, even from her own party, including an incident in which she faced a public revolt from current and former staff in 2024 over her support of Israel.

Critics also took issue with her repeatedly meeting with influential liberal foundations while serving in her role at USAID, which Fox News Digital reported in 2023, included George Soros’ Open Society Foundations at least two times, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at least five times, and meetings with several other powerful groups like Ford and Rockefeller foundations. 

Power’s supporters say she has played a critical role in providing U.S. assistance to war-torn areas like Ukraine and Gaza along with aiding the relief of humanitarian crises that have developed in places like Haiti, Armenia and Sudan. 

‘The best testament to USAID’s contribution is the surge in PRC-backed and Russian-backed propaganda maligning USAID and our work around the world,’ Power said in an exit interview with Politico last month. ‘And it’s really picked up a lot over the last year and a half. We counted 81 malicious and false propaganda campaigns, really dedicated campaigns, aimed at denigrating USAID and our reputation. So we’re doing something that is getting on their nerves.’

Power, who is married to former Obama administration official and professor Cass Sunstein, added, ‘We are an agency that has thousands of people around the world representing the United States, both because it’s in the interests of the American people to have health systems that are more secure and can spot infectious diseases and tackle them, to change regulations so it’s easier for American businesses to invest, but also to show up and to show the importance of investing in the partnership — and not investing in a manner that just leaves countries saddled with debt.’

USAID has been increasingly questioned by Republicans over its alleged funding of research relating to the coronavirus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, as well as millions in aid that supports LGBT rights abroad and dozens of millions of dollars for migrant crises in other countries, like the nearly $45 million slated to provide emergency food assistance and economic support for Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.

Democrats counter that the agency plays a vital role in U.S. national security interests and say it should remain independent. They point to the work USAID did to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War, a sphere of influence that could remain a concern amid China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Tech billionaire and DOGE Chair Elon Musk has been on a warpath against USAID, which is an independent U.S. agency that was established under the Kennedy administration to administer economic aid to foreign nations, as he leads DOGE’s mission of cutting government fat and overspending at the federal level. 

Musk announced in an audio-only message on X over the weekend that ‘we’re in the process’ of ‘shutting down USAID.’

‘On Friday, February 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm (EST) all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs,’ USAID’s website currently says. ‘Essential personnel expected to continue working will be informed by Agency leadership by Thursday, February 6, at 3:00pm (EST).’

A Fox News Digital review of USAID’s recent history shows that it has repeatedly been accused of financial mismanagement and corruption long before Trump’s second administration, with spending that took place under Power’s reign likely to continue to be a focus of conversation with Republicans.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a letter to Power in October 2024, sounding the alarm on the ‘likely misuse of more than one billion dollars in U.S. humanitarian aid sent to Gaza since October 2023,’ Fox Digital reported at the time. 

A Syrian national named Mahmoud Al Hafyan, 53, was charged in November 2024 for allegedly diverting more than $9 million in U.S.-funded humanitarian aid to terrorist groups, including the Al-Nusrah Front. The Al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, is a designated terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda, according to the State Department.

The Government Accountability Office published a report in 2023 finding that both USAID and the National Institutes of Health directed taxpayer funds to American universities and a nonprofit organization before the money found its way to Chinese groups, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Eight auditors and employees for the USAID inspector general’s office sounded the alarm to the Washington Post in 2014 that negative findings surrounding the agency’s work were removed from final reports and audits.

Trump repeatedly proposed slashing the nation’s foreign aid budget for USAID and the State Department during his first administration, including proposing in his first year in office to slash the budgets by 37%, which Congress rejected. 

‘With $20 trillion in debt, the government must learn to tighten its belt,’ Trump said in 2017 while advocating for the cuts.

Power sat down with late-night host Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night and defended USAID’s work and warned against shutting it down, claiming that children overseas in line for tuberculosis treatment were told to go home as a result of Trump’s executive order.

‘Programs that were running, the people we’re depending on, in some cases, for life-saving medicine, like medicine, if you have HIV, that keeps you alive, quite literally,’ Power told Colbert. ‘Or if you’re in Sudan and you have a child who’s wasting away because of malnutrition, a miracle paste, a peanut paste that USAID provides brings that kid back from the brink of death. All of those programs are shuttered.’

