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L. Todd Wood

L. Todd Wood

ltwood@123washingtontimes.com

L. Todd Wood, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, flew special operations helicopters supporting SEAL Team 6, Delta Force and others. After leaving the military, he pursued his other passion, finance, spending 18 years on Wall Street trading emerging market debt, and later, writing. The first of his many thrillers is "Currency." Todd is a contributor to Fox Business, Newsmax TV, Moscow Times, the New York Post, the National Review, Zero Hedge and others. For more information about L. Todd Wood, visit LToddWood.com.

Articles by L. Todd Wood

On July 3, 2017, the American University in Moscow and the Burganov Museum will unveil a sculpture of Reagan and Gorbachev in downtown Moscow. For additional information please visit www.RussiaHouse.org/wrf.php

CROSSTALK: Trump Putin Reagan Gorbachev

Although Mikhail Gorbachev is heralded throughout the Free World as the man who allowed the Soviet Union to crumble under its own corrupt weight, he is not revered at home, not by a long shot, especially by the older generation who remember their perceived Soviet glory

June 25, 2017
A man passes by a TV news program showing a photo published in North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper of North Korea's new type of cruise missile launch, at Seoul Railway station in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, June 9, 2017. North Korea said Friday it has tested a new type of cruise missile that could strike U.S. and South Korean warships "at will" if it is attacked, in an apparent reference to the projectiles detected by Seoul when they were launched a day earlier. The signs read "Can hit on the ground." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) ** FILE **

North Korea tests rocket engine for ICBM

If there was ever a deadly challenge designed for newly elected President Donald Trump, North Korea is it. The hermit regime, which is hell-bent on threatening the United States and its allies in the Pacific with destruction, has just tested a large rocket engine that analysts believe is designed to power an intercontinental ballistic missile, you know, the kind that can destroy a U.S. city in 20 minutes.

June 23, 2017
The Astana EXPO 2017 in the heart of Central Asia is dedicated to energy innovation with its futuristic architecture. World leaders attending the opening ceremony this month included Russian President Vladimir Putin, Spanish King Felipe VI, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. (Associated Press/File)

Kazakhstan leads changes in Central Asia away from Soviet past

I started writing this column to help educate Americans on the former Soviet Union and its successor states. There is a dearth of understanding of these parts of the world in the West, a lack of knowledge about emerging trends that at times may cause the U.S. to miss important opportunities.

June 22, 2017
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, right, and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis appear at news conference following a Diplomatic and Security Dialogue Meeting with a Chinese delegation including State Counselor Yang Jiechi and military Chief of Joint Staff Fang Fenghui, at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

U.S. lays down gauntlet to China

A day after President Donald Trump tweeted that "China tried" to fix the North Korean problem but "it wasn't working," a high-level meeting was held between the Chinese and American officials.

June 21, 2017
Philippine National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa walks after an anti-terror simulation exercise at a bus terminal in Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on Tuesday, April 11, 2017. Dela Rosa said at least several people have been killed in battle between government forces and suspected Abu Sayyaf militants on a central resort island, far from the extremists' southern jungle bases and in a region where the U.S. government has warned the gunmen may be conducting kidnappings. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Philippines’ Duterte seeks U.S. help against Islamic State

Philippine President Duterte, after making big noise over the last year slamming the United States and cozying up to China and Russia, even looking to buy arms from the PRC and Moscow, and offering up possible basing opportunities, seems to have figured out that the Americans are the only ones who will help him defeats the Islamic State which has metastasized on the Philippine island of Mindanao and morphed into a full blown insurgency.

June 20, 2017
Seal of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, from the embassy's official Facebook page (Facebook) **FILE**

Explosion at U.S. embassy in Kiev investigated as terrorism

Although the U.S. embassy in Kiev denies an explosive device thrown over the fence just after midnight Wednesday evening was a terrorist act, the Ukrainian police are not so sure. There were no injuries in the blast. U.S. officials consider the explosion too small to be considered terrorism.

