Hedge or labyrinth?

Europe, the US, Iran, China, Israel, Palestine, and Indonesia.

View of the Chateau de Mousseaux and Its Gardens, Jean Francois Hue, c. 1775-80, oil on canvas, private collection, Paris.

The five things you need to know today:

• EUROPE. Preparations begin for NATO without the US.

• UNITED STATES. A harder border hits friend and foe alike.

• IRAN. CHINA. Washington seeks to sanction the unsanctionable.

• ISRAEL. PALESTINE. Netanyahu goes to war with the civil service.

• INDONESIA. Fiscal and constitutional challenges mount.

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EUROPE. The day after

Preparations begin for NATO without the US.

NATO planned to ask European members and Canada to boost equipment stocks by 30%, Bloomberg said Thursday. The UK, France and Germany were preparing for a transfer of responsibilities from the US, the Financial Times said.

INTELLIGENCE. Europe has made an overdue correction since Donald Trump’s election. Officials were given another jolt this week with reports the US would relinquish its traditional monopoly on NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe role amid a broader Pentagon shakeup, including the merging of its Europe and Africa commands and halting an expansion to US Forces Japan. But hedging against the US involves trade-offs, with European unity still doubtful.

FOR BUSINESS. Washington may seem a difficult partner, but it has nothing on Budapest, which again sought to block additional EU aid to Ukraine Thursday, let alone Ankara. And there are still plenty of Americans who'd like to turn back the clock, including in Congress. The Republican chairs of the House and Senate armed services committees issued an extraordinary rebuke Wednesday against alleged changes to the Pentagon's warfighting structure.

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UNITED STATES. Do not travel

A harder border hits friend and foe alike.

Britain updated its US travel advisory Thursday a day after Germany warned citizens on stricter border enforcement. German media was in uproar this week over the separate detentions of three nationals trying to legally enter the US.

INTELLIGENCE. A similar case has provoked censure in France, including from the Minister of Higher Education, after