Democrat lawmakers took part in a rally against DOGE on Tuesday outside the Treasury Department, arguing that Musk’s actions are unconstitutional and a threat to Democracy. 

‘My heart is with the people out on the street outside USAID, but my head tells me, ‘Man, Trump will be well satisfied to have this fight,’’ veteran strategist David Axelrod, who served with Power in the Obama administration, said this week. ‘When you talk about cuts, the first thing people say is: Cut foreign aid.’

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall, Emma Colton and Gregg Re contributed to this report

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Zelenskyy wants nukes or NATO; Trump special envoy Kellogg says ‘slim and none’ chance

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week said that if the U.S. cannot guarantee a quick path toward NATO membership, then there are alternative security options Kyiv would accept: nuclear weapons. 

But don’t think the United States is eager to agree to those terms. 

‘The chance of them getting their nuclear weapons back is somewhere between slim and none,’ retired Lt. General Keith Kellogg, special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, told Fox News Digital. ‘Let’s be honest about it, we both know that’s not going to happen.’

In 1994, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine agreed to give Russia its nuclear arms in exchange for reassurances from Russia, the U.S. and the U.K. that its sovereignty and independence would be respected – a treaty Moscow has violated with its repeated invasions – and in an interview on Tuesday, Zelenskyy argued that Ukraine should be given its arms ‘back’ if a timely NATO membership is off the table.

But Kellogg, the man tasked by President Donald Trump to help bring an end to the three-year war, said rearming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is a non-starter.

‘Remember, the president said we’re a government of common sense,’ he said. ‘When somebody says something like that, look at the outcome or the potential. That’s using your common sense.’

Zelenskyy on Tuesday confirmed his willingness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face if that is the best option for bringing an end to the war, though the Kremlin chief has not agreed to any in-person meeting with the Ukrainian leader.

Trump on Sunday said that initial talks had begun with both Ukraine and Russia, and Kellogg this week confirmed that Kyiv and Moscow will need to make concessions if there is going to be a peace deal.

The administration has been tight-lipped on what sort of compromises will need to be made, particularly when it comes to the biggest hot-button issue for both Zelenskyy and Putin: Ukrainian NATO membership. 

Kellogg wouldn’t comment on where Trump lands when it comes to backing either Ukraine with a membership in the security alliance or Russia in denying its southern neighbor access to the top coalition.

‘That’s one of the reasons I’m going next week to Europe, to actually see them face-to-face,’ he said. ‘I can bring that back to the president and say, ‘OK, Mr. President, this is their concern. This is what the issues are.’’

Kellogg is set to travel to the Munich Security Conference, which runs Feb. 14-16, where he said he will meet with world leaders to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine and get a better idea of where nations like the U.K., Germany and Denmark, along with other top providers of military aid to Ukraine, stand on negotiations to end the war.

‘As you develop the plans to end this carnage, you have to make sure that you’ve got the feel of everybody in play,’ Kellogg said. ‘Once we get to have these face-to-face discussions, then you can really kind of work … on concessions.’

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte last month urged member nations to increase their support for Ukraine, an issue he said is vastly important when it comes to bolstering NATO deterrence in the face of the Russia, China, North Korea, Iran bloc.

‘If we get a bad deal, it would only mean that we will see the president of Russia high-fiving with the leaders of North Korea, Iran and China, and we cannot accept that,’ Rutte said. ‘That will be geopolitically a big, a big mistake.’

Rutte has urged NATO nations to ramp up defense spending and warned that if Russia comes out on top in this war, it will cost NATO allies ‘trillions’ not ‘billions.’

Kellogg will also press NATO allies to increase defense spending and, as directed by Trump, to start shouldering the burden of the war in Ukraine.

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Panama eliminates charge fees for U.S. government vessels to use the canal

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced a new deal with the government of Panama that will eliminate charge fees for U.S. government vessels.

‘The government of Panama has agreed to no longer charge fees for U.S. government vessels to transit the Panama Canal,’ the State Department wrote in an X post Wednesday night.

