Oh, stop it
Ukraine, Russia, Iran, the US, China, South Korea, and Kenya.
The five things you need to know today:
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. A last gasp for US credibility in Europe.
IRAN. UNITED STATES. White House rivalry brings a new impediment to a deal.
CHINA. UNITED STATES. Xi'll have no crap games with sharpies and frauds.
SOUTH KOREA. Another ex-president is indicted.
KENYA. Neglected by Washington, Nairobi pivots to Beijing.
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UKRAINE. RUSSIA. You're killing me!
A last gasp for US credibility in Europe.
Donald Trump rebuked Vladimir Putin Thursday, writing "Vladimir, STOP!" after 12 were killed and 90 wounded in Kyiv. Ukraine said Russia had used North Korean missiles. The Kremlin said peace efforts were "moving in the right direction."
INTELLIGENCE. Trump separately said Russia had already made a "big concession" by not "taking the whole country". Ahead of Steve Witkoff's fourth meeting with Putin today, the concession may be Washington's: by putting impossible terms to Kyiv and then walking away, it will allow Moscow to pretend good faith, allowing US sanctions to end, come what may. Trump may wish to present this as a fait accompli should he see Zelensky at next week’s Vatican funeral.
FOR BUSINESS. The White House has denied it's lifting sanctions, calling a recent Politico story to that effect "totally fictitious" and "fake crap” but, as a theory, it makes more sense than anything else. One spoiler in this may be the alleged objections of Marco Rubio, who still wants to support European security despite referring to the region’s NATO allies as “a bunch of junior partners” Wednesday. Rubio may not think like Trump, but he needs to pretend to.
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IRAN. UNITED STATES. Centrifugal forces
White House rivalry brings a new impediment to a deal.
State's director of policy planning would join Steve Witkoff at the next round of talks with Iran, the department said Thursday. Iran should import enriched uranium, Marco Rubio said Wednesday, contradicting Witkoff’s earlier comments.
INTELLIGENCE. As on Russia, Rubio and Witkoff are allegedly at loggerheads on Iran. By sending policy planning's