Canada: Chipping away
Also: Israel, Syria, Germany, India, and Bolivia.
The five things you need to know today:
CANADA. Calls for a snap election grow as Trudeau loses his closest ally.
ISRAEL. SYRIA. Settlement plans open a new front in Netanyahu’s forever war.
GERMANY. The election is triggered as the opposition’s lead narrows.
INDIA. Delhi repairs regional ties, but the fundamentals won’t easily change.
BOLIVIA. A warrant is issued for Evo Morales.
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CANADA. Chipping away
Calls for a snap election grow as Trudeau loses his closest ally.
Justin Trudeau was heckled outside a Liberal Party fundraiser Monday evening after earlier accepting the resignation of deputy Chrystia Freeland. The ex-finance minister's half-yearly economic statement showed a C$62 billion deficit.
INTELLIGENCE. Freeland was Trudeau's most important minister, and her resignation letter, accusing him of "costly political gimmicks", including in relation to Donald Trump, was excoriating. Several Liberal MPs have asked the prime minister to resign and call an early election. Trudeau has vowed to continue, but the left-wing New Democratic Party, which gives the Liberals supply, has said it would table a vote of no confidence if he stays on into the new year.
FOR BUSINESS. The timing of Freeland's resignation drew attention from the Conservatives’ flip of a suburban Vancouver seat from the Liberals. It also drew attention from Canada's fiscal hole, which will complicate the border control and defence demands of the Trump administration, no matter which party next forms government. That’s almost certain to be the Tories, but not necessarily as a majority. Sacking Trudeau won’t solve Canada’s problems.
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ISRAEL. SYRIA. Golan the distance
Settlement plans open a new front in Netanyahu’s forever war.
Arab states slammed Israel's announcement to double the settler population in the Golan Heights Monday, amid Turkish reports Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet was planning a "David's corridor" through to Syria's Kurdish-held east.
INTELLIGENCE. The idea of Israel occupying land across Syria’s south to the tripoint with Iraq, where the US maintains a base, seems