The new agreement will save the U.S. government millions of dollars a year, officials noted.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino promised on Sunday to end a key development deal with China after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

During his visit, former Florida Senator Rubio wrote in a post on X that ‘the United States cannot, and will not, allow the Chinese Communist Party to continue with its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area.’ 

President Donald Trump, who has openly criticized the six-figure premiums imposed on U.S. ships traveling through, has suggested repurchasing the canal.

It was built over decades by the U.S., but was later handed over to Panama during the Carter administration.

A newly introduced bill called the ‘Panama Canal Repurchase Act’ would give Trump and Rubio the authority to negotiate with Panama to repurchase the canal.

More than 70 percent of all vessels traveling through the canal are inbound or outbound to U.S. ports, according to the State Department. It is also a key transit point for U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Defense vessels. 

Ships would need to travel 8,000 additional miles around South America to avoid using the pathway.

Fox News Digital requested comment from the State Department, but did not immediately receive a response as of Wednesday night.

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

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Marco Rubio refuses to visit South Africa for G-20 summit, accuses government of ‘doing very bad things’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is refusing to attend the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Johannesburg this year, in protest of the South African government’s controversial land seizure bill.

The bill, which was signed last week, permits South African authorities to expropriate land ‘for a public purpose or in the public interest,’ promising ‘just and equitable compensation’ to those impacted by the bill. Although the majority of South African citizens are Black, most landowners are White — and this disparity has been a topic in South Africa for years.

The law also allows expropriation of land without compensation, but only in circumstances where it is ‘just and equitable and in the public interest.’

The G-20 summit is scheduled to kick off on Nov. 22 — but in a social media post on Wednesday, Rubio wrote definitively that he ‘will NOT’ be there.

‘South Africa is doing very bad things,’ Rubio’s X post read. ‘Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality, & sustainability.”

‘In other words: DEI and climate change,’ the Republican added. ‘My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.’

President Donald Trump‘s administration has been vocally critical of the land seizure bill. In a Truth Social post, Trump called the situation a ‘massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum.’

‘It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention,’ Trump wrote in a post. ‘The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!’

The South African government has coolly responded to the Trump administration’s accusations, denying that any unjust confiscation has occurred.

‘We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest,’ South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement. ‘We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters’.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, South African analyst Frans Cronje proposed that Trump alluded to the ongoing killing of farmers in South Africa when he talked about certain classes of people being treated ‘very badly.’ The attacks have been perpetuated against both White and Black farmers.

‘President Trump’s recent comments on land seizures in South Africa cannot be divorced from his past comments on violent attacks directed at the country’s farmers,’ Cronje said. ‘Whilst these comments have often been dismissed as false, the latest South African data suggests that the country’s commercial farmers are six times more likely to be violently attacked in their homes than is the case for the general population.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Paul Tisley contributed to this report.

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Leader Thune backs Senate GOP bid to speed past House on Trump budget plan

: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., came out in support of a GOP effort in the upper chamber to get moving on legislation to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.

It would be a significant departure from current plans for the House to pass a bill first, amid infighting by House Republicans over spending levels.

‘I appreciate Chairman Graham’s leadership in crafting a budget resolution that will unlock the ability to pass a reconciliation bill to secure the border, rebuild our military, and deliver a much-needed down payment on energy security,’ Thune told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement. 

‘I am supportive of Chairman Graham’s efforts to advance the president’s priorities in the Senate, and I look forward to continuing our conversations with our House colleagues,’ he said. 

Earlier on Wednesday, ahead of a lunch with key Republicans, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., unveiled his plan to advance the bill through a key procedural hurdle next week. The House planned to move a bill this week, but leaders were forced to punt after conservatives balked at what they saw as a low threshold for spending cuts to offset the cost of new funding to implement Republican border and defense policies.

Now, with Thune’s blessing, Graham’s plan is primed to quickly maneuver through the Senate, getting a significant advantage over any competing House GOP efforts. 

Republicans in Washington, D.C., are preparing to use the budget reconciliation process to achieve a wide range of Trump proposals from border security to eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.

The reconciliaiton process lowers the threshold to advance a bill in the Senate from 60 votes to just 51. And with a 53-vote majority in the upper chamber, Republicans are poised to push policies through with only support from the GOP conference.

