Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo next week in Brazil to discuss President Trump's decision to pull U.S. forces out of Syria, Israeli officials told me. They'll both be there for Jair Bolsonaro's inauguration.
Why it matters: Israel is very concerned the U.S. withdrawal will encourage Iran to continue its attempt of building military presence in Syria. Netanyahu spoke twice to Trump last week about his Syria decision, but this will be the first high level meeting between Israeli and U.S. officials since Trump announced the pullout.
In the United States, Russia's social media disinformation campaigns are often seen as an election-tampering issue. There's a good chance we'll spend 2019 talking about propaganda as something we have to prepare for before the 2020 election.
But, but, but: The propaganda isn't going anywhere in 2019. It's simply not tied to elections. Russia uses these campaigns to create discord over divisive issues. There's nothing that says that kind of chaos can't happen outside of an election.
