Psst. Over here. Over here. You want to hear a trade secret? The bulk of journalists who cover the so-called “halls of power” in Washington, Ottawa, Canberra, London, Paris and beyond prefer routine over spontaneity. You see, predictability is easy. It’s comforting because most capital cities are mundane places where boring is not only an agreeable fact on the ground, but also a prevailing state of mind. That...

A public meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy descended into a spat. A visit that Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelenskyy hoped would secure US support in the face of Russia’s invasion, instead ended in a very public argument. The meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House was supposed to be about signing over rights to some of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. Kyiv hoped that would...