At the same time, with razor-thin margins in the House and Senate, the party can afford very few defectors. 

The first step in the crucial budget reconciliation process is marking up and advancing a bill through the Senate and House budget committees.

The budget that is headed to the Senate’s committee would be part of a two-pronged approach, with the first bill including Trump’s priorities for border security, fossil fuel energy and national defense.

This plan would see a second bill focusing on extending Trump’s tax policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) later in the year. 

In a statement, Graham confirmed his plan to move forward on the two-bill plan. His office advised that next week there would indeed be a committee vote on a Fiscal Year 2025 budget resolution, which ‘will be the blueprint that unlocks the pathway forward for a fully paid for reconciliation bill to secure the border, bolster our military and increase American energy independence.’

‘To those who believe that Republicans should fulfill their promises on border security, mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens: I agree,’ Graham said. 

‘That is why the Senate Budget Committee will be moving forward next week to give the Trump Administration’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, the money he needs to finish the wall, hire ICE agents to deport criminal illegal immigrants, and create more detention beds so that we do not release more dangerous people into the country. This will be the most transformational border security bill in the history of our country. It’s time to act,’ he continued. 

While many Senate Republicans have espoused a preference for two bills to be passed this year through the key budget reconciliation process, they have faced significant opposition in the House, where the House Ways & Means Committee and House GOP leaders have pushed for one large bill with all of Trump’s priorities. 

House leaders had intended to make the first move in the process. But the Senate passing their own bill first could essentially force the lower chamber to contend with whatever product comes from the other side of Capitol Hill, instead of dictating their starting point themselves. 

Trump has previously said he preferred one large bill, but avoided demanding it. Rather, the president has left it with Congress, urging them to employ whichever strategy can be carried out quickest.

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Opinion: Look to outer space for Trump’s Greenland playbook ambitions amid Russia, China Arctic advances

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Last week, President Donald Trump doubled down on his ambitions to purchase Greenland despite the fact that the idea was outright rejected by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a recent call between the two.

‘I think we’re going to have it,’ insisted our bombastic commander in chief when speaking with journalists on Air Force One last week. 

Trump even insinuated in early January that he might be forced to compel Denmark to let the United States take possession of the autonomous island.

Last week, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) deployed two Air Force F-16s to Greenland from Alaska, ‘exercising its standard agreement with the Kingdom of Denmark to forward posture NORAD presence in the Arctic.’

Trump’s justification for wanting to make Greenland part of America is ‘the protection of the free world.’ The United States is ‘the one that can provide the freedom.’

‘They [Greenland and Denmark] can’t,’ stressed Trump on board the presidential aircraft last week. 

The rationale for The Donald’s insistence lies in space. 

Greenland’s strategic significance to the United States and Europe lies in the fact that it houses an important U.S. military base, Pituffik, operated by the Space Force, a whole new branch of service Trump established in 2019. 

With Greenland providing the shortest route between North America and Europe and geographically sitting at the top of the world in the Arctic, the Pituffik Space Base carries out the critical function of enabling space superiority, which is the centerpiece of the U.S. war-fighting doctrine. Due to its unique geographic position on the world map, the base is a vital hub for early threat detection achieved through missile warning and space surveillance during peacetime and satellite command and control during both peace and war.

During my service in the Defense Intelligence Agency, I specialized in space warfare and participated in war games simulating an armed conflict in space. Space already underpins every aspect of our way of war as our satellites – 8,530 space birds in orbit at the unclassified level, the most of any country – enable communications among the troops, synchronizing operations, missile warning, navigation, intelligence collection, targeting of our weapons and precision strikes.

Space is undoubtedly the next frontier of any future armed conflict, and both Russia and China are gearing up for space warfare. Recognizing Greenland and the Arctic’s geostrategic value, America’s top two opponents have conducted joint military drills in the Arctic. Russia and China plan to disrupt or destroy our satellites in wartime or in the run-up to a conflict in order to disable our ‘kill chain,’ preventing our weapons from reaching their targets. Both Moscow and Beijing are beefing up their commercial and military presence in the Arctic. Russia already has more military bases in the Arctic than the U.S. and NATO combined. Russia has 57, while NATO has 32 among Canada, Denmark, Norway and the U.S.

