Senator Graham on Iran:

There are no gaps between Trump and Bibi about what to do and how to do it.

There are two lines in the water right now: one is a diplomatic line trying to find a way to end this regime diplomatically that will advance our national security interest.

The other line is the military option. I think Trump is looking for which line can catch the biggest fish.

Senator Graham on Iran:

Apparently, I am commonly referred to as “Uncle Lindsey” in Iran.

Apparently, that is a good thing.

Senator Graham on Iran:

Could our soldiers be hit in the region? Absolutely, they could.

Can Iran respond if we have an all-out attack? Absolutely, they can.

I think the risk associated with that is far less than the risk associated with blinking, pulling the plug, and not helping the people as you promised.

Senator Graham on Iran:

We’re into weeks, not months, in terms of decision-making.

Senator Graham on UAE's MBZ:

Bibi wanted me to tell the press that he’s amazed by the level of cooperation and the significance of the partnership of the United Arab Emirates with Israel — that MBZ has done everything asked and then some, that they’ve been a stalwart partner, a reliable partner under difficult circumstances.

And I want to go there tomorrow, acknowledge MBZ’s leadership, and suggest that America improve its capability to defend the United Arab Emirates and the region.

Senator Graham on the IDF:

The wars of the future are being planned here in Israel.

If you are not one step ahead of the enemy, you suffer.

Senator Graham on Iran:

I think the regime will collapse with sustained pressure. It’s so weak. You know, they fly F-14s? A lot has happened since Top Gun 1. So their Air Force is — that’s a great movie, but it was made in the ’80s. So I don’t like their chances in the sky.

They have a lot of ballistic missiles. They could hurt us. They could do damage to Israel. But every day that goes by in the war, they get less capable and we get more, because we have such a dominant advantage.

There is risk associated with taking the regime down militarily. But the risk, compared to the risk of doing nothing, is small.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa:

If people praise us, we should not be deceived. If they criticize us, we should not surrender to that either.

A sound plan has scientific, logical, and legal standards.

We should not flatter people with exaggerated promises to please them.

Senator Graham on Iran:

We don’t need American troops on the ground in Iran.

Senator Graham on Iran:

How many times could we have stopped Hitler? A bunch.

Somebody probably asked in 1935, “What would Germany look like if you killed Hitler?” I wish somebody had tried successfully.

READ MORE

NEW: Canadian PM Mark Carney is pushing a major EU–Indo-Pacific trade alliance to counter Trump-era tariff threats and “trade war coercion.”

Ottawa is “championing efforts to build a bridge between the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the European Union, which would create a new trading bloc of 1.5 billion people,” Carney said in Davos.

The EU and the 12-nation CPTPP bloc are opening talks to align supply chains and negotiate “rules of origin,” making cross-bloc trade smoother and less tariff-heavy.

A Canadian official said, “The work is definitely coming along,” while a Japanese trade official called it “an interesting topic to explore.”

Goal: unite nearly 40 countries into a powerful economic counterweight to U.S. tariff pressure — though EU officials caution it’s “not part of the priority for actions for now.”

Source: Politico

BIG: German FM Johann Wadephul says France talks big on “European sovereignty” but isn’t spending enough on defense to back it up:

Whoever speaks of it must act accordingly in their own country.

The efforts in the French Republic so far have been insufficient.

Whoever speaks today of independence from the USA must first do homework at home.

Source: Deutschlandfunk

A Japanese aviation spotter posted what appears to be the first blurry public photo of a new/additional JASDF Kawasaki RC-2 SIGINT aircraft.

The RC-2 is Japan’s modern signals-intelligence jet (based on the C-2 transport), replacing old YS-11EB aircraft.

Germany’s FM Johann Wadephul says Europe cannot defend itself without the U.S:

We are only capable of defending ourselves together with the USA, not alone.

Without the nuclear umbrella of the USA, without the secret service information from the USA, we are not capable of defending ourselves here.

That is the pure reality.

Germany says it’s basically out of air defense missiles for Ukraine.

When asked why Ukraine is running out of air defense, German FM Wadephul was blunt:

Partly because we don’t have any more.

(On Patriots): What there still is… comes from American production. Honestly, everything that is coming out of the production halls there now also goes directly to Ukraine.

We have made everything available that we somehow had.

Other Europeans could contribute more there. There are other air defense systems in one or another European country.

It's not because of Germany. We have made everything available that we somehow had. We finance the lion's share of what Ukraine gets, with good reason.

Germany’s FM says sticking with the U.S. is the only realistic option, and China isn’t the alternative.

The alternatives are not better.

We have been a successful alliance in the past and can and must be so for the future.

I would rather do all this with the USA than with China.

AS USUAL: Twitter crashed, again.

Trump on Iran:

I'll be involved in those talks indirectly and they'll be very important. Iran's a very tough negotiator.

They want to make a deal.

Trump on Iran:

I don't think they want the consequences of not making a deal.

Trump on Epstein:

I have nothing to hide. I've been exonerated. I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein.

They went in hoping that they'd find it and found just the opposite. I've been totally exonerated.

Trump on Cuba:

Cuba is right now a failed nation and they don't even have jet fuel to get for airplanes to take off. They're clogging up their runway.

But we're talking to Cuba right now. They have Marco Rubio talking to Cuba right now and they should absolutely make a deal because it's a humanitarian threat.