The Trump administration has decided to continue waiving sanctions as they relate to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — but the president will “make clear this is the last waiver he will issue,” one senior administration official told reporters in a briefing Friday.
Why it matters: This effectively keeps the U.S. in the Iran deal, for now, and goes against Trump's threats last year that he would cancel the nuclear deal.
Chinese President Xi Jinping started 2018 as he ended 2017, demonstrating to all 80+ million Chinese Communist Party members that he is demanding absolute loyalty.
Why it matters: Politics are still very much in command in the Xi era, and the focus on Party loyalty and political correctness is about ensuring regime security and improving the implementation of central government policies through all levels of the bureaucracy. If Xi succeeds, we may see a much higher functioning PRC government that is able to execute on many of its ambitions goals.
For the third time, President Trump will not impose sanctions on Iran that could wreck the Iranian nuclear deal, the New York Times reports, citing two people briefed on the decision which is expected to be announced tomorrow. Trump will announce new sanctions on some Iranian officials.
Why this matters: Trump has called the Iran nuclear deal the "worst deal ever" but has again been persuaded by aides not to dissolve it because doing so "would play into the hands of hard liners in the country," the paper says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin complimented North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a "shrewd and mature politician" who has "won this round" against the United States, per Reuters. Putin cited the North's success in its missile testing as well as start of the first inter-Korean talks since 2015 in his comments to Russian journalists.
I think that Mr. Kim Jong-un has obviously won this round. He has completed his strategic task: he has a nuclear weapon, he has missiles of global reach, up to 13,000 km, which can reach almost any point of the globe.
Steve Bannon has hired lawyer Bill Burck from Quinn Emanuel in preparation for his interview with the House Intelligence Committee over Russia's involvement in the U.S. presidential election, Betsy Woodruff from The Daily Beast reports. Per Reuters, he will testify this Tuesday.
Burck's in business: He has also represented White House Counsel Don McGahn and former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus for the Russia probe, which could annoy some prosecutors, according to Woodruff.