By acquiring Greenland, President Trump likely seeks to establish the Monroe Doctrine 2.0, to keep U.S. adversaries farther away from the U.S. sphere of strategic interests and to beef up our space superiority. Denmark is not investing in Greenland’s security, as admitted by Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen in early January. 

Trump likely wants to have autonomy over this strategic island so he doesn’t have to depend on Danish authorities for national security decisions in which space forces and the space base figure prominently due to their mission. Much of this mission is related to U.S. counter-space operations against our adversaries and is highly classified. Fast operational decision-making is critical during wartime, especially because some of our adversaries have preemptive doctrines when it comes to space warfare. It would give U.S. forces the strategic initiative and increase their ability to deter or win wars. 

During World War II, after Germany’s invasion of Denmark in 1940, the United States secured Greenland under the Monroe Doctrine by signing a ‘Defense of Greenland’ agreement with the Danish ambassador. 

It is hardly surprising that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t pleased with Trump’s efforts to strong-arm Denmark into letting the U.S. own Greenland.

‘We are watching the rather dramatic development of the situation very closely, but so far, thank God, at the level of statements,’ said Putin’s press secretary, Dmitriy Peskov, in early January. Peskov declared that the Arctic was in Russia’s ‘sphere of national and strategic interests, and it is interested in peace and stability there.’

President Trump has excellent geostrategic and geopolitical instincts, which will likely have a positive impact on U.S. military strategy. Trump is the first president to recognize the strategic value of space as a war-fighting domain and to prioritize America’s superiority in space. To that end, Trump established the U.S. Space Force in 2019, 18 years after Putin established Russia’s. He was mocked for it by Jen Psaki, a former State Department spokesperson, and many other former Obama-era officials.

It is my assessment as a former intelligence officer specializing in space warfare that Trump’s goal to acquire Greenland is a smart move from a national security standpoint.

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Fox reveals plans to launch subscription streaming service this year

Fox Corp. is finally getting into the direct-to-consumer streaming game.

The company known for its news and sports TV content said Tuesday it’s aiming to launch a subscription streaming service by the end of the year.

The streaming service is not meant to upend Fox’s place in the traditional bundle, CEO Lachlan Murdoch said on the company’s quarterly earnings call. Murdoch offered few details on the streaming service beyond the high-level announcement. He said the company is designing the app now, and further information will be released in the coming months.

Fox’s upcoming streaming option is expected to include both its sports and news content, Murdoch said.

Unlike its legacy media competitors, Fox has so far been on the sidelines of streaming, with the exception of the Fox Nation streaming app, which includes exclusive programming to the service and on-demand Fox News primetime shows, and its free, ad-supported service Tubi. Fox, which will broadcast the Super Bowl on Sunday, is also offering the NFL’s biggest game on Tubi for the first time ever.

However, the late move into subscription-based streaming comes after Fox, alongside Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney, in January dropped efforts to launch a joint venture sports streaming app called Venu.

The three companies had planned to pool together all of their sports content and offer it on the Venu streaming service. However, following legal hurdles that delayed the original fall 2024 launch date, the companies called off their plans.

Out of the three partners, Fox was the only one without another option to offer its sports content outside of the cable TV bundle. Warner Bros. Discovery offers its live sports content on streamer Max. Disney’s ESPN has its ESPN+ app and is developing a separate direct-to-consumer ESPN streamer. The company is targeting an August launch of ESPN “Flagship,” the unofficial name of the all-inclusive ESPN service.

Fox’s Murdoch referred to the end of Venu as the company’s “only disappointment in sports.”

Fox has focused its strategy on sports and news content after selling its entertainment assets to Disney in 2019. The company has reported stable viewership and advertising revenue, even during the recent ad market slump. Live sports and news remain the highest-rated content in the traditional TV bundle, even as consumers cut the cord for streaming alternatives.

“We’re huge supporters of the traditional cable bundle, and we always will be,” Murdoch said on Tuesday’s call. “But having said that, we do want to reach consumers wherever they are, and there’s a large population, obviously, that are now outside of the traditional cable bundle.”

