Politics

• 'Trump trades' on boost to economic growth come back with a bang (Reuters)
• Trump's national security adviser Flynn trying to survive crisis (Reuters)
• White House Is Sifting Options on Immigration Ban (WSJ)
• North Korean Nuclear Ambitions to Be Defining Issue for Trump (BBG)
• Netanyahu opposes Palestinian state, Israeli minister says ahead of U.S. visit (Reuters)
• Speed Limits on Trump’s Infrastructure Drive: Federal Laws, Rare Species and Nimbys (WSJ)
• Germany’s New Trump-Critic President Sees Stormy U.S. Ties Ahead (BBG)

Here’s a look at scheduled events of interest today in Washington, courtesy of Bloomberg. All times Eastern.

• President Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
• Senate votes on Trump’s Treasury, Veterans Affairs nominees

White House

The Russian Investigative Committee says it has received “irrefutable” evidence that armed forces in Kiev have been using weapons of mass destruction against civilians in eastern Ukraine. The investigators say they have obtained proof that Ukrainian military used missiles equipped with high-explosive fragmentation and cluster charges against a number of settlements.

Submitted by George Friedman via MauldinEconomics.com,

Donald Trump deeply upset the Europeans when he raised the possibility that NATO is obsolete and that the European Union is failing.

But this isn’t the first time these issues have been discussed. I wrote about it last year, and the conversation has only continued.

What Trump has done is simply bring into the open the question of Europe’s relationship with the US.

The missions and motives of NATO and the EU

Submitted by Robert Gore via Straight Line Logic blog,

Our deranged world is a product of deranged minds.

Philosophy begins with invariably difficult questions. Why am I here? What is the purpose of life? Is there a god or gods? What is right and what is wrong? How should groups of people be organized and function together? Ironically, when such questions are infrequently asked, when philosophy is generally ignored or disparaged, as it is now, is when it’s needed the most.