“Efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal have been hauled back from the brink of collapse as Tehran revised its stance after pressure from Russia and China and clear warnings that the EU and the US were preparing to walk away,” The Guardian reports.
Meanwhile, the US military commander for the Middle East told the Financial Times he has a “very robust range of military options” to deter Iran.
China has warned countries who have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics that they “will pay the price for their mistaken acts,” the BBC reports.
“Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu were the closest of political allies during the four years they overlapped in office, at least in public. Not anymore,” Axios reports.
“The final straw for Trump was when Netanyahu congratulated President-elect Biden for his election victory while Trump was still disputing the result.”
Said Trump: “I haven’t spoken to him since. Fuck him.”
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“A British High Court ruled Friday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to the United States to face charges of violating the Espionage Act,” the Washington Post reports.
“With cases of the Omicron variant doubling every three days and the government doing an about-face on restrictions it had long resisted, Britain is bracing for a new coronavirus surge, unsure if it will be a relatively minor event or a return to the dark days of earlier pandemic waves,” the New York Times reports.
“Early evidence in Britain backs up tentative findings elsewhere, notably in South Africa, where the heavily mutated new variant is already widespread: It appears to be the most contagious form of the virus yet, a previous case of Covid-19 provides little immunity to it, and vaccines seem less effective against it. But it also seems to cause less severe illness than earlier variants.”
“Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin has apologized for going clubbing after coming into close contact with a Covid-19 case,” the BBC reports.
“She was initially told she did not need to isolate because she had been fully vaccinated, but later missed a text that advised her to do so.”
“The announcement that Boris Johnson’s wife gave birth to a baby girl offers the embattled U.K. prime minister some relief from the barrage of negative coverage he’s endured,” Bloomberg reports.
“The prime minister is believed to have fathered seven children, though the exact number is a matter of speculation.”
“The Biden administration is moving to tighten enforcement of sanctions against Iran, according to senior U.S. officials, the first sign of Washington increasing economic pressure on Tehran as diplomatic efforts to restore the 2015 nuclear deal falter,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“President Joe Biden has picked big money political donor and former Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman to be his ambassador to Kenya,” CNBC reports.
“Joe Biden has made a significant diplomatic concession to Moscow designed to prevent an invasion of Ukraine by signalling he wants to convene meetings between Nato allies and Russia to discuss Vladimir Putin’s grievances with the transatlantic security pact,” the Financial Times reports.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that there would be “effectively a diplomatic boycott” of the 2022 Beijing Olympics by Britain, which has now joined the United States and others in pulling its top officials from attendance of the Winter Games, the New York Times reports.
Australia, Canada and Lithuania have also announced a diplomatic boycott.
New York Times: “It is too early to tell whether the much-anticipated conversation, whose details were hard to elicit as both the White House and the Kremlin put their spin on it, will alleviate the immediate crisis in Ukraine, where roughly 70,000 Russian troops have massed, with more equipment and personnel arriving every day.”
“Mr. Putin gave no indication of his ultimate intent, leaving the world guessing whether he was actually planning an invasion early next year, or trying to get the West to pay attention to his demands by manufacturing a crisis.”
“In a video call that lasted for just over two hours on Tuesday, President Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that if Russia invades Ukraine the U.S. will impose unprecedented sanctions and provide additional weaponry to the Ukrainians,” Axios reports.
Russian state television shared a clip of the start of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden’s virtual summit this morning.
CNN: “The contingency planning is being led by the Pentagon and comes as the administration briefs Congress on how the US is preparing. In a ‘gloomy’ briefing to senators by senior State Department official Victoria Nuland on Monday night, Nuland outlined the tough sanctions package being prepared by the administration in response to a potential Russian attack, but acknowledged that the US’ options to deter an invasion are fairly limited.”
“It is still unclear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the decision to invade… But he has amassed enough forces, equipment and supplies near Ukraine’s borders that he could move to attack on very short notice.”
“The U.S. and European allies are weighing sanctions targeting Russia’s biggest banks and the country’s ability to convert rubles for dollars and other foreign currencies should President Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine,” Bloomberg reports.
Gerald Seib: “Three potential crises are proceeding in tandem: a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, continuing Chinese pressure on Taiwan and the potential collapse of Iran nuclear talks.”
“Any one of these standoffs has the potential to shake the world order and produce wider conflict. Taken together, they signal that the U.S. and its allies are at a dangerous moment—perhaps more dangerous than many Americans realize. The challenge for President Biden and the democratic leaders he’ll be consulting with this week is to find a way to show firmness on each front without provoking a crisis.”
“Taiwan and the US have agreed during high-level talks to set up a new trade framework as the two sides forge closer ties,” the South China Morning Post reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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