Politics

With the original ultimatum issued by four Arab states accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism, expiring at midnight on Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition agreed to extend the deadline for Doha to comply with its list of demands until late on Tuesday a, even as U.S. President Donald Trump voiced concern to both sides about the dispute. According to a joint statement posted on Saudi state news agency SPA, the four countries agreed to a request by Kuwait to extend by 48 hours Sunday's deadline for compliance.

Last week we quipped that it appeared as though Trump had officially scheduled his first kick-off planning session for the 2020 presidential elections when NBC News confirmed that he and Putin would meet later this week at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg.  While details are still scarce on the agenda for the meeting, the White House is now saying that discussions between the two controversial world leaders will center around Syria and Ukraine.  Per The Hill:

The tensions between the Trump administration’s populist win and its more traditionally Republican establishment types have been well-documented in recent months. And now, more than two months after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council chief Gary Cohn unveiled an outline of the administration’s tax-reform ambitions, another battle between the two wings appears to be brewing.

• Health Bill Faces Resistance Among GOP Governors (WSJ)
• Saudi Arabia, allies give Qatar two more days to accept demands (Reuters)
• Qatar Responds to Saudi Bloc Demands as Trump Works Phones (BBG)
• Trump says he will speak with German, French officials on Monday (Reuters)
• Goldman to Review Commodities After Worst Start in a Decade (BBG)
• U.S.-Backed Forces Close to Trapping ISIS Holdouts in Raqqa (NYT)
• Missing Caterpillar export filings could open a new avenue for U.S. tax investigators (WSJ)

The Problem Is Washington

Guest Column by Mike Whitney

“And let’s be honest, the only reason Kim Jong Un hasn’t joined Saddam and Gadhafi in the great hereafter, is because (a)– The North does not sit on an ocean of oil, and (b)– The North has the capacity to reduce Seoul, Okinawa and Tokyo into smoldering debris-fields.  Absent Kim’s WMDs,  Pyongyang would have faced a preemptive attack long ago and Kim would have faced a fate similar to Gadhafi’s.  Nuclear weapons are the only known antidote to US adventurism.