What Happened:

Last week, the US government placed China’s state-champion Huawei on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, banning the tech company from buying critical parts it needs from US producers. For all the focus on the current trade war between the US and China, it’s this brewing tech war that has the potential to reshape the world order. And it’s starting to with this Huawei development.

Why It Matters:

This is a fight over who will build and lead innovation for the next generation of internet and telecommunications technology, which is called 5G. 1G was the tech that enabled us to make wireless phone calls; 2G brought texting capabilities; 3G delivered web browsing to the phone-wielding masses; 4G made wireless video-streaming a reality, and through its constant connection to GPS satellites enabled the rise of companies like Uber. We are currently living in a 4G world, but the transition to 5G is just getting started and will accelerate over the next couple of years. 5G, ..

The Trump Administration has spent the past month ringing alarm bells over what it has called “troubling, escalatory and dangerous” behavior by Iran. Yet government officials have shown very little evidence to the American public about that supposed threat.

The Pentagon said Friday additional troops and firepower are headed to the Middle East, marking the latest move by the Trump Administration to boost the American arsenal in the region by air, land and sea. Meanwhile, in another effort to deter Iran, the State Department issued an emergency notification in order to move forward with $8.1 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies, despite Congressional objections.

The U.S. has been headed on a collision course with Iran ever since President Donald Trump walked away from a multilateral nuclear deal a year ago. The Administration’s increasing pressure on Tehran has resulted in an unpredictable and tense standoff with potentially serious implications that has alrea..