Leonid Bershidsky:

Donald Trump is not one to mince words: He says he doesn’t care if the European Union breaks up, since it is “basically a vehicle for Germany” and calls the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Europe’s main defense arrangement, “obsolete.” With these statements, the next U.S. president drew sharp battle lines: He, U.K. Brexiteers and other euroskeptics on one side and the rest of Europe on the other.

Saturday Morning News & Notes

Happy weekend, y’all. -This was a busy week in politics with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting the presidents appeal to re-instate the temporary ban from 7 nations who cannot properly vet their own people.

Obama WH photographer throws more shade at Trump

Since we first posted this story, former President Barack Obama’s chief photographer, Pete Souza, the man who documented almost every impactful moment of the Obama presidency, continues to post images to his Instagram account, and its 738,000 followers, in response to President Donald Trump’s actions and policies. A silent, social media, shade-throwing protest told in visuals from the millions of images in Souza’s archive, the photos appear to be Souza’s expression of opposition to the recent moves of the Trump administration.

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Merkel said there’s no solution yet to the problem of how to fairly … . President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington.

Trump to honor refugee swap deal with Australia: source

U.S. President Donald Trump , seated at his desk with National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and senior advisor Steve Bannon , speaks by phone with Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. January… President Donald Trump has confirmed that his administration will honor a refugee resettlement deal with Australia, a source close to the Australian government said on Sunday.

Trump Endorses American Geopolitical Suicide

Quoted in German from a conversation held in English, Trump predicted Britain’s exit from the EU will be a success and portrayed the EU as an instrument of German domination with the purpose of beating the U.S. in international trade. For that reason, Trump said, he’s fairly indifferent whether the EU breaks up or stays together, according to Bild.

Obama says goodbye

NOVEMBER 16: U.S. President Barack Obama waves before descending from Air Force One upon his arrival on November 16, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. President Obama is scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel tomorrow and hold talks with other European leaders on Friday as part of his last trip to Europe as President before continuing to Peru.

Patrick J. Buchanan: Europe’s future — Merkel or Le Pen?

The terrorist who hijacked a truck in Berlin and ran over and killed 12 people, maiming and wounding 48 more, in that massacre in the Christmas market, has done more damage than he could imagine. Since the perpetrator is a jihadist from Tunisia who had no right to be in Germany, and had been under surveillance, the bell could begin to toll not only for Angela Merkel but for the European Union.

Could Angela Merkel save lives by outlawing Christmas?

In the wake of the news that most probably a radical Muslim has driven into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing at least twelve people and injuring dozens more , the question arises: should Germany outlaw Christmas? After all, it was a Christmas market that triggered the attacker. And even if the attacker wasn’t triggered by the Christmas holiday, such gatherings of Christians make them an easy target for Muslim attackers.