On November 28, 2025, President Donald Trump announced on social media that he intended to issue a "full and complete pardon" to former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández. President Trump formally granted the pardon on December 1, 2025, and Hernández was released from prison on the same day, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Hernández had been sentenced to 45 years in prison in June 2024 after a U.S. federal jury convicted him of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and related firearms offenses. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Hernández and his co-conspirators trafficked more than 400 tons of U.S.-bound cocaine through Honduras between 2004 and 2022. In his pardon announcement, President Trump asserted that Hernández had been treated "unfairly."
Some Members of Congress have questioned and criticized the Hernández pardon. Resolutions condemning the pardon have been introduced in both houses (H.Res. 929 and S.Res. 530). In addition to considering those measures, Congress could use its oversight authority to examine the Administration's justification for the pardon and the potential implications for U.S. security interests and relations with Honduras, among other issues.
The formal U.S. Department of Defense review of the AUKUS pact is still ongoing, despite some news reports claiming the deal is secure. The review, initiated in June, focuses on concerns that fulfilling AUKUS commitments, particularly the sale of U.S. Virginia-class submarines to Australia, could strain U.S. production lines and diminish the U.S. own submarine fleet. The results are not yet public, and any potential outcomes could involve adjustments to timelines or cost-sharing rather than a complete cancellation of the pact.
Review and potential impact
Ongoing review: A U.S. Department of War official has stated the AUKUS initiative remains under review, and no updates are available at this time, despite earlier reports suggesting a conclusion before Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's visit to the White House.
Focus of the review: The review, initiated by a former administration official, focuses on the ability of U.S. production lines to deliver submarines to Australia by 2032 and the potential impact on the U.S. fleet size.
Australia's confidence: Australia has expressed confidence in the deal and has been involved in the review process, making new defense spending commitments as the review continues.
Potential outcomes: While a full cancellation is considered unlikely, a possible outcome could be a change in delivery timelines or a renegotiation of cost-sharing arrangements.
Impact on Australia: The ongoing uncertainty forces Australia to seriously consider alternative options for submarines, as its current fleet will become outdated, potentially leading to a gap in submarine capability.
As tensions escalate in the Indo-Pacific between the United States and China, particularly over Taiwan, the U.S. military is reviving WW2-era bases in the Western Pacific to counter China's growing military capabilities. These 80- to 85-year-old bases, from Tinian to Peleliu, are being modernized to support the U.S. Air Force’s Agile Combat Employment (ACE) strategy, a cornerstone of its Pacific defense plan.
In addition to revitalizing Pacific bases, the US has expanded its presence in the Philippines under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or EDCA, increasing the total from 5 to 9. These sites are Naval Base Camilo Oius, Lo airport, Camp Melor, Dela Cruz, and Balabak Island.
China is building what is believed to be the world’s biggest military command center on the outskirts of Beijing. The new site for the PLA is ten times the size of the Pentagon with satellite images revealing deep underground networks believed to contain bunkers. This new base could reshape the global security landscape as China hopes to modernize its military like the U.S., NATO countries and Russia.
Trump has graduated from Putin's Puppet to Shady Vance's (?) Puppet. In other words, dementing, volatile, hypersensitive, incompetent, transactional Donald is apparently being used as a media-attracting mouthpiece whilst the actual US Badministration pulls fascistic levers behind the golden curtain.
I suspect that Xi possibly hatched the plan to induce Trump to betray Ukraine during his many meetings with Putin. Regardless, it is clear that Trump expects that sacrificing Ukraine to Putin will reap him and his offspring abundant (corrupt) financial rewards in Russia. Quite likely, Trump's childlike adulation of Putin also contributed to both his "Peace Plan" betrayals of Ukraine and his contempt for the USA's former official policy of support of Europe.
A quote appropriate to the situation: “All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.” ― Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune
