#Drennn.

Agent 47, a lethal undercover assassin is back again to assassinate high-profile targets. Last year released all Hitman Episodes are now compiled into single Season pack for PS4, Xbox One and Windows PC platform. Apart from them it brings 3 Bonus Missions, Hitman Requiem Blood Money Pack, Steel Book Edition and PS4 Exclusive The Sarajevo Six missions. Not attempted before, many were discontent with episodic launch of Hitman series in 2016. Sold between a gap of month or two, it was vexing to pay discretely on each Episode. This later who thought could come as a single pack. If you haven’t tried any of them or some episodes, you can go for the entire pack with hours of gameplay. You can refresh your memories from beginning to the finale with bonus content. Episodes are long enough with no major changes, followed by a unique principal target to deal with. Hitman offers a choice to eliminate target the way you want, for example following the stealth mode to reach Silent Assassin Rank or killing them with a bang. I see Hitman as one among the best stealth games, because it does not confine players in a linear choice to deal with the objective. You are not restricted to one path, instead you can examine around to find what can work. I was expecting to see something new, not the rejuvenation episodes pulled back into one thing. The developer could have created lot more interest by adding Episode 7 to bring more value. After 2016, no fresh news appeared leaked about the next Hitman episode or series. Hitman Gameplay is not new to us. After playing roughly everything, I began with a slow start. However I didn’t precisely memorize everything from previous gameplay. I enjoyed the new Professional mode, it was a stimulating challenge. For me using disguise was less boring. For example if you dress like a waiter no one stops you even if you carry weapon. At some point it is too long, if like me you prefer stealth mode, but the end is reasonable. You can frame the death of target in the form of accident or assassinate by a straight attack. However the last time I played my aim was to finish it. Now I go more professionally, whenever I get chance I use the precise method to kill target and move without getting noticed, which I found entertaining. Like planning a bomb or using a gun with silencer, or the tough part using hands to drown or strangle. If you don’t like to go near the target, walk around and find objects you can use. This allows maneuvering target in certain ways like distraction or making the target to move in some direction, etc. For using opportunities there are objectives, without them you cannot implement it. Good thing is you can see them on the map, and use the steps to finish objective so that you can benefit from the opportunity. You need to be online to play well. Your progress is tied up with the online connectivity that does not restore offline. This is a restriction, because Hitman does not have any multiplayer mode, online connectivity is just to manage your progress and rankings. Hitman Season 1 Episodes: The Season 1 has 6 chapters those beings with Episode 1 The Showstopper. It takes you to Paris to stop a deal by taking down three targets IAGO ringleaders, Novikov and Dalia Margolis. The second episode World of Tomorrow Agent 47 has to kill two scientists Silvio Caruso and Francesca De Santis in Sapienza, Italy. In the third one A Gilded Cage, 47 go to Marrakesh in Morrocco to kill General Reza Zaydan and Claus Hugo Strandberg. In the fourth episode Club 27 his mission to kill two lawyer Jordan and Ken Morgan. In the 5th episode Freedom Fighters, Agent 47 goes to Colorado to take down a militant leader Sean Rose and in the last one Situs Inversus he goes to Japan to deal with Yuki Yamazaki. Overall all episodes are bit better in terms of graphics as ported to PS4. Hitman Season 1 Pack is based on Glacier 2 Engine. Compared to the previous episodes the PS4 Pro edition is improved. You can either go away using weapons or deal hand-to-hand with enemies. This makes it interesting in various manners. Also not to forget, this season introduces new ways of eliminating the target. You can kill them by using explosive golf ball or poison their food, you can also electrocute a target without raising any alert, or if you want to go brutally you can go ahead with pushing the target over a ledge. You will enjoy the game if you love to observe and go with the flow instead of rampage fps shooting.

Microsoft have been quietly building up the Xbox Game Pass library over the past year, and it looks like they’re planning on finishing the year with a bang. It’s been announced that co-op shooter Strange Brigade will be joining Xbox Game Pass on December 6th. Strange Brigade will be joining recently added titles like indie puzzler The Gardens Between, battle royale sensation PUBG and headspinning futuristic racer GRIP. Next week will also see the addition of Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden, a XCOM inspired turn based strategy game. As for the rest of the December, you have games like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and Ori and the Blind Forest to look forward to. With The Game Awards taking place next week, you have to wonder if you’ll get a surprise couple of announcements there too. If you’re looking for a reason to download Strange Brigade, just check out our review right here, and remember that new subscribers can still pick up a month of Game Pass for £1/$1. There’s never been a better time to get involved. 

Tell your friends to sign up for the Daily Kickoff here or for early 7AM access via Debut Inbox TRANSITION — Eli Groner, who most recently served as director general of the Israeli prime minister’s office under Benjamin Netanyahu, has joined Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) as their Israel-based managing director. KDT is a subsidiary of Koch Industries and is run by Charles Koch’s son Chase, whom Groner will be reporting to in his new position. An Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, June 14, 2012. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/via JTA) Tell your friends to sign up for the Daily Kickoff here or for early 7AM access via Debut Inbox TRANSITION — Eli Groner, who most recently served as director general of the Israeli prime minister’s office under Benjamin Netanyahu, has joined Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) as their Israel-based managing director. KDT is a subsidiary of Koch Industries and is run by Charles Koch’s son Chase, whom Groner will be reporting to in his new position. WHY IT MATTERS — Chase Koch, 41, is assuming a bigger role at Koch Industries and the well-known Koch network of top donors. According to a recent in-depth Politico story, Chase is far from the partisan his dad and uncle David are thought to be. The story describes what’s being referred to inside the Koch network as ‘the shift’ which emphasizes bipartisanship and coalition building around policy issues over partisan politics. IS ISRAEL PART OF ‘THE SHIFT’? — Over the past several years, much has been made about the Koch Brothers influence in foreign policy circles. Recent pieces —include “Koch Brothers Give a Megaphone to the Anti-Israel Fringe” (Bloomberg; 2016) and “Koch Dark Money Funds Anti-Israel Darlings” (Tablet Mag; 2018) — have highlighted the Koch brothers support of Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, co-authors of the 2006 book The Israel Lobby, along with Charles Freeman who is similarly focused on Israeli influence in DC. The first deal that Koch Disruptive Technologies announced after it launched in late 2017 was a $150M Series E round for INSIGHTEC, an Israeli medical company working on MRI-guided ultrasound devices. With the addition of Groner, Israel will be the first satellite office for KDT. Asked to comment on his hiring, Groner told Jewish Insider in an email: “This should be seen as a vote of confidence in the ingenuity of Israeli entrepreneurs. Koch Industries has built one of the largest private companies in the world with a culture of principled entrepreneurship, and I’m thrilled that the Koch leadership has made the decision that Israel will be the first satellite office of Koch Disruptive Technologies.” It’s worth noting that other well-known donors critical of Israel have not shied away from investing in Israeli companies either. George Soros had been an investor in SodaStream, Teva and the Alrov Group, owner of the David Citadel and Mamilla Hotels. However, given the large shift — generational and political — taking place in Koch world, perhaps Chase Koch, with his annual visits to Israel, will be changing headlines about the Kochs and Israel as well.[JewishInsider] OVER THE LONG WEEKEND… As Jared Kushner readies for spring launch of Trump’s Middle East peace plan, he has rebuffed major U.S. allies’ requests to circulate the plan out of fear of leaks… State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert withdrew herself from consideration to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations on Saturday… At the Munich Security Conference, Vice President Mike Pence called on European allies to withdraw from the Iran deal as German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the decision to stick with the 2015 accord… Pence likened Nazi genocide to Iran’s threat to Israel and warned against anti-Semitic authoritarians… Netanyahu has tappedLikud MK Israel Katz as acting foreign minister… Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) told her hometown newspaper that she’s sorry for causing hurt with tweets on Israel, hopes to rebuild trust… HEARD YESTERDAY — Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Conference of Presidents leadership conference in Jerusalem: “We see false allegations against Jews, tragic attempts to kill Jews and, since the establishment of Israel, a new kind of anti-Semitism: denying us – and only us – the right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland. Anti-Zionism is a new form of anti-Semitism. It should be condemned forthwith by everyone.” — In his remarks, Netanyahu also mentioned there’s “growing opposition in some parts” of the U.S. to Israel. But stressed that “what’s important is that this support, which is stronger than ever, remains bipartisan.” Netanyahu met with a delegation led by Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Monday. [Pic]

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Cardboard box maker Smurfit Kappa will seek compensation from Venezuela for the seizure of its operations in that country. The seizure meant Smurfit had to write down its net assets by €66m. CEO Tony Smurfit told analysts yesterday that he was "deeply, deeply saddened for all of the employees and their families who have benefited from secure and gainful employment during our almost 65 years of operations in that country". "The actions taken by the government are without precedent for the [company] and Smurfit Kappa will diligently pursue its international rights in this regard, including the right to claim compensation through international arbitration proceedings under the applicable Bilateral Investment Treaty." The company released a trading update yesterday covering the first nine months of its financial year. It said underlying revenue was up 7pc year-on-year while ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) before exceptional items was up 27pc year-on-year. Chairman Liam O'Mahony, the former CRH CEO who has been in the role for 10 years, is to be replaced as chairman by Irial Finan next year, the company said. Smurfit also announced an agreement to buy a Serbian plant and paper mill for a combined €133m, saying this would increase the company's European footprint and see it entering "a new, well-consolidated and growing market". "We are very happy with the performance to date," Mr Smurfit said, adding that demand growth was continuing alongside recovery in corrugated prices. He said 2018 would be "materially better" than 2017 for the company. He said, however, that Europe had been "a little bit slower" in the third quarter. "I think the two regions that we felt something more than normal were within Italy and the UK. And you obviously can figure out the reasons. In Italy, there's been a lot of uncertainty, and of course, there's the Brexit issue." He added: "The heat of the summer certainly was positive for certain aspects of the business, like brewing and things like that. "But on a large sector of the area that we covered like agri, we would see that that has been much weaker than we would have expected because the weather has been effectively hurting a lot of the crops, and so that has been an issue." In the Americas, the company said it had seen "continued volume growth with further margin expansion on a year-on-year basis." But hyperinflation in Argentina (where inflation is at 40pc) had negative effects, Mr Smurfit said. "Our key countries of Colombia, Mexico, and the US, which represent over 80pc of the region for us, continue to deliver solid results. Elsewhere, Brazil continues to perform strongly with Argentina negatively impacting ebitda by approximately €5m. Shares in the business were up more than 1.5pc in afternoon trading in Dublin, having pared some of the gains seen earlier in the day.

February brings the most significant series of tests yet of whether President Trump can transform his disruptive US foreign policy into concrete outcomes. The four to watch most closely, all of dizzying importance, are negotiating a trade deal with China, denuclearizing North Korea, rallying an international community to contain Iran and democratizing Venezuela. Trump’s trade team, led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, will visit China early next week seeking progress toward a trade deal before a March 1 deadline, ending a 90-day truce agreed to by the two country’s leaders at the G20 in Buenos Aires. That would not only head off the increase of tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10% to 25%, but it would also show markets that the world’s two leading economies can find mutually beneficial ways to settle trade differences. More important over time will be to see whether the two sides can as well navigate even more difficult disputes over future technologies and regional security issues. On North Korea, President Trump in his State of the Union address – otherwise light on foreign policy issues – said he would meet for his second summit with Kim Jong-un on February 27-28 in Vietnam. “If I had not been elected president of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea,” said Trump. The meeting will be a test of whether the “great chemistry” Trump says he has developed with Kim will help him achieve gains toward denuclearization, building upon the release of three American prisoners and the remains of 55 American soldiers. While his intelligence community, in a report to Congress last week, said North Korea is “unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capability,” Trump aims to show he is correct that there is a “good chance” of a deal because Kim so badly wants to engineer an economic turnaround. This week, on February 13-14, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will host in Warsaw, Poland an international conference on peace and security in the Middle East (even as the US pulls its troops out of Syria by April). Media reporting is skeptical about whether the meeting can produce more pressure on Iran, garner support for an emerging Trump administration Mideast peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians or lay the groundwork for an alliance of Arab states to advance common interests. What the conference, involving more than 40 countries, underscores is the continued US ability to convene, even if many countries won’t be sending ministerial level representatives. What I’ll be watching: Interactions among Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, the UAE and Saudi Arabia – particularly given US efforts to promote warmer Israeli-Gulf relations. Progress toward a new Arab defense coalition, referred to as a “historic alliance” by Secretary Pompeo. In an interview this week with Fox Business Network, Pompeo said “a big number of countries (would) announce that they want to be part of this here in the not-too-distant future, and we’ll develop an outline that isn’t reactive.” Although Palestinians weren’t invited, the Trump administration “peace team” will be there – senior adviser Jared Kushner and special envoy Jason Greenblatt. On Thursday morning, they will brief and field questions during a session hosted by Børge Brende, the former Norwegian foreign minister and now-World Economic Forum president. February will likely also be a decisive month in Caracas. My CNBC column last week argued that Venezuela has become the first battleground in a new era of great power competition. As such, the outcome of this contest will be an indication of whether democracies or autocracies will be the dominant forces that will shape the future. The coming month will show whether the interim President Juan Guaido alongside the US and its regional and European allies can leverage public dissatisfaction, international isolation and sanctions to create serious cracks in Maduro’s regime. Conversely, if Maduro weathers – with the support of Cuba, China and Russia – the most intense public, diplomatic and economic pressures ever to face his autocratic system, it would mark the most severe setback to US global interests during the Trump administration. There’s also much more in play, stretching the bandwidth of a US administration in which so many foreign policy jobs remain unfilled. For example, the United States on February 2 triggered a six-month withdrawal period from the INF Treaty on short and medium-range land-based ballistic and cruise missiles in Europe, and a NATO defense ministerial this week will discuss consequences and next steps. There is also some disruptive Trump foreign policy thinking less likely to gain traction. The largest US delegation of all time, including over 40 US members of Congress, is heading to Germany this Friday for the Munich Security Conference, a symbolic opposition to any steps President Trump would take to weaken US commitment to NATO or, at the very worst, withdraw from the Alliance. The US House of Representatives has passed legislation that is engineered to “ring fence” Trump on NATO, and the US Senate is preparing to do the same. For his part, the President in his State of the Union altered his tone on NATO, speaking of how for years “the United States was being treated very unfairly by NATO,” but that he now had “secured a $100 billion increase in defense spending from NATO allies.” What confounds Trump critics, as illustrated above, is his success at identifying real foreign policy problems and then taking them on with characteristic rhetorical gusto and tweets. A less bold American president wouldn’t have made the progress he has achieved on a host of issues that seemed previously immovable. And his most ardent opponents won’t be able to complain much if in February he shows progress in addressing China’s unfair trade practices, toward denuclearizing North Korea, in rallying support to counter Iran’s malevolent behavior and in replacing Venezuela’s odious dictatorship with democratic change. What should concern his supporters, however, is his disdain for the sort of allies, strategies and process that he’ll need to address all the above challenges. With their level of risk and complexity, Trump isn’t going to score lasting wins on any front without allies. Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis’ resignation letter was all about differences he had with Trump on that central issue. It won’t make it any easier that he’s dealing with a cabinet that lacks the many decades of experience lost through recent departures. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan observes in her weekend column that, when Jim Mattis, John Kelly and HR McMaster left the Trump White House “a cumulative 123 years of military and diplomatic experience left with them.” To steer all the above issues across the finish line and beyond may take a more strategic actor and thinker than President Trump. Let’s see where we are at the end of this month. * * * (Editor's note: A similar version of this commentary is published by CNBC.com as a column.) The week’s top reads below capture more questions about Trump’s foreign policy, our new world of nuclear weapons, the ongoing US-Chinese tech drama and this week’s 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution.

Last December, the president refused to sign a bill providing $1.6 billion in border security funding. Instead, demanding $5.7 billion, he dragged the nation through the longest government shutdown in history, exacting a perverse punishment on federal employees and all of us dependent on government services. Now he is prepared to settle for less than $1.4 billion in border security funding. The art of the deal. Dave Pederson, Excelsior LINE 3 PIPELINE Walz proceeds with appeal, and the oil trains keep on coming Gov. Tim Walz has decided to continue the appeal that Gov. Mark Dayton started to go against the decision to approve the Enbridge oil pipeline. Apparently he did not read the Feb. 10 article “Growing oil train traffic ‘a big concern.’ ” The news article states that “oil imports by rail from Canada have hit a historic high, meaning more oil trains are rolling across Minnesota and raising the alert level of local emergency managers.”

Coverage of all matches, including highlights, across the BBC Sport website and app; Doncaster Rovers v Crystal Palace and Chelsea v Manchester United live on BBC One; extensive coverage on BBC Radio 5 live and local radio; live text commentary on the BBC Sport website They might be rooted at the foot of the League One table, but scratch beneath the surface and AFC Wimbledon are a club with a positive future. The Dons are set to move to a new £25m stadium 250 yards from Wimbledon FC's old Plough Lane ground where the infamous 'Crazy Gang' used to play. One of their sponsors is bestselling American novellist John Green, while there is a Hollywood film in the offing documenting the fan-owned club's rise from holding trials on Wimbledon Common in 2002 to the Football League in 2011 after five promotions in nine seasons. In 2007, AFC Wimbledon played Suffolk village side Debenham Leisure Centre in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup. How to follow the FA Cup on the BBC On Saturday the phoenix club, founded by supporters after the old Wimbledon FC was given permission to relocate to Milton Keynes, play host to Championship side Millwall for a place in the quarter-finals. In true Crazy Gang spirit, midfielder Scott Wagstaff, the two-goal hero against West Ham in the fourth round, has dyed his ginger beard in the club's blue and yellow colours for the tie.

On September 9, 2018, the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk was the only regional capital in Russia to elect an opposition mayoral candidate. Forty-eight-year-old Sardana Avksentieva defeated Alexander Savvinov of the nationally dominant United Russia party to become the first woman ever to lead the city. After taking office, Avksentieva launched a campaign to implement what she says is her “po[CENSORED]r mandate”: cutting spending on City Hall, firing shady officials and contractors, and selling off the luxury cars registered to the mayor’s office. As a result, Avksentieva has already gained national prominence, and her po[CENSORED]rity online even has the Kremlin’s political strategists interested. Meduza’s special correspondent Taisia Bekbulatova visited Yakutsk to learn more about Avksentieva’s surprising victory and what awaits her as the city’s mayor. On August 3, 2018, five weeks before the city of Yakutsk was set to hold mayoral elections, Sardana Avksentieva got a phone call. The voice on the other end announced, “Well that’s it, momma, you’re the mayor.” The caller was Vladimir Fyodorov, a businessman and regional parliamentary deputy in Yakutsk. Until the morning of August 3, he had also been a favorite to become the city’s next mayor. A few days before he called Sardana Avksentieva, he was the one who told the 48-year-old to join the race, telling her that he might be unable to run himself. Vladimir Fyodorov had already run for mayor in 2012 as an independent candidate. He finished in second place with 25 percent of the vote behind United Russia’s Aisen Nikolaev. In the following round of elections in 2017, Fyodorov supported Nikolaev in hopes that the ruling party’s candidate would soon be promoted to lead entire the Republic of Yakutia, leaving the mayor’s seat open for Fyodorov himself. That hope did come to fruition, but not in its entirety. Aisen Nikolaev did become the head of the Yakutian regional government, but regional officials did not transfer their support in the Yakutsk mayoral elections to Fyodorov. Instead, they chose another United Russia candidate, Alexander Savvinov, the 58-year-old speaker of the city’s legislature. “It’s obvious: he was understandable, predictable. They knew what to expect from him, and that’s nice and comfortable. [If Savvinov had been elected,] everything [would have been] different, not like it is now,” an election official in the region told Meduza. In the 2018 elections, Vladimir Fyodorov ran for the Motherland party, but that choice soon backfired. In the heat of the campaign, the party’s leadership began demanding that he step out of the race, and regional authorities offered him prestigious administrative positions in exchange for leaving the election. Fyodorov, who has said himself that he has had his heart set on the mayor’s position for ten years, refused to end his candidacy, but he did begin setting up a political safety net in case authorities ended it for him. One element of his plan B was encouraging Avksentieva to run. A chip on his shoulder On the morning of August 3, Yakutsk’s Election Committee was scheduled to distribute confirmation documents for each candidate’s registration. Two hours before the meeting, Fyodorov got a call from Alexey Zhuravlyov, a State Duma deputy and the leader of the national Motherland party. Zhuravlyov once again demanded that Fyodorov leave the mayoral race because the party had struck a deal with Yakutian government leaders — a deal that had been approved by the Kremlin itself. “You won’t win anyway,” Zhuravlyov said, according to a journalist for the newspaper Kommersant who happened to be in the room. Fyodorov refused once more — and was recalled by his party that same day. Fyodorov was recalled when he was already sitting in the Election Committee’s meeting room waiting to receive his confirmation documents. “You know, there’s this voice: ‘The candidacy of Vladimir Fyodorov in the mayoral election for the city of Yakutsk has been confirmed,’” he recalled, “and then that kid they imported from Moscow stands up and waves his arms around: ‘No! No!’ He was practically running: ‘No, we’re recalling him, we’re recalling him!’” The election committee simultaneously removed Motherland’s candidate list from the elections for the Il Tumen, Yakutia’s regional assembly. Fyodorov had been the first candidate on that list. A political strategist with experience working in Yakutia said he is convinced that the events that followed were shaped by that nearly bungled recall and Fyodorov’s reaction to it. “He’s just that kind of person. He’s got a chip on his shoulder, and he already had personal motivation to act in this case,” the strategist told Meduza. “Naturally, I understood perfectly that if I were polling better than my opponent, they could do anything they wanted to me — take me off the list, provoke me, and so on,” Fyodorov said. “And naturally, I was ready for it.” Sardana Avksentieva’s name appeared on the candidate list just a few days before the Election Committee’s meeting. In Fyodorov’s words, her job was to “take up the standard if they knocked it to the ground.” Mulder and Scully Sardana Avksentieva is a slender, dark-haired woman with a soft smile, and the residents of Yakutsk got to know that smile well in the weeks before the election. Over the course of a month, her face watched them from the backs of a herd of trucks that had been parked throughout the city. The trucks, which became a kind of brand for Avksentieva’s campaign, were a necessary innovation: the owners of ordinary billboards refused to display her ads. Avksentieva was born in the village of Churapcha and has lived in Yakutia for her entire life. Her first degree is in history education, and her second is in government and municipal management. Even before she ran for mayor, Avksentieva had experience in local and national government offices: in the 1990s, she worked in an administrative department in Yakutsk that handled matters related to sports and the city’s youth. In 2000, she became an aide to State Duma deputy Vitaly Basygysov, and in 2007, she was named one of Yakutsk’s deputy mayors and worked in that position for five years —until Aisen Nikolaev was elected to the city’s top post. Avksentieva explained that she left the mayor’s office because she married one of her colleagues, first deputy mayor and United Russia member Viktor Avksentiev. In recent years, she has managed the Aerotorgservis commercial complex in Yakutsk’s airport. On top of her administrative experience, Avksentieva is no stranger to political campaigns. She was a campaign director for Nikolai Mestnikov, the general director of Yakutsk’s airport who decided to run for the Il Tumen as a United Russia candidate. In July of 2018, not long before Avksentieva began her campaign for mayor, Mestnikov was arrested on charges of accepting a massive bribe. During her mayoral campaign, Avksentieva’s opponents repeatedly brought up that fact, but she maintained that she had no connection to Mestnikov’s alleged crimes and that she herself was shocked by his arrest. Regardless, her experience campaigning for a United Russia candidate certainly helped Avksentieva during the election. “Now I understand that working with a candidate did allow me to go through a certain kind of training,” the mayor explained. “Polls, interviews, going door-to-door, talking to people in the street, all the events we organized helped me prepare. But I had never been a candidate, and to be honest, [running myself] was a bit of a screwball move.” Avksentieva does not hide the fact that she decided to make that move thanks to Vladimir Fyodorov after he realized he might be ejected from the elections and might need a backup candidate. The two organized what they called a “blistering” election campaign in tandem. The city’s residents started calling them Mulder and Scully in part because Fyodorov vaguely resembles X-Files star David Duchovny. “You have to give him credit for being a fighter. Someone else might have gone off to the woods to rest or gotten angry at the world, but he [acted] very swiftly,” Avksentieva said. Unlike Fyodorov, she did not meet any obstacles at the registration stage — at first, few officials were willing to take a female candidate seriously — and she quickly initiated an active campaign once her registration went through. “I had guessed that [Fyodorov’s removal from the campaign] might happen because I’m a seasoned warrior, and I understand the kinds of methods they use,” Avksentieva explained. “Both the favorite in the race, Mr. Alexander Savvinov, whom I respect, and Mr. Vladimir Fyodorov are two very strong candidates, two alpha types. I knew that the contest between them would be wild and that it might cause certain negative consequences. [And that meant] I had a chance, and I just had to wait.” The creativity of the northern peoples “After Fyodorov was recalled, there was about a month left for [Avksentieva] to make her name,” said political strategist Ilya Paimushkin, who worked with Fyodorov and Avksentieva. “The campaign was pretty standard: every day, there were meetings with local residents and organizations, and we worked hard on the social media side, WhatsApp included.” The social app is extremely po[CENSORED]r in Yakutia, and Savvinov even used it to announce his candidacy. Paimushkin said the Avksentieva-Fyodorov campaign bought targeted ads on Instagram as well. Avksentieva herself does not consider her campaign to be standard. “I say what got started then was really the creativity of the northern peoples. We are simply terrifying when we improvise,” she joked. When it became clear that the city’s billboards would not accept her advertisements, the aforementioned trucks appeared. Fyodorov said his friends and other entrepreneurs gave them up easily and at astonishingly low prices. “At some point, we said, ‘Okay, guys, enough. The whole city is already swarming with Sardanas,’” Fyodorov recalled. The campaign also faced obstacles when Avksentieva tried to rent spaces for town hall meetings with voters. She decided to hold them outside instead. “[The meetings took place] in people’s yards, in apartment building lobbies, in small workers’ collectives where people showed initiative and invited me themselves,” Avksentieva said. “That’s why they were so genuine. There might have been five or six people at most of them. The meetings were small, but there were a lot of them.” Avksentieva believes those meetings carried her to victory. Avksentieva realized that she had a shot at winning about two weeks before election day. She said the tone of her meetings started to change, and people began giving her specific requests: “That is, people stopped saying ‘Yeah, great, you go, good luck,’ and started saying ‘You should do this thing; don’t forget about that thing.’ They were counting on me.” Fyodorov also campaigned for Avksentieva and met frequently with city residents. The two often came to campaign events together. “Until 6:00 PM, she would meet with her people and I would meet with mine. And then [in the evening], we would go to the toughest areas together. We would sleep four or maybe six hours, and then at 9:30 AM, the whole team had a planning meeting, and then all of us went off — everybody to the field,” Fyodorov said. The politician also believes that as a team, he and Avksentieva played the best game demographically and managed to connect Yakutsk’s Russian and Yakutian electorates. Fyodorov calls himself “the local Slav,” and Avksentieva emphasized Yakutian traditions. She used images of sardanas, a local lily species, in her campaign materials, and she gave her first interview after the election in the indigenous Yakut language. A source familiar with the campaign said the Perm-based strategist Stepan Podaruyev also worked as a surrogate for the campaign. “They needed someone who wouldn’t be afraid to sue Savvinov and expose the skeletons in his closet, go to debates, and all the rest. A local wouldn’t do stuff like that,” the source told Meduza. “But Podaruyev did a great job suing and getting the results published in the news and on social media. It’s a small city, and everyone saw everything.” Op-eds and campaign materials were even published with a modified image of Podaruyev’s face that made him look more like a native Yakut — “so that he wouldn’t stand out too much.” Meduza’s source estimated that Podaruyev’s efforts may have cost Savvinov up to 10 percent of the vote, which would be enough to decide the result of the election. Stepan Podaruyev himself told Meduza that his goal was to “bring all of Savvinov’s problems into the public sphere.” “When they registered him, they were letting through an enormous number of ethical violations. They would never have registered him if he were an opposition candidate,” Podaruyev said. “He took advantage of his position throughout the election campaign. That’s what I was trying to demonstrate in court. I wanted to tell the residents of Yakutsk who people are trying to shove down their throats. The problem was that in Yakutia, no one but an outsider can say something like that in public.” When asked whether he supported Sardana Avksentieva, Podaruyev said he “supported the residents of Yakutsk.” “And then we just go off and vote” One strategist with experience in the region has argued that Savvinov’s loss was also the result of a poorly planned campaign. “In theory, [Governor Aisen Nikolaev] could have stopped this from happening. He would have had to take into account the weaknesses that Savvinov had from the very beginning: weak public speaking, occasional bashfulness, an inability to speak up when faced with pressure from opponents. [Nikolaev] could have made sure his opponents couldn’t take advantage of those weaknesses,” the strategist explained. “[Savvinov] didn’t have to go on TV so often in the first place.” Yakutsk’s mayoral debates, during which Savvinov expressed support for Russia’s unpo[CENSORED]r increase in the national retirement age, played right into Avksentieva’s hands, the strategist argued. For her part, Avksentieva supported the Russian Communist Party’s initiative to hold a referendum on the pension reform plan and encouraged local residents to vote on the proposal until the Communist Party itself gave up on the idea. “The debates were a turning point in the campaign,” Fyodorov agreed. “Sardana definitively came out as the very clear winner.” Avksentieva said about 8% of Yakutsk’s voters supported her at the start of the campaign simply because she was the only woman on the list of candidates; her gender was “a good start for name recognition.” She also believes her opponents “didn’t go too hard” on her for the same reason. Fyodorov disagreed: he said their team faced “information warfare throughout the whole campaign” but that he and Sardana are “made of Teflon,” and the dirt didn’t stick to them. Meduza’s sources in Yakutia believe Avksentieva’s victory also built on an existing sense of dissatisfaction in the region that emerged from an economic downturn and the increased retirement age. Avksentieva affirmed that idea. “You know how Grudinin did here,” she said, referring to Russia’s most recent presidential elections. Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin received 27.5 percent of the vote in Yakutia — his highest result in any Russian region — while Yakutia gave Vladimir Putin his lowest vote count at 64.3 percent. “Even back then, it was clear that our people have their own opinions, and they’re not afraid to express them one way or another,” Avksentieva argued. “We Yakuts are a somewhat melancholic nation, we’re northerners, we’re always in energy-saving mode. We rarely argue, we just sit here quietly, we’re very conflict-averse — and then we just go off and vote.” The Yakutian deputy Fedot Tumusov, who represents the Fair Russia party in the federal State Duma, believes Avksentieva’s victory is a manifestation of a nationwide trend. “First — this is an antiestablishment wave that has swept through Russia, and it’s still growing. Second — there’s Sardana Avksentieva’s personality,” he said. “Because she didn’t just fall from the sky: she worked in her time as a deputy mayor, so she knows the city’s problems exceedingly well. And third, of course, there’s everything else: a good team, a well-planned campaign strategy.” Tumusov believes Fyodorov’s support was one of the decisive factors in Avksentieva’s victory: “He’s a very well-known figure himself. He has the media reach, the financial resources, and the organizational tools you need for an election campaign.” Ultimately, Avksentieva won the election with 39.9 percent of the vote and became Yakutsk’s first female mayor. Alexander Savvinov placed second with 31.9 percent. Vladimir Fyodorov became Avksentieva’s first deputy mayor, a position that focuses on the city’s economy. Fyodorov has said that he had no preexisting agreement with Avksentieva regarding his role in the new city government. One source familiar with the campaign told Meduza otherwise and said Fyodorov’s current position demonstrates Avksentieva’s willingness to keep her promises even to the dissatisfaction of the regional government. The source said, “They asked her not to appoint Fyodorov, but she appointed him. You’ve got to give her credit — she answers for her words and doesn’t respond to threats.” The way Avksentieva came to power has spurred rumors that Fyodorov is really the one in the driver’s seat, but those rumors are more po[CENSORED]r in Moscow than they are in Yakutsk. Fyodorov himself rejects the idea: “[As deputy mayor], I work in my own field: I’ve got 30 different spheres of authority, death penalty cases, housing and commercial services, [stray] dogs, garbage collection, and so on and so forth. Would you call that managing Sardana?” However, the deputy mayor said, Aisen Nikolaev did call him before he called Avksentieva on the night of the election. “[He] thought I’d just sit on the throne and start ordering Sardana around, come out with guns blazing. He was wrong. We are a team, but there is a system of subordination and hierarchy.” Avksentieva said the rumors don’t offend her. “First of all, I know that it’s an odd situation. I think everything will settle into place with time,” she predicted. “And second, we really did get here together, and I trust [Vladimir Fyodorov] very deeply, so he has a pretty serious portfolio.” The Terminator In the winter, temperatures in Yakutsk often reach -50 degrees Celsius (almost -60 degrees Fahrenheit). Before she goes outside, Sardana Avksentieva typically puts on a pair of thick knee-high boots known as unty in Russian and mukluks or kamik in English. It seems that every government official in the city has a pair sitting by their closet. “Without ski pants and boots like these, you can’t get anything done in this town,” said the mayor’s press secretary Alexey Tolstiakov, reaching for his own pair. The mayor walks quickly, as though she is afraid of wasting even a single minute. She rides around town in a white Toyota Camry. The mayor’s office owns several luxury SUVs, but immediately after Avksentieva was elected, she fulfilled her campaign promise to auction them off. When she was told that the SUVs were necessary because the city’s often unpaved roads tend to damage cars, Avksentieva responded, “I think if the roads are so bad that they break down cars, we have to fix the roads, not buy SUVs.” Avksentieva has assured voters that she does not hire consultants to fine-tune her image, but in the public sphere, she acts like an ideal populist politician. She refers to the city’s residents exclusively as “our employers,” and when she greeted a cafeteria worker who was delighted to see the mayor “in real life,” Avksentieva immediately asked, “I haven’t disappointed you so far? Are you satisfied with me?” Immediately after her election, Avksentieva announced that she would be making efforts to economize the city’s budget by canceling “inaugurations, cushy receptions, and corporate parties” along with “business trips abroad.” When Avksentieva went on an official trip to Japan in December, she had to explain that she was acting on orders from the regional governor. She also noted that by that point in her tenure, she had canceled four international trips and decreased her travel spending enough to save the city several million rubles (at least tens of thousands of dollars). In her first few months on the job, the new mayor managed to withdraw from a deal with a contractor who had laid asphalt on top of snow-covered roads, fire an official who ordered a million-ruble banquet for the mayor’s office, and refuse to pay for a Moscow fur coat designer to travel to a winter festival in Yakutsk, redirecting the funds involved to purchase air purifiers for elementary schools. She also decreased city bus fares to two rubles (3 cents) and signed an order decreasing fares for suburban bus routes as well. She said suburban fares, which currently stand at up to 100 rubles ($1.50), would reach an average of 20 rubles (30 cents) by April. Avksentieva recognizes that she will eventually have to turn from innovations that inspire near-universal approval among Yakutsk’s residents to more unpo[CENSORED]r decisions. For example, she may have to turn off outdated gas lines to make them available for repairs, fight against so-called “lie cafes” that sell alcohol overnight, and confront the prevalence of old wooden homes that have not yet been officially named dangerously unstable. She will also face problems that have no clear solution. “The waitlist for housing in the city—well, there’s just no municipal housing. People have been waiting since 1963 or 1967. I hadn’t even entered this world, and people were already on the waitlist. How can I deal with that?” Avksentieva wondered. “I’m somehow supposed to come up with 30,000 plots of land, and there’s just not enough land for that in Yakutsk.” The new mayor will also be unable to make drastic changes to the city’s budget: the majority of its funds, more than 80 percent, are set aside for education spending. “Practically our entire budget goes to schools and daycares, and there’s nothing you can do about that,” Avksentieva said. That said, she does not plan to leave the education system alone: “I’m encouraging them now to decrease the number of administrators in the schools and then use the salaries that are freed up to increase salaries for psychologists and social workers. Psychological help in school, especially for adolescents — I believe that’s a very important thing,” she explained. When asked whether the city’s schools will agree with her, she laughed: “And what are they going to do? I told them once, twice. I said, figure it out yourselves, or I’ll figure it out for you.” Avksentieva wears feminine clothing, says she is not a feminist, and even takes pleasure in explaining that “nature itself created [women and men] to be different.” She says women are “emotionally superior” but deal less effectively with rational decisions and strategic planning. Nonetheless, the mayor herself seems to be a living refutation of those stereotypes: she can memorize a massive quantity of plans and statistics in various divisions of the city’s economy. She answers her opponents sharply, makes decisions quickly, and hates wasting time. After mentioning “women’s nature” once again, she started laughing: “My husband always tries to teach me not to lean on phrases like ‘I think,’ ‘I don’t want,’ and ‘I want.’ He says, ‘You shouldn’t talk like that. You’re not a little girl anymore — you’re the mayor.’” “Among all these men, we have a woman who can bring any man to his knees. Who is it? Three guesses. It’s Sardana. During the election, people called her the Terminator and the Iron Lady,” Fyodorov said. “She really is made of iron. She just plows through like no man can dream of. Once, she landed on a redeye flight from Moscow, she got out of the plane at 5:00 AM, and I told her, ‘I can lead this city planning meeting at 8:00.’ No, she was sitting on that plane for seven hours, and then she got here and went straight to the meeting.” Fyodorov assured Meduza that he has no hard feelings about the fact that Avksentieva got the mayor’s seat and not him, but he admitted that he still harbors mayoral ambitions. “I am entirely satisfied with my job. I’m doing what I wanted to do: economics. Right now, my position is definitely enough for me,” he said several times during an interview. “And in terms of what will happen in the future, I have never kept my ambitions a secret, and I still have them — I want to be mayor.” Later, catching himself, he added, “If Sardana wants to stay for another term, be my guest. We’ll figure it out together.” Avksentieva herself reiterated that Fyodorov’s support was “absolutely essential” for her campaign: “Neither I nor Fyodorov can say how many [voters] were his and how many were mine.” Nonetheless, she does believe that the “softer nature” of her relationship with the regional governor enabled her to win and that the campaign would have been much more difficult otherwise. “What can I say — they’re men,” she said. Fyodorov himself agreed with that assessment: “Sardana and I are different, and the way men build relationships with each other is different. If I had won, they would have started cracking down on me as much as they could.” Yakutsk doesn’t forgive mistakes Regional governor Aisen Nikolaev likes to say that Yakutsk is the biggest city in the world where the ground is frozen year round. That didn’t stop him from establishing the Orthodox tradition of taking a dip for Epiphany in the city, though doing so on the thick frozen layer that covers the Lena River required installing a large heated tent around a hole in the ice. The Epiphany ceremony is a solemn affair: the governor is the first to dive in, followed by officials one rung lower in the regional government. Sardana Avksentieva also planned to participate in the ceremony, but she ultimately caught a cold and had to back out. Vladimir Fyodorov prefers to seek out a different baptismal font. “I don’t like coming here, this is just a show,” he said. “I have my own font outside the city. My friends put it together, and I’m going out there with the guys today. We’ll each take a dip, drink a little something, eat a bit of stroganina [Siberian frozen fish]. You know, simple, like normal people, not in front of the entire city.” Unlike Fyodorov, who can afford to take a few jabs at the head of his republic’s government, Avksentieva always speaks about Aisen Nikolaev in a distinctly respectful tone. During her first annual state of the city report, she pointed out that because she had only been on the job for a few months, Nikolaev should be credited with most of the city’s accomplishments. In an interview with Meduza, Avksentieva emphasized that there are no tensions between her and Yakutia’s regional leadership, saying the city’s finances can already speak to that fact. “I am grateful to him for the fact that he took things so wisely, and even though I won and the candidate he supported did not, he decided to change his attitude toward the city somewhat,” she said. According to Avksentieva, the financial resources allocated to Yakutsk even began to increase after her election. She told Meduza that she and Nikolaev are “on very friendly terms”: she knows she can call him at any time or message him on WhatsApp. After he won the regional governorship with 71.5 percent of the vote, Aisen Nikolaev himself congratulated Avksentieva on her victory the night of the election, when the direction the mayoral race was taking became obvious. Vladimir Fyodorov argued that the governor had no other choice because every precinct had election observers who were ready to “raise a big fuss” if they noticed any violations, and there were “journalists all ready to go” alongside them. “I think that gesture showed his understanding that everything just happened the way it happened. And now, stirring up conflict like other regional governors have done would be a road to nowhere. Nobody needs that,” Fyodorov said. Immediately after the elections, Aisen Nikolaev gave an interview in which he practically warned Sardana Avksentieva not to order investigations of her predecessors, including himself. “Now Sardana Avksentieva is getting into subpoenas. Everything will depend on what path she chooses: if she starts ordering audits, if she starts fighting windmills, then… Yakutsk doesn’t forgive mistakes,” he said. Avksentieva got the message. “We understand that not as a threat but as an invitation not to deal with trifles. There is nothing at all to be said about a conflict between the municipal administration and the regional government,” she assured Meduza. In his own interview with Meduza, Aisen Nikolaev argued that “you have to respect the people’s will” and said he has “no conflicts at all” with the mayor of Yakutsk. “I have known Ms. Avksentieva for a very long time, from the time I was leading United Russia campaigns on the regional level while she was doing the same on the municipal level,” the governor said. “We get along marvelously when it comes to questions of urban development in Yakutsk. The main thing now is for the expectations that have formed around her work to turn into real progress.” Nikolaev added that “those who wish to provoke conflict, those who would like to say that Avksentieva is more po[CENSORED]r than Nikolaev and Nikolaev puts pressure on Avksentieva—there’s a mass of those people.” Nonetheless, he is certain that “those wishes will remain just that — wishes.” The governor pointed out that during Yakutsk’s last election, he “earned more votes than Sardana and Savvinov put together.” “Fyodorov’s involvement in Avksentieva’s team frustrates Aisen, of course, because he’s a well-known, experienced politician who has his own reliable sources for political information,” said Paimushkin, the political strategist. “Nikolaev is afraid that his work will be audited. And that the new [mayoral] team will be more po[CENSORED]r than his, which is the case right now. For now, the subpoena stuff isn’t all that important, but a really hardworking team is bracing itself in the mayor’s office for whatever comes next. His jealousy is the main obstacle facing Sardana,” Paimushkin mused. “He understands that if something happens in the republic, then the next candidate to become governor might be Sardana. That’s why he pushed for such a weak mayoral candidate who was already at retirement age. Ideally, if Aisen is a strategic politician, he’ll try and push her toward the State Duma [in Moscow].” For her part, Sardana Avksentieva said she has no plans to run for governor. “He [Nikolaev] knows perfectly well that I have no such ambitions. I’m not breathing down his neck, and I never plan to,” she insisted. “The reason is that I understand that after five years of hard work — it takes two years off a man’s life for every actual year, and for me, it’ll probably take off three — I’ll be a very tired woman with a single desire: to lie down and stay that way for a while. So no, I have no ambitions. There’s men’s work, and then there’s work that’s not for women, so to speak.” “Is this really happening?” Sardana Avksentieva admits that she was frightened at first by the wave of attention that began pouring onto her. “I’d just be sitting and eating, and people would be taking pictures of me. I’d walk somewhere — pictures. But [my husband] and I agreed that we wouldn’t change our lifestyle,” she explained. “And so I go shopping just like I always did, for groceries, for household essentials, I go to the movies, and my husband and I go out for lunch or dinner if I haven’t had time to cook something. Getting out of my comfort zone was hard, of course. But then I thought, ‘Well, so what if I go out for dinner or go buy something? What’s wrong with that? Everyone does it.’ And that helped me let it go.” In her first four months in the mayor’s office, Avksentieva has become a real Internet phenomenon: each of her decisions sparks a burst of news reports and social media posts, and pictures with information about her are reposted en masse even outside Yakutia. Posts about her always draw an enormous number of comments. Some commenters say they were thinking about emigrating from Russia but are now considering a move to Yakutsk instead. Others write that there either must be some kind of catch to the whole story or Avksentieva, as an honest mayor, will soon end up behind bars. Avksentieva has become the subject of Twitter jokes and motivational Facebook statuses; people call her “the healthy man’s mayor” and compare her to Wonder Woman. On the po[CENSORED]r Russian social site Pikabu, she even has her own hashtag, although Avksentieva herself first heard of the site only recently. “It’s not clear how I ended up on there,” she said, “but it all looks well and good to me. I don’t always have time to read, of course, but I look at it sometimes — I really like it when people have a sense of humor. Sometimes, people post these incredible comments that just make me burst out laughing. I end up thinking, ‘Goodness, is this really happening to me?’” Avksentia sees Internet posts as “a real national art.” She said the mayor’s office doesn’t spend a penny on its social media presence and that she runs her own Instagram account. “[During the campaign,] it wasn’t that po[CENSORED]r for whatever reason. And then, pow! It just took off after the election.” Avksentieva’s account now boasts more than 74,000 followers. Avksentieva added that she is “very grateful to people on social media.” She said, “Everyone has their moods. Sometimes you sit there and think, ‘Will any of this really work out?’ And then I look at my account: ‘Sardana, don’t give up, you got this!’ And I start thinking, ‘Yes, of course — why did I doubt myself?’” The mayor’s desk features a single present to Avskentieva: a roly-poly doll. “So that I keep standing back up,” she explained. One of Meduza’s sources in the region confirmed that Avksentieva’s online po[CENSORED]rity is driven by her actions, not paid consultants. “Nobody intentionally made that happen. They get frustrated with all the attention themselves. Even the president’s administration has started wondering whether anyone does their PR,” the source said. “On the contrary — they run away from PR at every opportunity to avoid provoking Nikolaev.” Avksentieva would like to see other Russian cities return to a direct vote in their mayoral elections. Only seven of the country’s 83 regional capitals currently use a direct system. “The thing is that local self-determination is, if you’ll excuse my pathos and grandiosity here, what government is built on. Look at Yakutsk — is this bad for anybody? I’d bring it back. But no one’s asking me.” The only one There has already been a case in Russia in which a woman came to power in a regional capital with support from opposition forces. In 2013, Galina Shirshina became the mayor of Petrozavodsk with help from the Yabloko party. The similarities between her story and Avksentieva’s stretch well beyond their gender: Shirshina became mayor after the central opposition candidate was forcibly removed from the campaign, she canceled her expensive inauguration ceremony, and she decreased fares for public transport. At first, Shirshina also insisted she would do her best to maintain friendly relations with the regional governor, but that didn’t prevent tensions between them from reaching the airwaves within a year: the mayor ultimately stated publicly that Governor Alexander Khudilainen “is incapable of maintaining a functional working relationship” and put pressure on her by bringing criminal cases against her subordinates. An initial investigation of Shirshina herself revealed no signs of wrongdoing, but in 2015, the city council decided under Khudilainen’s leadership to remove the mayor from her post under the pretense that her work was unsatisfactory. After Shirshina’s tenure, Petrozavodsk no longer held direct elections for the mayor’s seat. Sardana Avskentieva is not planning to repeat her predecessor’s experience. In November 2018, she entered the ranks of “Supporters of United Russia,” an organization affiliated with United Russia that does not require its members to join Russia’s ruling party officially. “I know that I’ve fallen away a bit from a relatively pleasant sense of order, and I understand that I should do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t hurt Yakutsk,” she explained. “I had to make it clear that Yakutsk is not an opposition city and I am not an opposition mayor.” Avksentieva calls herself “a constructive part of the city that wants to bring about change within the current structure, without conflict, without revolutions or protests in the town square.” The mayor remembers what happened to Shirshina, but she hopes the same will not happen to her. “I think she was unlucky: she was a little bit ahead of her time. You can’t compare her situation back then and my situation now because now, a very serious sense of po[CENSORED]r demand has come to fruition,” Avksentieva argued. “And now, all our power structures understand, they feel that demand. I daresay that until I fully satisfy my employers, no one will let something happen to me. I mean, who exactly am I bothering? I’m the only one out here.”

Tell your friends to sign up for the Daily Kickoff here or for early 7AM access via Debut Inbox SOTU — President Donald Trump defended his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria on Tuesday night, saying in his State of the Union address that “great nations do not fight endless wars.” Trump also singled out Iran as the “world’s leading state sponsor of terror” and vowed to confront the “regime that chants death to America and threatens genocide against the Jewish people.” REACTION — Aaron David Miller emails: “The key takeaway on the foreign policy side was the president’s high profile commitment in a SOTU to getting America out of endless wars. His seeming praise for the Taliban and their commitment to negotiations and to peace with no similar nod to the Afghan government suggests a desire to head for an accelerated exit, comprehensive political accord or not. Ditto on Syria where he had tough words for Iran but committed himself cautiously to watching Tehran but not confronting. On Israel, he pushed all the standard buttons — Embassy in Jerusalem, combatting anti-Semitism, and tough words on Iran.” Wash Institute’s Robert Satloff: “Like Clint Eastwood in Alcatraz, President Trump dug his escape from the Middle East last night. What was most important was what was not said: no sense of mission or purpose to our presence in the region; no rationale for why we are getting tough on Iran (they are just ‘bad, bad’); no Arab state mentioned except in context of how fast we can leave our ‘forever wars’; no reference to much-vaunted Arab-Israel peacemaking, and no reference to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, or the Gulf rift, which occupies so much attention from Capitol Hill to the Pentagon to cable news. It is clear this president wants to escape from the Middle East — something our friends and allies will fear and our adversaries and enemies will cheer.” Top U.S. Commander in Mideast Wasn’t Consulted on Syria Pullout — by Nancy Youssef: “The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East said President Trump didn’t discuss with him the withdrawal of all American troops from Syria before announcing the decision… Army Gen. Joseph Votel, head of the military’s Central Command, made his comments Tuesday while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee… Gen. Votel also said that, despite Mr. Trump assertion during a Sunday interview with CBS News that U.S. troops would be staying in Iraq in part to ‘watch Iran,’ military officials haven’t received new orders to change the U.S. military mission there.” [WSJ] During the State of the Union, Trump acknowledged two Holocaust survivors, Joshua Kaufman and Judah Samet, who also survived the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. We must never ignore the vile poison of anti-Semitism, or those who spread its venomous creed,” Trump said. “With one voice, we must confront this hatred anywhere and everywhere it occurs.” — In a rare moment, the House chamber broke out into a short rendition of “Happy Birthday” to honor Samet, who celebrated his 81st birthday. Samet gave a big smile and yelled “thank you” in response. [CSPAN] ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted: “Good to see POTUS speak out clearly against anti-Semitism, remembering its victims and honoring survivors from the Holocaust to Pittsburgh.” The Atlantic’s Emma Green: “Anti-Semitism is getting huge air time in this address, along survivors of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. This is a significant play for Trump, who has been accused of enabling anti-Semitism.” HEARD YESTERDAY — During an appearance at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC on Tuesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was asked by Winnie Stachelberg, CAP’s Executive Vice President for External Affairs, what she has learned in the past few weeks about equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. Measuring her words carefully and appearing to avoid mentioning the words “Jews” or “Israel,” Rep. Omar replied, “I think we are at a breaking point where we’re starting to have a conversation about what it means to be of people that harbor hate and the kind of journey we could all be on in fighting against discrimination, collectively, while still having the freedom to debate foreign policy and not only think about how we engage our allies, but also how we criticize and hold them accountable.” [JewishInsider; Video] — Omar also tweeted in response to an op-ed by Jonathan Tobin, urging Democrats to speak up against her: “My sister Rashida and I have been fighting against Anti-Semitism, any effort to deny that is a smear. We are pro-peace and realize without justice there is no peace! Our domestic policy values need to be aligned with our foreign policy values. No exceptions!” WATCH — Omar walks away and ignores a question from CNN reporter Manu Raju on why she supports the BDS movement. [Video] ON CNN’s THE LEAD — Former State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Democrats’ attitude toward Israel: “I have spent a lot of time in the region, and I have spent a lot of time on Democratic platforms. This is not new. This has been evolving over the course of time… Nobody is defending Hamas, nobody is defending terrorism. The question is, can you be sympathetic to the Palestinian people while also being defenders and funding Israel? The positions of Rashida Tlaib, they are not representative of all of the Democrats who want to have that conversation. They certainly are not, but there is an evolving view.” — Symone Sanders: “There has been a lack of nuance in the conversation when you talk about Palestine to the point where you cannot be critical of the government of Israel’s actions without someone calling you antisemitic, which some would argue is crazy because we can be critical of the United States of America and understanding we’re criticizing the United States of America, not the people… I have been to Israel with the America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL). I know Ambassador [Ron] Dermer personally. I have been to Jerusalem.” [Video] David Leonhardt writes… “Jeremy Corbyn’s Bigotry Problem: Any American politician who wants to praise parts of the Corbyn agenda has a duty to reject his comfort with bigotry. Doing so shouldn’t be hard. She could simply say that she agrees with Corbyn on many issues but is disappointed by how he has handled anti-Semitism over the years. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s reaction — in response to a supporter of hers on Twitter who pointed out “Corbyn’s long, documented history of anti-Semitism” — was too weak… It seems strange to have to make this point during a week when this country is rightly denouncing Ralph Northam’s history of bigotry.” [NYTimes] ON THE HILL — The Senate overwhelmingly passed the Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act, known as S.1, on Tuesday, by a vote of 77-23. The legislation incorporates four bipartisan bills, including the reauthorization of the 10-year Memorandum of Understanding signed between the U.S. and Israel in 2016, and a measure that empowers state and local governments to counter the BDS movement. It also includes an amendment sponsored by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that urges Trump not to withdraw U.S troops from Syria and Afghanistan. — “The future of the Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act is in doubt as Democrats who control the House are reluctant to take it up without changes. ‘This is an effort to politicize Israel, and we are not going to play ball with it,’ said a senior House Democratic aide.” [CNN; WashPost] The measure was opposed by all Democratic senators who’ve announced a run for president in 2020, including Sen. Cory Booker (D- NJ), who had expressed his support for the bipartisan Israel Anti-Boycott Act last November. Booker defended his vote against S.1 in a statement to Jewish Insider: “I have a strong and lengthy record of opposing efforts to boycott Israel, as evidenced by my cosponsorship of S. 720, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act. However, this specific piece of legislation contains provisions that raise serious First Amendment concerns, and that’s why I voted against it. I drafted an amendment to help address these widely-held concerns, but there was no amendment process offered to allow for this bill to be improved. There are ways to combat BDS without compromising free speech, and this bill as it currently stands plainly misses the mark.” [JewishInsider] Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who placed a hold on the U.S.-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018 in November, joined the minority in opposing the bill. — Sergio Gor, Sen. Paul’s communications director, emails: “Senator Paul strongly opposes any limitations on boycotts, even those he disagrees with. He doesn’t agree with boycotting Israel, but thinks it’s a very dangerous precedent for the government to start outlawing boycotts.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) writes… “The Truth About B.D.S. and the Lies About My Bill: Similar to federal statutes protecting state governments that choose to divest from companies engaged in business with Sudan and Iran, the bill clarifies that state anti-BDS laws meeting its criteria are not inconsistent with federal policy… Despite the growing influence of anti-Israel voices on the left, which accounts for a growing share of the Democratic political base, the Senate [passed] the Combating BDS Act in a bipartisan supermajority vote.”[NYTimes] ULTIMATE DEAL WATCH — Kushner expected to give update on Middle East peace plan at conference — by Barak Ravid: “White House senior adviser Jared Kushner is expected to share an update about the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan during a public session at the Warsaw Middle East conference next Thursday… Kushner is not expected to give details about the parameters of the plan, but he will most likely provide an update on its status and how the administration wants to reveal and launch it.” [Axios] — As it readies peace plan, US says it sees no need to balance pro-Israel slant — by Raphael Ahren: “The White House is not interested in being considered an ‘honest broker’ in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict… ‘The US is a strong ally of Israel. The administration, from the president on down, is not embarrassed to defend Israel where Israel needs to be defended, whether it’s on the Gaza border, on the Hezbollah tunnels, the Syrian border, wherever it is,’ [a] senior official told The Times of Israel.” [ToI] West Bank settlers report surge in po[CENSORED]tion growth: “Baruch Gordon, director of West Bank Jewish Po[CENSORED]tion Stats, said the White House has created a much friendlier environment for the settlers, clearing the way for a surge in construction in the coming years. ‘It’s just simply opened up. There’s no longer this cloud looming over it,’ Gordon said.” [AP] ON THE GROUND — Images show S-300 air defense batteries in Syria likely turning operational — by Judah Ari Gross: “An Israeli satellite imaging company on Tuesday said it had for the first time detected that a suspected Syrian S-300 air defense system appeared on track to become operational, signaling a possible threat to Israel’s air campaign against Iran in the country. However, the ImageSat International firm added that there remained significant questions about the anti-aircraft battery’s condition.”[ToI] • Netanyahu to meet Putin in Moscow this month [ABCNews] IN THE SPOTLIGHT — Trump nominee Neomi Rao grilled on past writings, expresses ‘regret’ about some — by Leigh Ann Caldwell: “Judicial nominee Neomi Rao defended herself Tuesday against tough questioning from members of both parties on the Senate Judiciary Committee and expressed “regret” for some of her past writings, which she said in retrospect make her “cringe.” Nominated by President Donald Trump to replace Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Rao was grilled about her views on gender parity and sexual assault as expressed in articles she wrote in college.” [NBCNews; WashPost] Democratic Donor Who Pivoted to Trump Draws Scrutiny in Inaugural Inquiry — by Kenneth Vogel, David Kirkpatrick and Maggie Haberman: “The biggest donation of his postelection flurry — $900,000 paid by Imaad Zuberi’s California firm, Avenue Ventures, to Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee — is now being scrutinized by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York as part of what appears to be an escalating investigation into the inauguration and its financing… His spokesman, Steve Rabinowitz, said the money Mr. Zuberi donated to the inaugural fund was ‘all his money, his personal money, certainly not foreign money.’ … Mr. Rabinowitz said his client merely bumped into Mr. Flynn at Trump Tower, and asked to take a selfie… The subpoena asks for communications between the inaugural committee and Stripe… One of Stripe’s investors, Thrive Capital, is controlled by Josh Kushner, the younger brother of Jared Kushner.” [NYTimes] • Trump’s Inaugural Chairman Tom Barrack Looked to Cash In on Infrastructure [Bloomberg] ROAD TO THE KNESSET — Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Transportation Minister Israel Katz, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and former interior minister Gideon Sa’ar were elected to the top four spots on the Likud Party slate in the ruling party’s primary on Tuesday. After Netanyahu and Trump exchanged political statements on social media, a senior White House official clarified that the “administration is not endorsing any candidate.”… Fake mustaches, Trump posters and Netanyahu interviewing himself: The bewildering world of Israeli election ads… In his first interview since entering politics, former IDF chief Benny Gantz said that he believes Israel should not be ruling over other people… In a statement, Likud accused Gantz of planning to form a “leftist government” with the help of Israeli Arab parties… PROFILE — Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Woman Defies Rabbis and Runs Left — by David Halbfinger: “Michal Zernowitski… sees herself as embodying the generational yearnings of ultra-Orthodox voters who, unlike forebears who saw the land of Israel as holy but were uncertain about the state, want to feel more fully a part of the country in which they are citizens. “They’re trying to integrate into Israel and leave their ghettos,” she said. As an advocate for women, too, she has an added motivation to break out of the confines of the Haredi world… Actually getting elected, however, would require something approaching a miracle: Ms. Zernowitski’s chosen party, Labor, is in a shambles… The primaries will therefore be a blood bath; any newcomer would be lucky to earn a winnable spot on the party’s ranked list.” [NYTimes] 2020 WATCH — At a traditional pre-SOTU lunch for TV hosts on Monday, Trump dismissed Howard Schultz’s independent candidacy. “He doesn’t have a shot,” Mr. Trump said. “Not a shot.”… A top progressive firm, SKDKnickerbocker, tells Dems to leave Starbucks alone in their fight against Schultz… Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is heading to Iowa this month, as she prepares to announce a presidential bid on Sunday… Klobuchar was the only Democratic candidate who voted in favor of the Senate anti-BDS bill on Tuesday… ** Good Wednesday Morning! Enjoying the Daily Kickoff? Please share us with your friends & tell them to sign up at [JI]. Have a tip, scoop, or op-ed? We’d love to hear from you. Anything from hard news and punditry to the lighter stuff, including event coverage, job transitions, or even special birthdays, is much appreciated. Email Editor@JewishInsider.com ** BUSINESS BRIEFS: Stephen Schwarzman’s Blackstone goes to war with Italian media tycoon [FinancialTimes] • Following several months of upheaval, Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures is doubling down on its distribution partnership with MGM [HollywoodReporter] • Trump administration just threatened Jersey’s $350M online gambling industry. The state is fighting back [NJAdvance] • Ruby Schron Finds $690M Financing for Troubled National Portfolio [CommercialObserver] TRANSITION — Laurie Segall Readies Deep Dive on Facebook for CNN — by Brian Steinberg: “Laurie Segall has nabbed sit-downs with tech moguls like Apple’s Tim Cook and Salesforce’s Marc Benioff at a time when such stuff would be the province of CNBC or a few business-news outlets… Now Segall’s tech-news acumen will get a TV spotlight when CNN runs a special documentary report, “Facebook at 15: It’s Complicated,” which is scheduled to air Sunday February 10 at 9 p.m. eastern. The program features never-before-seen interviews with top Facebook executives, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg… The documentary’s debut presents something of a bittersweet moment for Segall, whose last day at CNN after working there for a decade. was Friday.” [Variety] — Randi Zuckerberg: Dad gave Mark the option to open a McDonald’s franchise — by Kaya Yurieff: “‘My dad, funny enough, right before each of us went to college offered us the options of going to college or like investing in a franchise and running it,’ Randi Zuckerberg said in a recent interview with CNN Business’ Laurie Segall… While she said her parents had mixed feelings about Mark Zuckerberg dropping out of college, they supported all their children’s decisions. ‘I think they were like ‘Okay, you probably should have taken the McDonald’s franchise money if you wanted a business. But, okay, this might be a second good choice,” Randi Zuckerberg said.” [CNNBusiness] EUROVISION 2019 — Crowd favorite Shalva Band pulls out of Eurovision contention — by Amy Spiro: “The Shalva Band – a favorite among judges and viewers – already earned a spot in the finale of the show, which is set to air on February 12. But the group – which includes several religiously observant members – decided to quit the show after it realized it could not perform at the Eurovision without violating the Shabbat… Several Israeli officials – including Culture Minister Miri Regev – appealed to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to bend its rules. The EBU refused to commit to changing its tight schedule to accommodate the group.” [JPost] First wave of new Ethiopian immigrants arrives in Israel — by Isabel Debre: “Nearly 100 Ethiopian Jews landed in Israel on Monday in the first wave of new immigration since the government said last year that it would let some of the 8,000 remaining community members join relatives in Israel… Although many of the newcomers are practicing Jews, Israel doesn’t consider them Jewish because their Jewish ancestors underwent forced conversion to Christianity over a century ago.” [AP] TALK OF THE TOWN — A Utah Orthodox rabbi said his childhood nanny sexually abused him for 10 years. Here’s why he decided to tell his story for the first time — by Gillian Friedman: “Rabbi Avremi Zippel said he was inspired to come forward by the #MeToo movement, in particular by Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman… But he is also making history: Rabbi Zippel may be the first Orthodox Jewish rabbi to come out during the #MeToo movement as a survivor of sexual abuse — a topic he said is rarely discussed in the observant Jewish community… He hopes that by coming forward, he can become an example not just to his own observant Jewish community, but to other survivors of sexual abuse suffering in silence.” [DeseretNews] Chicago mayor condemns anti-Muslim emails written by Cubs family head — by Suzannah Gonzales: “Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday condemned the ‘ignorance and intolerance’ in emails written by Joe Ricketts, head of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team, in which he expresses anti-Muslim sentiment.” [Reuters] SPOTTED — at Michael Tomasky’s launch of his new book, If We Can Keep It: How the Republic Collapsed and How It Might Be Saved, at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC: Former Senator Al Franken [Pic] REMEMBERING — Izzy Young, Who Presided Over the Folk Revival, Dies at 90 — by Margalit Fox: “Izzy Young, whose Greenwich Village shop, the Folklore Center, was the beating heart of the midcentury folk music revival — and who in 1961 presented the first New York concert by a young Bob Dylan — died on Monday at his home in Stockholm… Israel Goodman Young was born on March 26, 1928, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and reared in the Bronx. His parents, Philip and Pola, were Jewish immigrants from Poland… In the mid-1950s, after working for several years at Borough Park Shomer Shabbos, the bakery his father had established in Brooklyn, Mr. Young became a dealer in rare folk-music books.” [NYTimes] BIRTHDAYS: Electrical engineer for RCA and then General Electric, instrumental in many inventions, he is the father of film director Steven Spielberg, Arnold Meyer Spielberg turns 102… Israeli pediatric endocrinologist, winner of the 2009 Israel Prize, in 1966 he described the type of dwarfism later called Laron syndrome in his name, Dr. Zvi Laron turns 92… Bill Levine turns 87… Member of the New Jersey Senate since 2005, she currently serves as Senate Majority Leader, Loretta Weinberg turns 84… Rosalyn Kaplan turns 82… Cantor of Congregation Hugat Haverim in Glendale, California, Harvey Lee Block turns 78… Syndicated columnist for the Washington Post, he has worked at the Post since 1968, Richard Martin Cohen turns 78… Louisiana Commissioner of Administration, after serving as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana (2010-2016), Jay Dardenne turns 65… Author, journalist, activist and professor of journalism at Harvard and at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Michael Pollan turns 64… Los Angeles attorney specializing in criminal and civil appeals, author of an amicus brief for members of Congress in the Jerusalem passport case of Zivotofsky v. Secretary of State, Paul Kujawsky turns 62…

While MArvel's Tony Stark is a science fiction style hero who uses his ingenuity and Iron Man armor to overcome all manner of menaces, he's also a unique twist on the fantasy archetype of the armored hero who confronts and slays monsters. Usually the monsters Tony faces are metaphorical, but this spring he'll be part of Marvel's War of the Realms, an event that will pit him against an army of literal magical and mythological monsters. In the main War of the Realms series (by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman), Tony joins his fellow heroes in battling the invading extra-dimensional armies of Malekith the Accursed, but he'll also face off against Malekith's forces in the pages of his own book as well. Tony's solo War of the Realms adventure begins in May in Tony Stark: Iron Man #12, the kick-off to a special two part tie-in arc by the guest creative team of Gail Simone and Paolo Villanelli. The tale finds Tony and his allies tasked with a very important mission: Keeping Avengers Mountain out of the hands of Malekith and his invading armies. RELATED: Jason Aaron Drafts the Marvel Universe Into a War of the Realms CBR: What's it been like telling a story that plunges Iron Man, one of Marvel's most iconic heroes, into a story full of magic and mythological monsters? Gail Simone: Oh, it’s a blast. it’s just a joy. I’ve written most of the DC Icons, and a lot of others, but not many of the Marvel big guns. Getting a chance to write an Avenger is a big, fun deal. The weird thing is, completely out of the blue, years ago, this idea for an Iron Man story popped into my head. It was unlike anything I’d read with Tony before, but just sounded really entertaining. It was such an odd premise, though -- I was positive I’d never get to write it. Then, Tom Brevoort wrote and asked if I’d like to do this, and because it’s War of the Realms, my idea just fell completely in place. It feels weirdly like destiny. I keep trying to wrap my head around it, how did I get THIS plot for THIS particular event, years before it even came up? It’s just one of the weirdest, coolest things I’ve had happen to me. I’ve been thinking of War of the Realms as Tolkien meets Marvel, and to me, there’s no funner character to put in that soup than Iron Man, the guy who has very little use for magic! I can’t say too much about the story yet, but if you can imagine one great character, from one of the great fantasy archetypes, fighting Tony and his team, attacking them right in their own home base…who would you choose? RELATED: Greg Horn's War of the Realms 'Van Art' Variant Takes us Back to the '70s Since you're telling a War of the Realms tale you have access to a variety of characters from super heroics and mythology. What can you tell us about the established Marvel characters you're especially excited to write in this arc and the action they'll become embroiled in? I don’t want to say too much, but some mystical big guns play a role; some of my favorite of the darker magic characters. Plus, I might get in a couple of my favorite Asgardians. But mainly I’m excited to get to write the book’s regular cast right now. Rhodey, Jacosta, the Wasp, honestly, it’s such a great cast that I want to finish this interview and get back to writing them. Plus, Dr. Shapiro is one of the best felines in comics, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

The deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, privately complained that he was ordered by president Donald Trump to write the notorious memo justifying the firing of the FBI director James Comey, according to Comey’s former deputy. Andrew McCabe writes in a new book that Rosenstein, who has publicly defended the memo, lamented that the president had directed him to rationalise Comey’s dismissal, which is now the subject of inquiries into whether Trump obstructed justice. Rosenstein made his remarks in a private meeting at the justice department on 12 May 2017, according to McCabe’s memoir, which also accuses Trump of operating like a criminal mob boss and of unleashing a “strain of insanity” in American public life. McCabe recalls Rosenstein being “glassy-eyed”, visibly upset and sounding emotional after coming to believe the White House was using him as a scapegoat for Comey’s dismissal. “He said it wasn’t his idea. The president had ordered him to write the memo justifying the firing,” McCabe writes. Rosenstein said he was having trouble sleeping, McCabe writes. “There’s no one here that I can trust,” he is quoted as saying. McCabe’s book, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, is due on sale later this month. A copy was obtained by the Guardian prior to its release. The account supports reports last year that Rosenstein was left “shaken” by his role in Comey’s firing. It provides the strongest indication so far that Rosenstein’s private view on the memo clashed with his testimony to Congress saying: “I wrote it. I believe it. I stand by it.” His memo was cited by Trump as a reason to fire Comey over his handling of the FBI inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s email use as secretary of state. Trump later said that he in fact fired Comey for pursuing the investigation into his presidential campaign’s links with Russia. At the time, the White House flatly denied that Trump had directed Rosenstein to write a justification for firing Comey. “It was all him,” Sean Spicer, the then press secretary, said of Rosenstein. Advertisement Five days after his emotional remarks, Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller, the special counsel, to take over the inquiry into whether Trump’s team coordinated with Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. US authorities concluded Russia aimed to help Trump. Mueller is also known to be investigating whether Trump sought to obstruct justice by firing Comey and taking other steps to impede the investigation. McCabe, a 22-year FBI veteran who was fired after internal investigators said he had been dishonest, is scathing about a president he views as posing a threat to the country. He accuses Trump of undermining the FBI out of fear and diminishing the rule of law. In his sharpest criticism, McCabe writes that after firing Comey, Trump and the White House counsel, Don McGahn, acted like mobsters by in effect offering McCabe protection in return for loyalty. “The president and his men were trying to work me the way a criminal brigade would operate,” McCabe writes, recalling an Oval Office meeting soon after his elevation to acting FBI director. He confirms reports that Trump asked him how he voted in 2016. Having been a lifelong registered Republican, McCabe writes, he did not cast a vote for president that year. McCabe was later publicly attacked by Trump, who abused him and his wife in tweets. McCabe portrays Trump and his senior aides as frequently distracted by TV news and suspicions of leakers in the White House. He is also sharply critical of Jeff Sessions, Trump’s first attorney general, saying he had trouble focusing, frequently flew into red-faced rages and confused classified intelligence with things he had read in the media. He accuses Trump of using the tactics and rhetoric of totalitarian dictators in persuading loyal “shock troops” that anyone who disagrees with them is a traitor. Trump’s “heedless bullying” and refusal to tolerate any view other than his own is “nurturing a strain of insanity in public dialogue” that is then further amplified by online media, McCabe writes. The book does not reveal new findings from the Trump-Russia investigation but gives a tantalizing detail within what McCabe says is a “hypothetical” that explains FBI protocol. If the bureau learns that someone from a US political campaign and a high-ranking foreign official discussed “possibly colluding”, he writes, then the FBI would be obliged to investigate. Since you're here… … we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading and supporting our independent, investigative reporting than ever before. And unlike many news organisations, we have chosen an approach that allows us to keep our journalism accessible to all, regardless of where they live or what they can afford. Readers’ support powers our work, giving our reporting impact and safeguarding our essential editorial independence. This means the responsibility of protecting independent journalism is shared, enabling us all to feel empowered to bring about real change in the world. Your support gives Guardian journalists the time, space and freedom to report with tenacity and rigor, to shed light where others won’t. It emboldens us to challenge authority and question the status quo. And by keeping all of our journalism free and open to all, we can foster inclusivity, diversity, make space for debate, inspire conversation – so more people, across the world, have access to accurate information with integrity at its heart. The Guardian is editorially independent, meaning we set our own agenda. 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Indigenous to North Africa, the Amazigh people, sometimes known as Berbers, have spent decades fighting for cultural recognition in the predominantly-Arab region. For years, Amazigh activists have been engaged in a battle against oppressive policies while also trying to promote measures that would help preserve Amazigh identity. Despite recent successes, however, it may be some time before Amazigh activists are able to overturn the outcomes of centuries-long marginalization. Defining Amazigh Identity Central to past and present Amazigh revival movements are the concepts of Awal (language), Akkal (land), and Ddam (blood). Accordingly, one of the significant outcomes of Amazigh activism was the designation of the Amazigh language Tamazight as an official language in both Algerian and Moroccan constitutions. Regarding Akkal, Amazigh take land conservation very seriously, balancing the fine line between communal with private ownership. The third pillar of Amazigh identity: Ddam, represents a sense of belonging through the cohesiveness of family and culture, while also signifying sacrifice. Indeed, the Amazigh believe that an issue is resolved only once sacrificial blood is spilled. Moving Towards Recognition The 1970s ushered in the first attempts at open advocacy for Amazigh rights and acknowledgment of Amazigh heritage. These efforts originated in Algeria in response to the aggressive Arabization efforts of the FLN regime, which banned the use of Tamazight and its variants as well as activities by Amazigh militants. After years of repression, Amazigh activists began promoting open expressions of Amazigh identity. The musician, Hamid Cheriat, also known by his stage name, Idir, produced the first internationally released album in Tamazight, A Vava Inouva, leading to the flourishing of Amazigh music throughout North Africa and a corresponding revival in literature. This cultural rejuvenation paved the way for Algeria’s Tafsut Imazighen, or the Amazigh Spring: on March 10, 1980, authorities suppressed a conference featuring Amazigh activist Mouloud Mammeri at Hasnaoua University in Tizi-Ouzou. The cancellation of the event sparked a wave of protests that resulted in mass arrests of dissenting Amazigh activists. These arrests became a critical rallying point for the formation of civil society organizations such as the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) and the Berber Cultural Movement (MCB), which both advocated for greater recognition and acceptance of a distinct Amazigh cultural and linguistic identity and the protection of Amazigh human and legal rights. Though Tamazight was only officially recognized in the Algerian constitution in 2016, activists consider this period critical to the development of an open movement advocating for Amazigh rights. In 1994, the Amazigh movement was finally able to make headway in Morocco after demonstrators marching with a banner written in an Amazigh language were arrested and taken in by police. Such an act ignited outrage across Morocco. In the aftermath of the arrest, Moroccan media followed the trials of the activists closely, thus enabling the movement to rally support for Amazigh rights. On August 20, 1994, King Hassan II became the first Alouite king to acknowledge the Imazighen’s importance to Morocco and its development after he responded to the newfound support for Amazigh causes by publicly speaking about the need to teach Tamazigh in schools. Nonetheless, the battle for rights and recognition continued well into the new century. In 2001 King Mohammed VI issued a royal decree mandating the formation of the Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe (IRCAM). Established to raise awareness and support for the Amazigh around the country, ICRAM has standardized the Amazigh language and worked to slowly integrate it into schools and the media, while also successfully introducing the Moroccan public to Amazigh identity and its contribution to the general culture. Despite these achievements, however, ICRAM’s overall effectivity has been debated and some have even argued that the organization pigeonholes and simplifies Amazigh identity. That being said, the main Amazigh movements supported the creation of IRCAM and its push for more recognition of Amazigh identity within Morocco. As Amazigh cultural activism increased, Amazigh presence in political life increased as well. While many of the Amazigh political parties that emerged during the first decade of the 21st century were shut down because the Moroccan Constitution prohibits political parties from forming based on ethnicity, some have found a way around the ethnic ban. For example, although its platform does not cater solely to the Amazigh, the Mouvement Po[CENSORED]ire (MP) party, one of the largest parties in the Parliament of Morocco is largely associated with the Amazigh community. Indeed, the MP, which was founded in 1957, works closely with Amazigh activists and has mobilized support for the Amazigh movement across the country, advocating for recognition of Amazigh cultural practices and the protection of Imazighen’s rights. In 2011, the events of the Arab Spring strengthened the social, political and cultural institutions created by the first Tafsut Imazighen and enabled the Amazigh to gain political momentum. On February of that year, an unlikely coalition calling for the expansion of freedom in Morroco was formed between Amazigh trade union and Islamists protesters. Widespread support for the demands of this coalition eventually prompted the introduction of a new constitution that recognized Tamazigh as an official language in Morocco and according to which Amazigh identity is congruent with Moroccan national identity. Current Challenges Starting as a grassroots movement, the Amazigh cultural revival movement has been gradually gaining more political influence over the years. As it continues to draw national and international attention, North African governments are finding it increasingly difficult to ignore its calls. The Amazigh people of the Maghreb have duly achieved a significant degree of recognition, particularly in Morocco and Algeria. Likewise, their situation is noticeably improving in Tunisia and Libya, bearing in mind that a few decades ago that those dominant political narratives presented the Maghreb as totally Arab in language and culture. It is widely believed that in Morocco the government will hopefully recognize the Amazigh New Year as a national holiday in 2019 and drop the qualifier term “Arab” from its official news agency: Maghreb Arab Press (MAP). The government may also proceed to name streets, boulevards, and institutions after well-known Amazigh people. In Algeria, also, the momentum of the recognition of Amazigh culture is in full swing and the process will certainly continue in 2019. There is hope that these further gains will also motivate changes in Tunisia and Libya. Nevertheless, in Morocco, the government’s concessions may be stalling greater advancements. Many Amazigh activists feel that the adoption of the Tifinagh script over the Latin script is a subtle way of further separating Berber-ness from Arab-ness in contemporary Moroccan society (many of whom are taught to read and write French before Arabic). Meanwhile, the activists who support government involvement (referred to as makhzenisé by their former colleagues-in-arms), feel these might be small prices to pay for ultimate acceptance. Today, the official IRCAM is in full decline. Over the years the Moroccan establishment has used it extensively to subdue the Amazigh and keep at bay the vociferous voices who call for full recognition of Tamazight cultural rights. It is mostly staffed by people from the Association Marocaine de Recherches et d’Echanges Culturels (AMREC) who have from the very beginning been used as the Amazigh arm of the Moroccan establishment to further its own vision of Amazigh culture: obsequious and subservient. And regarding the political implications, the current situation is bittersweet. If states of North Africa want to achieve peace with their Amazigh po[CENSORED]tions, they need to not only accept the Amazigh culture as Amazigh but part of the countries’ culture as well. This overlapping identity is still a new idea that is just starting to take seed, and if the gap can be filled between government rhetoric and individual activism, acceptance and fair treatment can be achieved. Amazigh militants and activists are now focusing on greater overt recognition of Amazigh cultural presence by politicians, putting pressure on the governments to adopt the geographical name “Great Maghreb” instead of “Arab Maghreb” for the North Africa region. Thus, the political movement of the Tafsut Imazighen has both propelled forward and gave birth to important cultural vestiges of the assertion of Amazigh identity, leading to the positive developments of the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) in Morocco, the creation of Amazigh radio and television networks, news, and fine arts outlets in theater, literature, and dance and the full recognition of language and civilization in Algeria, as well. Incorporating Tamazight and other aspects of Amazigh identity has occurred since the first recorded colonization attempts by the Phoenicians, and it has survived in this way to the present day, and so it is important to celebrate the appreciation for Amazigh arts in po[CENSORED]r culture today in tandem with positive political developments, because their interaction is dynamic.

NEW YORK — It looks cool — throwing boiling water into the air and watching it instantly freeze in super cold weather — but don’t do it. The boiling water challenge that has gone viral in the past few weeks as the polar vortex gripped a large part of the United States may be an interesting science experiment, but hospitals say it’s also sending people to the emergency room. Eight people who took part in the challenge have been treated at the burn center of Chicago’s Loyola University Medical Center since the deep freeze happened last week, spokeswoman Chris Vicik said. They had injuries to their “feet, arms, hands, face, and varying degrees of burns, as well,” she said. One person sought treatment at the University of Iowa Burn Treatment Center in Iowa City, spokesman Tom Moore said, and Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis said a “couple” of people were treated there in recent weeks. It’s not just the people throwing the water who are getting hurt. Vicik said some of the burn victims in Chicago have been those watching the stunt. That’s also what they’re finding at Hennepin Healthcare, said Angie Whitley, the clinical care supervisor in the hospital’s burn center. “Some of them being parents or adults (who) go outside with their kids to do it, and the kids kind of get excited and step in the way, and the parents end up throwing the water on the children,” Whitley said. “Or, people throw it in the air just as a gust of wind comes, and (the water) catches the wind and it blows it back on them — so we see some face scald injuries from that,” she added. A breakdown in the polar vortex, which normally circulates strong winds around the northern pole, sent that icy blast southward in the past couple of weeks. Nearly three-quarters of the po[CENSORED]tion of the United States experienced temperatures at or below freezing; in Chicago temperatures plunged to minus 21. Having any bare skin in weather that cold is its own problem, because it poses a risk of frostbite. “When it’s 20 below, it’s a bad idea to have uncovered skin,” said Dr. Jeff Schaider, chairman of emergency medicine at Cook County Health in Chicago. Even worse is getting water on that bare skin, he said, because it will accelerate the freezing of the skin, and increase the risk of a cold injury to the skin. “The gamut runs from essentially being burned from hot liquid to being exposed to the cold air,” he said. “If your hand has water on it, that freezes pretty quick. That’s a bigger risk, actually.” Treatment depends on how severe the burn, he said. While the most common are first- and second-degree burns to the hand, Schaider said, resulting in pain and blisters, the worst cases could involve skin grafts. Bottom line: If you want to be wowed by the science and spectacle of the boiling water challenge, watch a video. But don’t try it yourself. “It’s tempting to try,” Schaider said. “It looks like it’s pretty cool, but it’s probably a bad idea.”

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It is easy for activists to blame all of the turmoil in the Arab community on US President Donald Trump, Israel or on the American public’s absolute lack of knowledge — I might even say “ignorance.” All have brought some form of pain to the Arab world: Trump through his narrowly focused policies and undelivered promises, Israel through its brutal war crimes, and the American public through support of discriminatory laws like the anti-BDS legislation that restricts criticism of Israel’s human rights violations. Sadly, the truth might be even more painful. I have always wondered why the Arab League doesn’t, for example, spend money to launch a strategic communications campaign to counter the propaganda lies emanating from Israel. Why doesn’t the Arab world buy an American newspaper and force it to become objective, publishing accurate information about the Arab world, its people and also the Middle East’s Muslims and Christians? What is stopping the Palestinians from hiring a major American author to write a novel that counters the lies spread by “Exodus,” the classic American work of fiction on Israel’s creation? Fiction, by definition, means made-up, creatively fabricated, and an entertaining lie. What stops Arab-Americans from pooling their talent to produce Hollywood movies that convey the truth about the beauty of Arab heritage, culture and history? These simple ideas could change how the world views Arabs, and yet we don’t take them seriously at all. What is stopping all this and preventing Arabs from using the powerful tools of communication to reverse the negative stereotypes that plague our people? A lack of money? No. What is stopping it is the Arab tendency to divide itself. What is stopping all this is the fact that Arab-Americans are like the Arab world — they are divided. They are divided religiously, nationally, ethnically, and politically. In fact, the word “Arab” is vanishing from the world’s lexicon and is being replaced by the word “Muslim.” It’s not our choice, of course. It is the choice of our foes in the West, in much of the mainstream news media and in countries like Israel, where the word “Muslim” is used to demonize our righteous Arab history, culture and causes. The problem in America is easy to diagnose. Arabs live in America physically, but mentally their focus is back home. When we focus on businesses, we are very successful. But when we focus on ourselves, we find ourselves divided and contentious. Arab-Americans are more critical of each other than they are of Israel, something that is apparent among Arabs in the Middle East too.

Russia says it is planning to develop new missile systems after both Russia and the US suspended their involvement in an arms control pact. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty banned both countries from using short- and medium-range missiles. Last week, US President Donald Trump announced the US would leave the pact, which it has long accused the Russians of violating. Russia then did the same. The moves have raised concerns about a new arms race. The INF was signed in 1987, during the Cold War, to ease a crisis in which US and Soviet missiles were placed within range of European capitals. What is Russia planning? On Tuesday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the aim was to create new land-based missiles within the next two years. Ground-launched missiles were banned under the INF, but not sea- or air-launched ones, which Russia already possesses. These can then be used to create the new systems. Mr Shoigu said the US was already violating the accord: "[The US] are actively working on creating ground-based missiles with the range capability of over 500km, which is outside the treaty-sti[CENSORED]ted limitations. "In this situation, the Russian president has set the task for the defence ministry to take tit-for-tat mirrored measures," he said. The US is yet to respond to Russia's announcement but AP news agency last week cited Trump officials as saying there were no immediate plans to test or deploy missiles banned under the INF. Why did the US pull out of the pact? The Trump administration has expressed concern at the threat posed by Russia as well as countries outside the INF, in particular China. Announcing that the US was suspending its involvement in the INF and would leave it completely in six months, President Trump said: "We cannot be the only country in the world unilaterally bound by this treaty, or any other." The US accuses Russia of several violations, including claims that a new Russian missile falls within the 500-5,500km (310-3,400 miles) range banned by the treaty. But Russia says it is the US that has broken the pact, and says Washington is using false allegations as a pretext to withdraw from an agreement it never wanted to be part of. What is the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty? Signed by the US and the USSR in 1987, the arms control deal banned all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges, except sea-launched weapons The US had been concerned by the Soviet deployment of the SS-20 missile system and responded by placing Pershing and cruise missiles in Europe - sparking widespread protests By 1991, nearly 2,700 missiles had been destroyed Both countries were allowed to inspect the other's installations In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the treaty no longer served Russia's interests The move came after the US withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002

In 2018, Orange Foundation together with CPE – Centrul Parteneriat pentru Egalitate, opened the first Women’s Digital Center in Romania, offering a new chance to women in need to get a job and become financially independent. The project joins other 17 countries worldwide, where over 11,000 women benefit from digital education. Women’s Digital Centers is a digital education programme for women in vulnerable situations, with no income and low-education, through which they benefit from free digital literacy, personal and professional development courses. Women enrolled in the program learn how to use Microsoft Office, the printer, the Internet, how to set up an e-mail account and use the e-mail services, as well as other online applications such as Skype or Whatsapp. Adriana, one of the women who benefited from the course, speaks about what this opportunity meant for her. She started as a cleaning lady but advanced to being a baker and wants more: “My childhood wasn’t so happy, because I did not have the chance of growing up with both parents close to me. My father had some problems with alcohol addiction and my poor mother struggled to raise five children by herself. I haven’t had this opportunity. I have never been to school, not a single day in my life.” Adriana learned to read by herself because she attended church mass and wanted to read prayer books. She dreams of opening her own flower shop one day. “So I have learned to read with “Our Lord” prayer, So, step by step I learned to read and now I am learning how to write. And I finally decided to go to school, to start from zero. I wish with all my heart to work. I felt that I could progress, that I could do something more. Not only to cook and take care of the house but to learn something, to improve myself. From cleaning woman to become a baker, I can go even further, why not. And maybe in 10 years, by learning, by further progressing I can prove to my children what I can do and this way motivate them to do more for themselves. My greatest dream has always been to open my own flowers business, a flower kiosk. I believe in my dream and I hope I will succeed”, added Adriana. The objective of the Bucharest Digital Centre is to train 400 young women and girls from vulnerable minorities in digital technology to help them to integrate socially and economically. They also learned to create a CV and prepare for a job interview. The programme also encourages group activities and individual counseling sessions that will help these women to resocialize and prepare to deal with different workingsituations together, but also restoring their self-confidence. After 6 months on this program, Adriana managed to advance in her professional life. “I was promoted at my workplace, I learned how to write correctly, with all the orthographical signs, how to access different websites when I need to. I have evolved during this period, here at the Women’s Digital Center. My boss calls me sometimes when she cannot arrive at the office to help her with different activities on the computer. It’s a good thing that she can count on me,” Adriana confesses. “After six months, I believe that the women who came here earned information and much more valuable qualities such as patience, attention, and encouragement. Many of them told me that their self-confidence level has increased, that they feel more confident regarding what they could do, and about the way their life could look like.” said Irina Sorescu, President of CPE – Centrul Partneriat pentru Egalitate. The training center is fully endowed with laptops, tablets, printers and video projectors. The value of the project amounts to EUR 40,000 euros which have been received from the Orange Romania Foundation. The Orange Romania Foundation was established in 2012. Its strategy focuses on national projects offering access to education, healthcare, culture and the digital world for people with sensory impairments, particularly children who are visually impaired, deaf or mute. (p) – This article is an advertorial

The front page of the New York Times Sunday Review featured one of the most biased, poorly informed, and historically inaccurate columns about the conflict between Israel and Palestine ever published by a mainstream newspaper. Written by Michelle Alexander, it is entitled, “Time to break the silence on Palestine,” as if the Palestinian issue has not been the most overhyped cause on campuses, at the United Nations, and in the media. There is no silence to break. What must be broken is the double standard of those who elevate the Palestinian claims over those of the Kurds, the Syrians, the Iranians, the Chechens, the Tibetans, the Ukrainians, and many other more deserving groups who truly suffer from the silence of the academia, the media, and the international community. The United Nations devotes more of its time, money, and votes to the Palestinian issue than to the claims of all of these other oppressed groups combined. The suffering of Palestinians, which does not compare to the suffering of many other groups, has been largely inflicted by themselves. They could have had a state, with no occupation, if they had accepted the Peel Commission Report of 1938, the United Nations Partition of 1947, the Camp David Summit deal of 2000, or the Ehud Olmert offer of 2008. They rejected all these offers, responding with violence and terrorism, because doing so would have required them to accept Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, something they are unwilling to do even today. I know because I asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that question directly and he said no. The Palestinian leadership indeed has always wanted there not to be a Jewish state more than it has wanted there to be a Palestinian state. The Palestinian issue is not “one of the great moral challenges of our time,” as Alexander insists in her column. It is a complex, nuanced, pragmatic problem, with fault on all sides. The issue could be solved if Palestinian leaders were prepared to accept the “painful compromises” that Israeli leaders have already agreed to accept. Had the early Palestinian leadership, with the surrounding Arab states, not attacked Israel the moment it declared statehood, it would have a viable state with no refugees. Had Hamas used the resources it received when Israel ended its occupation of the Gaza Strip in 2005 to build schools and hospitals instead of using these resources to construct rocket launchers and terror tunnels, it could have become a “Singapore on the Sea” instead of the poverty stricken enclave the Palestinian leadership turned it into. The leaders of Hamas as well as the Palestinian Authority bear at least as much responsibility for the plight of the Palestinians as do the Israelis. Israel is certainly not without some fault, but the “blame it all on Israel” approach taken by Alexander is counterproductive because it encourages Palestinian recalcitrance. As Israeli diplomat Abba Eban once observed, “The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” One striking illustration of the bias is the absurd claim by Alexander that “many students are fearful of expressing support for Palestinian rights” because of “McCarthyite tactics” employed by pro-Israel groups. I have taught on many campuses, and I can attest that no international cause is given more attention, far more than it deserves in comparison with other more compelling causes, than the Palestinians. It is pro-Israel students who are silenced out of fear of being denied recommendations, graded down, or shunned by peers. Some have even been threatened with violence. Efforts have been made to prevent from speaking on several campuses, despite my advocacy of a two state solution to the conflict. Alexander claims that there is legal discrimination against Israeli Arabs. The reality is that Israeli Arabs have more rights than Arabs anywhere in the Muslim world. They vote freely, have their own political parties, speak openly against the Israeli government, and are beneficiaries of affirmative action in Israeli universities. The only legal right they lack is to turn Israel into another Muslim state governed by Sharia law, instead of the nation state of Jewish people governed by freedom and secular democratic law. That is what the new Jewish nation state law, which I personally oppose, does when it denies Arabs the “right of self determination in Israel.” Alexander condemns “Palestinian homes being bulldozed,” without mentioning that these are the homes of terrorists who murder Jewish children, women, and men. She bemoans casualties in Gaza, which she calls “occupied” even though every Israeli soldier and settler left in 2005, without mentioning that many of these casualties were human shields from behind whom Hamas terrorists fire rockets at Israeli civilians. She says there are “streets for Jews only,” which is a categorical falsehood. There are roads in the disputed territories that are limited to cars with Israeli licenses for security. But these roads are in fact open to all Israelis, including Druze, Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, and people of no faith. The most outrageous aspect of the column is the claim by Alexander that Martin Luther King Jr. inspired her to write it. But he was a staunch Zionist, who said, “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You are talking anti-Semitism.” It is certainly possible that he would have been critical of certain Israeli policies today, but I am confident that he would have been appalled at her unfair attack on the nation state of the Jewish people and especially on her misuse of his good name to support anti-Israel bigotry. Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Harvard Law School. His new book is “The Case Against the Democratic House Impeaching Trump.”

