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Stranger Than Fiction
A short daily note of things you might find interesting or useful
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TOP NEWS
Large crowds gathered in Tehran following the assassination of Iran’s Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani.
Iraq’s parliament moved to expel U.S. troops from the country. In response, Trump threatened to hit Iraq with heavy sanctions if troops were forced out.
Iran is discarding the more internationally mandated curbs on its nuclear program.
Trump threatened to hit Iranian “cultural sites” if Iran responded to the assassination of Suleimani with more violence against America.
The price of oil soared to $60 a barrel and could rise as high as $150 if a full blown Middle East conflict were to break out.
“1917” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” won best drama, best comedy or musical for movies, while “Succession,” “Chernobyl,” and “Fleabag” won top awards in television last night at the Golden Globes.
THE ELECTION
Iran situation casts Buttigieg candidacy in a different light
Yang’s team wrestles over how to spend recent big cash haul
THE COMMENT
“Today’s Iranians, who will most suffer whatever fallout there is from his death, remain economically blockaded, in a suspended state of siege in all but name. Their country remains, by the design of American policy, sanctioned and cash-strapped, their horizons and potential extinguished by visa bans, medicine shortages and inflation. Pinned between a system that increasingly feels it has little to lose, and the all-out vengeance of a zero-plan United States, Iran has endured what feels like a war economy for decades.” - Azadeh Moaveni, writer and an analyst with the International Crisis Group.
THE STRANGEST
THE AV ROOM