He said the company’s subscriber expectations “will be modest, and we’re going to price the service accordingly.” He added Fox doesn’t intend to convert any traditional cable TV customers into streaming customers with the app.

Murdoch said the company doesn’t “expect to have any exclusive rights costs or additional incremental rights costs” and will simply package its existing content. This means the costs of creating and distributing the platform will be “relatively low,” especially when compared with competitors.

In addition to shelling out billions for original entertainment programming, media companies have been spending big on exclusive sports media rights for their streaming platforms. In many cases, exclusive live sports have helped to drive subscriber and ad revenue growth for streamers.

On Tuesday, Murdoch also noted the recent rise of so-called skinny packages from traditional pay TV distributors, saying it bodes well for Fox’s portfolio since those packages most often consist of mainly sports and news content.

“We’re very pleased with this trend of the bundle. It’s financially, economically positive for us,” said Murdoch on Tuesday. “We would hope that this bundle will be attractive to the cordless customers — the cord-cutters and cord-nevers.”

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Disney tops quarterly profit estimates, but starts to lose Disney+ streaming subscribers

Disney posted fiscal first-quarter earnings Wednesday that beat on the top and bottom lines, but revealed the beginnings of expected streaming subscriber losses at Disney+.

The company’s streaming business reported another quarter of profitability despite a 1% decline in subscribers for Disney+, the company’s flagship service. While domestic subscriptions for the platform increased around 1%, international numbers declined around 2%. 

Disney warned during its fiscal fourth-quarter report in November that it expected a “modest decline” in subscriptions during the December period. Disney told investors Wednesday that it expects another “modest decline” in subscribers during the second quarter. 

Total paid Disney+ subscriptions stand at 124.6 million, compared to 125.3 million at the end of the company’s fiscal fourth quarter. Total Hulu subscriptions rose 3% during the period to 53.6 million.

The slowdown in streaming subscriber growth follows an increase in prices for its services last year. Disney+’s average monthly revenue per paid subscriber increased roughly 4% to $7.99 due to those price hikes, the company said.

Disney’s stock was up about 2% in premarket trading.

Here is what Disney reported for the period ended December 28 compared with what Wall Street expected, according to LSEG

Disney’s net income increased nearly 23% to $2.64 billion, or $1.40 per share, from $2.15 billion or $1.04 per share, during the same quarter last year. Adjusting for one-time items including restructuring charges and impairments related to intangible Hulu assets, Disney reported adjusted earnings of $1.76 per share. 

Revenue increased 4.8% to $24.69 billion compared to $23.55 billion in the year-earlier period.

The company saw revenue gains across the board for its entertainment, sports and experience segments. 

Its entertainment division saw a 9% jump in revenue, reaching $10.87 billion. Operating income for the unit, which includes its direct-to-consumer, linear and content sales businesses, increased 95% to $1.7 billion during the quarter thanks to higher content sales and licensing. Linear continued to drag on overall results. 

Still, CEO Bob Iger remained positive on Wednesday’s call with investors when it came to the linear TV business, echoing similar comments made in November’s earnings call.

“They are not a burden at all. They are actually an asset,” Iger said Wednesday, noting that Disney is programming and funding the networks so they can feed into streaming.

While he said he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of changes to the TV networks in the future, he said that wouldn’t be now.

“We actually feel good about the hand that we have and the manner in which we’re managing both the linear and streaming businesses across the board,” Iger said.

Disney’s box office success helped lift the company’s results during the quarter.

The debut of “Moana 2” over Thanksgiving weekend helped push the box office to new heights. The animated sequel was still going strong at the box office through the new year, topping $1 billion during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. The company noted Wednesday its content sales/licensing and other operating income got a boost from “Moana 2.”

Overall, Disney dominated the box office in 2024, with the help of other films like Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.”

The company said it expects double-digit growth in operating income for the entertainment segment in fiscal 2025, with an increase in direct-to-consumer operating income of around $875 million.

Over at its experiences business, which includes parks, cruises and resorts as well as consumer products, revenue rose 3% during the quarter to $9.42 billion. 

Domestic theme park revenue accounted for 68% of the division’s total, or $6.43 billion. While that revenue marked a 2% improvement over the same quarter last year, the combination of Hurricanes Milton and Helene coupled with declines in attendance and investments in Disney’s fleet of cruise ships weighed on domestic operating income. 

