A Cheap Peace.

A total grip on power.

“If I could only open one thing each morning it would be John Ellis’s News Items newsletter.” — Larry Summers, President Emeritus of Harvard University and former Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.

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1. Walter Mead, The Wall Street Journal:

(T)he world remains a dangerous place. Mr. Putin celebrated Mr. Trump’s return to power by putting old scantily clad modeling photos of the incoming first lady on Russian state TV. He is unlikely to offer Mr. Trump a cheap peace in Ukraine. China continues its massive military buildup. Key allies in East Asia question America’s reliability while loathing Mr. Trump’s trade policies. Middle East allies, including Israel, are flirting with Russia.

China, Russia, Iran and North Korea do not want America to be great. They want it to fail. Mr. Trump can succeed only by outwitting and outmaneuvering foreign adversaries that are smarter, better resourced and more ruthless than the hapless Democrats he defeated last week. (Source: wsj.com)

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2. The Wall Street Journal:

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as secretary of state and has asked Rep. Mike Waltz, a Green Beret veteran, to be his White House national security adviser, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Trump could change his mind on the Rubio move, as he remains fond of others lobbying for the secretary of state role. But people familiar with the Rubio decision said that Trump feels good about going with him; Trump had considered him for the vice president slot before settling on Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Spokespeople for the Trump transition and Rubio didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The picks, made less than a full week since Election Day, illustrate how quickly the president-elect is moving to fill out key foreign policy positions. Also on Monday, he chose Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. (Source: wsj.com. Ed. Note: The best Marco Rubio profile we have read is here.)

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3. Eurointelligence.com:

In the last Trump administration, Mike Pompeo and Nikki Hailey kept US foreign policy within the sphere of traditional US foreign policy. The appointments of Waltz and Rubio suggest that Trump is this time seeking out politicians that depart from the policy consensus. The strong presence of Florida Republicans – and of Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, who also has a strong rooting in Florida Republican politics - is surely not a coincidence. The first Trump administration was plagued by appointment delays, shady characters, and advisers entering and exiting the White House often within a few days. The current operation has started with discipline and coherence.

The other important development to watch out for is tomorrows’ election of the Senate majority leader. Trump has deliberately chosen not to endorse any of the three candidates, but his entourage let it be known that their favourite is Rick Scott, the other Florida Senator, the most Trumpian of the three. This will be a secret ballot, but US media are referring to Scott as the favorite. We cannot recall a US president with such a total grip on power. (Source: eurointelligence.com)

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