The problem for Juan Guaidó and his foreign backers is how to convert assets abroad to real power inside Venezuela The day after Donald Trump took the bold step of recognising the Venezuelan opposition leader as the country’s head of state, it is unclear how the administration hopes to turn its intentions into regime change. After Nicolás Maduro refused to give up the presidency, and the military high command stuck by him, the White House kept up the mantra that “all options are on the table”. But it was far from clear whether any of those options would succeed in transferring real power to Juan Guaidó and the opposition-led national assembly. Military intervention does not appear to be under serious consideration at present, and US defence officials told Voice of America radio they have received no instructions for new deployments. The national security adviser, John Bolton, said the immediate priority was to transfer revenues from the Maduro government to Guaidó, but admitted that was “very complicated”. “We’re looking at a lot of different things we have to do but that’s in the process,” Bolton said. His remarks gave weight to suggestions the administration had not completely worked out what to do on day two of its ambitious gambit to change the Venezuelan regime. Venezuelan assets can be frozen in the US and other countries supporting Guaidó, and formally transferred to the national assembly’s “interim government”. Guaidó reportedly has plans to take over control over Citgo, the US-based oil refining subsidiary of the Venezuelan state oil company. He has appointed an ambassador to the Organisation of American States in Washington, a lawyer and former politician, Gustavo Tarre, and there are plans to name other ambassadors to friendly The problem for Guaidó and his foreign backers is how to convert assets abroad to real power inside Venezuela, without control over armed services, the ports or the banks. Pompeo announced that the US was ready to send $20m in humanitarian aid, adding that it would be delivered “as soon as logistically possible”. The disbursement and delivery of the assistance could be complicated by the US government shutdown, and the practical difficulties of delivering food and medicine to a territory with hostile security forces. “You could start trying to move foreign assets and flow of incomes from the US into the hands of the interim government under Juan Guaidó, but it is far too early to know if that is feasible,” said Ivan Briscoe, the Latin America and Caribbean programme director for the International Crisis Group. “You could set up a foreign bank accounts, but if it goes to opposition leaders without any control over coercive powers, it just increases the risks of persecution and jail,” Briscoe said. Meanwhile, a complete oil embargo imposed on the Maduro government would have blowback effects on the US economy. Chet Thompson, the president of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, wrote to Trump to warn that “sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector would like harm US businesses, workers, and consumers while failing to address the very real issues in Venezuela.” Another option would be designate Venezuela a “state sponsor of terrorism” which would lead to more sanctions and travel bans, but it would be hard to justify factually, and would be unlikely to have a serious impact on Maduro’s inner circle, who are already subject to extensive US sanctions. Moises Rendon, associate director of the Americas programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, argued that the US administration was right to provide maximum support to the national assembly at a time of mass street protests and a last-ditch opposition effort to force a return to democracy through peaceful means. Rendon said the Maduro regime would be vulnerable to the loss of US revenues from oil sales, and the US is one of the few customers that pays in hard currency. “Maduro would be in dire financial circumstances. Russia doesn’t have the bandwidth to support him and China is concerned about previous loans that have not been repaid,” he said. “There is unprecedented pressure on Maduro. He hasn’t seen domestic and international pressure synchronised against him like this.” But Rendon added such pressure represented a high-stakes gambit. “If these measures don’t work out and if Maduro survives we could see an isolated regime like North Korea, but with oil and narco-trafficking.” Advertisement More immediately, a showdown has developed around the US embassy in Caracas. Maduro has given the diplomats and their families until Saturday afternoon to leave the country while Pompeo told them to stay put, warning of “appropriate actions to hold accountable” anyone endangering the US mission and its staff. It is unclear whether the administration had always intended to leave the embassy staff as potential hostages in the midst of a volatile standoff. After top Maduro ally, Diosdado Cabello, suggested that electricity or gas supply to the embassy district could be cut off, and former US officials questioned whether the lives of diplomats and their dependents were being put at risk by an administration gamble, the state department on Thursday night, ordered all non-essential government employees out of Venezuela. Asked about the safety of US diplomats on Thursday, Trump said only: “We’re looking at Venezuela. It’s a very sad situation,” noting how it had gone from being very rich to very poor. Eva Golinger, a Venezuelan-American lawyer, writer, and a former adviser to Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chávez said that Trump personally had little interest in Venezuela. She said he had been persuaded to take the extraordinary action against Maduro by hawks in his administration and in Congress, in particular Republican senator and former presidential candidate Marco Rubio. “Trump has no plans. Like everything else this has been done impulsively,” said Golinger, who wrote a book about her experiences, titled Confidante of ‘Tyrants’. “In that way he is like Maduro.” As 2019 begins… … we’re asking readers to make a new year contribution in support of The Guardian’s independent journalism. More people are reading and supporting our independent, investigative reporting than ever before. And unlike many news organisations, we have chosen an approach that allows us to keep our journalism open and accessible to all, regardless of where they live or what they can afford. But this is only possible thanks to voluntary support from our readers – something we have to maintain and build on for every year to come. The Guardian is editorially independent, meaning we set our own agenda. Our journalism is free from commercial bias and not influenced by billionaire owners, politicians or shareholders. No one edits our editor. No one steers our opinion. This is important as it enables us to give a voice to those less heard, challenge the powerful and hold them to account. It’s what makes us different to so many others in the media, at a time when factual, honest reporting is critical. Please make a new year contribution today to help us deliver the independent journalism the world needs for 2019 and beyond. Support The Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Nicolas Maduro faced increasing international pressure Saturday, as European governments threatened to recognize his chief opponent as Venezuela's leader unless a plan for new elections is announced within eight days. The statements from Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Britain came as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed the United Nations to throw its support behind Juan Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, who declared himself president on Wednesday. Your subscription supports journalism that matters. Subscribe now for unlimited access to The Democrat-Gazette The United States and most Latin American countries have recognized Guaido as interim leader in recent days, after Maduro was sworn in for a second term after elections riddled with fraud. But Russia, China and others have defended Maduro. Guaido's actions have represented the most significant challenge yet to Maduro, whose socialist policies have contributed to an economic meltdown in the oil-rich country. "After banning opposition candidates, ballot box stuffing and counting irregularities in a deeply flawed election it is clear Nicolas Maduro is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela," Jeremy Hunt, Britain's foreign minister, tweeted Saturday. Maduro responded to the U.S. recognition of Guaido on Wednesday by severing relations and giving American diplomats 72 hours to leave the country. Pompeo, however, declared that Maduro's orders were no longer legitimate and that the embassy would remain open. On Saturday, Venezuela's government backtracked on the deadline. Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Ministry said it is negotiating the establishment of a U.S. Interests Office and will allow U.S. Embassy personnel to remain in the country while talks take place. It said that talks about an interest section will have a 30-day limit and if no agreement is reached, embassy personnel will then have to leave. President Donald Trump's administration had refused to obey the directive and Saturday's decision puts off a potential conflict between the countries. Maduro has labeled Guaido's actions as part of a coup attempt and has ordered Venezuelan diplomats to shut down his country's embassy in Washington. It was unclear Saturday how many personnel remained at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. A memo from the embassy obtained by The Washington Post in recent days said that 124 Americans, including 46 family members, were under its authority as of Thursday night. Retired diplomats said Maduro could respond to the U.S. defiance of his removal order in any number of ways -- including a military assault, which they said was unlikely. More probable, they said, was a siege of the facility, or an attack by pro-government mobs. Already, Maduro allies have threatened to cut off power to the complex. Diplomats and analysts said they could not recall a similar standoff involving U.S. diplomats. In his appearance Saturday at the U.N. Security Council, Pompeo warned the Venezuelan government again not to harm the American personnel in Caracas. "I want to be 100 percent clear -- President Trump and I fully expect that our diplomats will continue to receive protections provided under the Vienna Convention," he said. "Do not test the United States on our resolve to protect our own people." Some of Europe's most influential countries told Maduro on Saturday that if he did not call elections in eight days, they would recognize Guaido as interim president. They included Germany, Britain, Spain, France and the Netherlands, which has a naval presence at its island territories off Venezuela's coast. European Union members met Saturday to discuss the Venezuela crisis and issued a statement hinting that the entire 28-nation body could recognize Guaido if Maduro didn't announce elections soon, but didn't specify a deadline. Still, the action was an escalation by the EU, whose members have differed on how tough to be on the Venezuelan leader. "The EU strongly calls for the urgent holding of free, transparent and credible presidential elections in accordance with internationally democratic standards and the Venezuelan constitutional order," European foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini said in the emailed statement sent Saturday in Brussels. "In the absence of an announcement on the organization of fresh elections with the necessary guarantees over the next days, the EU will take further actions, including on the issue of recognition of the country's leadership," the statement said. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza dismissed the deadline. "Europe is giving us eight days?" he asked the Security Council. "Where do you get that you have the power to establish a deadline or an ultimatum to a sovereign people. It's almost childlike." Arreaza said Venezuela "will not allow anyone to impose on us any decision or order" and demanded that someone show him where in the country's constitution it states that an individual can proclaim himself president. As for possible military action to oust Maduro, Arreaza said, "we will not allow any government or any country to violate our sovereignty, and to give a pretext for Donald Trump to start a war." Guaido celebrated the European statements, telling a rally in a south Caracas park: "We have the EU support. They took a firm step toward our fight for democracy." Guaido promised not to abandon his effort to chase Maduro from office. He also took an informal vote among those present on a proposed amnesty law that he has promoted in the National Assembly. The majority there expressed support for the proposal to exonerate members of the police force and military who support the opposition's "restitution of democracy" while forcing the release of political prisoners. The immediate effect of an amnesty law is doubtful since a rival constitutional assembly Maduro formed in 2017 has taken over powers claimed by the freely elected National Assembly headed by Guaido. On Tuesday, Maduro's constitutional assembly declared null and void all legislative acts by the National Assembly, including Guaido's designation as president. At the U.N. Security Council meeting Saturday, the United States urged all nations to support Guaido while Russia accused the Trump administration of attempting "to engineer a coup d'etat" against Maduro. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said that Venezuela doesn't threaten international peace and security and accused "extremist opponents" of Maduro's legitimate government of choosing "maximum confrontation," including the artificial creation of a parallel government. He urged Pompeo to say whether the U.S. will use military force. Pompeo later told reporters who asked for a response, "I am not going to speculate or hypothesize on what the U.S. will do next." The Security Council's five veto-wielding permanent members could not unite behind a statement on Venezuela, presenting widely differing texts. Opposition to Guaido was also reflected in the initial procedural vote on whether the 15-member Security Council should discuss the crisis in Venezuela, which is not on its official agenda. The United States barely survived the vote to go ahead with the meeting, receiving the minimum nine yes votes from the council's six Western nations along with Kuwait, Peru and the Dominican Republic. China, South Africa and Equatorial Guinea joined Russia in voting no while Indonesia and Ivory Coast abstained. Pompeo accused Russia and China of trying "to prop up Maduro while he is in dire straits ... in the hopes of recovering billions of dollars in ill-considered investments and assistance made over the years." He also said no country has done more to sustain "the nightmarish condition of the Venezuelan people" than Cuba. He said Cuba has sent "security and intelligence thugs" to sustain Maduro's "illegitimate rule." "Now is the time for every other national to pick a side," Pompeo said. "No more delays, no more games. Either you stand with the forces of freedom, or you're in league with Maduro and his mayhem." China's U.N. Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu said his government "firmly opposed" the U.S. accusations and doesn't interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. "We hope the country that accuses others can do likewise itself," Ma told the council. Russia's Nebenzia also rejected Pompeo's claims. Cuba's U.N. Ambassador Anayansi Rodriguez rejected "the deliberate" and "fake news" cast on the country not only by Pompeo but by Elliot Abrams, the new chief of U.S. policy on Venezuela who sat in the council after the secretary of state left. Abrams called Venezuela "a satellite of Cuba and Russia" -- which the three countries denied -- and said Saturday's meeting "is not about foreign intervention in Venezuela" but "about the right of Venezuelans to direct their own internal affairs and choose the future of their own country democratically." Information for this article was contributed by Mariana Zuniga and Mary Beth Sheridan, Rachelle Krygier, Andreina Elena Aponte, Michael Birnbaum, Anthony Faiola, John Hudson and Carol Morello of The Washington Post; by Edith M. Lederer and Scott Smith of The Associated Press; by Jonathan Stearns, Gregory Viscusi, Nikos Chrysoloras and Charles Penty of Bloomberg News; and by Tracy Wilkinson and Mery Mogollon of the Los Angeles Times.

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