The experiences division posted a 5% decline in domestic theme park operating income for the quarter, at $1.98 billion. 

Disney expects its experience segment to see operating income growth of between 6% and 8% in fiscal 2025.

Theme parks in the U.S. have recently experienced a slowdown in foot traffic following the post-Covid surge in attendance.

Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the experiences segment performed better than expected for the fiscal quarter.

“In fact, the consumer is a bit stronger than we would have expected,” Johnston said Wednesday. “I think what we’re seeing is consumers are just very value focused, and you deliver value to them, they’re willing to pay the price for it.”

Disney’s parks recently turned a record revenue and profit, even as the company has raised prices for its destinations. The company is in the midst of a 10-year, $60 billion investment in the segment.

In sports, Disney’s ESPN reported revenue growth of 8% year over year, reaching $4.81 billion, and operating income that was up 15% from the prior-year period to $228 million. 

The company expects operating income for its overall sports segment, which houses ESPN as well as Star India, to grow 13% in fiscal 2025.

Disney said on Wednesday that its sports segment operating incoming for the fiscal second quarter would be “adversely impacted” by about $100 million related to the shifting of three College Football Playoff games from the first quarter into the second quarter as well as an additional NFL game during the period.

This fall Disney’s networks broadcasted the entirety of the Southeastern Conference college football schedule.

Disney’s broadcaster ABC averaged 5.8 million viewers for 46 regular season college football games, which was a 56% year-over-year increase, Disney executives noted in a commentary release on Wednesday. The recent college football season helped lift Disney’s advertising revenue this past season.

Meanwhile, Disney also said that guidance for unit operating income includes a roughly $50 million hit tied to its exit from the Venu sports joint venture. Disney and its joint venture partners, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox, called off their efforts to move forward with Venu, which was supposed to be a streaming app that included all of the live sports from its parent companies.

The change in strategy came after legal headaches that halted the launch of Venu last fall.

The rise of skinny bundles — traditional pay TV distributors’ slimmed-down offerings focused on sports and news networks — were a contributing factor, too. Iger said on Wednesday’s call with investors that Venu “basically looked redundant to us,” next to skinny bundle offerings.

As a result of the Venu stoppage, Fox on Tuesday announced it would move forward with its own streaming service after years of staying largely on the sidelines of the direct-to-consumer streaming game. Fox executives also noted that skinny bundles would benefit its portfolio of networks.

Disney has been looking into various ways to grow its streaming options, from merging its apps into Disney+ to exploring different options for ESPN, such as Venu.

The company also plans to launch its own direct-to-consumer streaming app for ESPN this fall, which has been the priority, company executives said Wednesday.

“We’re obviously leaning into the development of what is now called ‘Flagship,’ which is essentially ESPN with multiple, mulitple elements to it,” Iger said Wednesday, noting sports betting and consumers’ ability to customize the platforms to their preferences.

Disclosure: Comcast, which owns CNBC parent NBCUniversal, is a co-owner of Hulu.

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USPS resumes shipments from China in abrupt about-face

The U.S. Postal Service has agreed to resume accepting shipments from China, less than 12 hours after announcing it would stop doing so.

‘Effective February 5, 2025, the Postal Service will continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts,’ it said in an updated statement Wednesday morning. ‘The USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery.’

The Postal Service had earlier announced it would stop accepting packages from China, as well as Hong Kong, in the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to impose a new round of 10% tariffs on all goods coming from the country.

Letters and flats were not affected by the initial announcement. While the Postal Service did not offer an explanation for the shipment halt, Trump ended a so-called ‘de minimis’ exemption for Chinese goods worth less than $800 in making the tariff announcement.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson had earlier said China would take “necessary measures” to protect its companies, The Associated Press reported — urging the U.S. to “stop politicizing economic and trade issues and using them as a tool, and to stop unreasonably suppressing Chinese companies.”

CORRECTION (Feb. 5, 2025, 10:35 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated when the Postal Service announced it would resume accepting shipments from China. The move came 12 hours after it stopped doing so, not 24.

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