“SENATE AND HOUSE leadership think the president is making a massive strategic error in Syria, reinvigorating ISIS, empowering Russia and sowing chaos in an unsteady region. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: "It's not our problem….GRAHAM just now reacting to this: 'If the President did say that Turkey's invasion is no concern to us I find that to be an outstanding—an astonishing statement which I completely and totally reject.'" - By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross, Politico, MORE
"U.S. carried out secret cyber strike on Iran in wake of Saudi oil attack: officials," by Reuters' Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart: "The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in late September and took aim at Tehran's ability to spread 'propaganda.' One of the officials said the strike affected physical hardware, but did not provide further details. ..” - By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman,Eli Okun and Garrett Ross, Politico, MORE
“Nearly all the key U.S.-Russian arms control and confidence-building provisions of the Cold War era are dead or on life support, with little effort underway to update or replace them. Meanwhile, U.S. officials from both parties are focused not on how we might avoid nuclear catastrophe but on showing how tough they can look against a revanchist Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin. Summit meetings between White House and Kremlin leaders, once viewed as opportunities for peace, are now seen as dangerous temptations to indulge in Munich-style appeasement, the cardinal sin of statecraft”- George Beebe, Politico. MORE
“North Korea’s lead negotiator has said that working-level nuclear talks in Sweden between officials from Pyongyang and Washington have broken off, dashing prospects for an end to months of stalemate.The North’s chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Myong-gil, who spent much of Saturday in Stockholm talks with an American delegation, cast the blame on what he portrayed as US inflexibility, saying the other side’s negotiators would not ‘give up their old viewpoint and attitude’.” - The Guardian, MORE
“The economic sectors that are hurting are those most exposed to the trade winds. That’s largely because China crafted its retaliation for Trump’s tariffs to hurt his political supporters in the industrial Midwest and the farm belt. Over the past year, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota and New Hampshire each have shed thousands of factory jobs. The president won the first three states in 2016 and hopes to capture the last two in next year’s election, the type of domestic politics that Chinese leaders don’t face.”- David J. Lynch, Washington Post. MORE