June 9, 2017
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a joint news conference with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan after their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016. (Vasily Maximov/Pool Photo via AP)

Under the radar, Russia plays a double game in tense Korean crisis

President Trump has made a big deal since his election about his new relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, insisting Beijing is "working very hard" to pressure North Korea since the two leaders' meetings at Mar-a-Lago earlier in the year. Mr. Trump seems to be combining China's newfound sympathy to the U.S. position with a "big stick" — three U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups, which rotate off the North Korean coast.

June 8, 2017
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with representatives of Russian major animation studios in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 31, 2017. (Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Vladimir Putin takes an Orthodox route to cement power

Because of radical Islamic terrorism, your religious affiliation has become an existential issue across the globe. Whether you are a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Jew can literally mean life or death, no matter what country you are in. Western nations are not excluded from this scourge.

June 1, 2017
This image made from video of an undated still image broadcasted in a news bulletin on Tuesday, May 30, 2017, by North Korea's KRT shows a missile launch. North Korean state television (KRT) aired on Tuesday video of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un apparently giving field guidance at the test fire of a Scud-type ballistic missile, which reportedly took place the previous day. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this photo. (KRT via AP Video) **FILE**

North Korea tests missile possibly similar to China’s carrier killer

North Korea has joined the fray and tested a missile this week that could possibly be an ABSM, or anti-ship ballistic missile. The KN-17 is Kim Jong-un's attempt to replicate the Chinese weapon, a ballistic missile that hits a moving target at high velocity with associated massive damage.

May 31, 2017
FILE - This May 11, 2015, file photo, shows land reclamation of Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands by China in the South China Sea. China is protesting a U.S. Navy patrol that brought a guided missile destroyer near a group of manmade islands including Mischief Reef in the South China Sea that are controlled by Beijing. (Ritchie B. Tongo/Pool Photo via AP, File) **FILE**

China threatening and building in South China Sea

China has suggested Japan "speak cautiously" when discussing the South China Sea, in a veiled threat to the former bitter enemies during the second World War. The comments came yesterday when Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Japanese National Security Adviser Shotaro Yachi ended a round of talks on the region.

May 30, 2017
In this Monday, Feb. 20, 2017 photo, traditional Russian nesting dolls depicting US President Donald Trump, center left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin are displayed for sale at a souvenir street shop in St.Petersburg, Russia. While their country has become a daily source of headlines and political intrigue in the United States, most Russians are watching the drama over President Donald Trump's relationship with Moscow with resignation, even indifference. Russian media, state-owned and private, chronicle Mr. Trump's troubles matter-of-factly. Regular citizens generally care little about them. Many share the view that what's unfolded in Washington has dimmed prospects for the mended Russia-U.S. ties his candidacy represented here and thus have lost interest. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, file)

US-RUSSIA CROSSTALK: Russophobia is about blocking Trump agenda

The current wave of Russophobia sweeping Washington and the halls of power in the Leftist, corrupt media is not about Russia. It is about stopping the Trump agenda. Democrats had no problem cozying up the Kremlin in the past. They still don't.

May 26, 2017
In this Wednesday, May 27, 2009, photo, a giant North Korean flag flutters on the top of a 160-meter (533-foot) tower in North Korea as it is pictured from the demilitarized zone (DMZ) near the border village of Panmunjom that separates the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, South Korea. North Korea on Thursday, May, 25, 2017, accused South Korea of recently firing 450 rounds from machine guns at a flock of birds at the rivals border, dismissing as a fabrication Seoul's claim that it fired warning shots at an object flying from the North. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man, File)

Kazakhstan, an unlikely purveyor of peace

With North Korea and Iran pushing the world towards Armageddon, there is one former nuclear power that has shown a measure of responsibility in the nuclear arena, and continues to be a catalyst for peace in the violent region of Central Asia.

May 25, 2017