Welcome to 2020! We'll get through this year together.

January 6, 2019   Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu 'You're not a dictator' Welcome to the new year -- it's already shaping up to be a big one. Washington always wondered how Donald Trump would handle a major international crisis. His self-made confrontation with Iran is hardly putting minds at rest. The best spin on the US killing of Iran's Middle East enforcer Qasem Soleimani is that the President acted boldly to protect Americans, striking one of the Islamic Republic's most guileful military leaders after Iran miscalculated his willingness to use devastating force. "We're speaking in a language the regime understands," one senior US official said. Such US hubris tends to peak after "shock and awe" attacks in the Middle East. But claims that Americans are now safer were undermined when Americans in Iraq were told to flee. Trump's provocation has also unleashed anxiety at home: Worries over retaliation from Iran were on lips in American bars and at kids' sports games this weekend, as fears of World War III buzzed on social media.  Insider accounts suggest some top officials were shocked the President chose such an inflammatory step. There's scant evidence of long-term strategic thinking and Trump has not publicly explained to Americans or Congress in detail what led him to kill Soleimani -- and what comes next. However Iran responds, Trump now owns the political aftermath, a potentially significant factor in election year. And his instinct to pour oil on the flames means escalation is likely. In a tweet storm on Sunday, Trump threatened to hit Iranian cultural targets -- a possible war crime -- if Tehran fights back, disdaining codes of warfare the US would normally observe. This president is used to writing his own rules. But unlike a real estate spat or a Twitter feud, lives are now on the line. You're not a dictator Twitter has been the Trump administration's favored mode of communication around its Iran strategy this week, with Vice President Mike Pence posting justifications for the strike that killed Soleimani and Trump addressing both Iran and the US Congress by tweet.  Congress should take his "media posts" as formal notification of intent, the President tweeted on Sunday. "Should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner," he wrote. "Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!" The House Foreign Affairs Committee responded with its own tweet to "serve as a reminder that war powers reside in the Congress under the United States Constitution. And that you should read the War Powers Act. And that you're not a dictator."   Subscribe to Meanwhile The world and America   Opposition lawmakers were barred from their own vote in Venezuela Terror group Al Shabaab claimed a deadly attack on a US military base in Kenya. And Japanese officials vowed to tighten immigration rules after auto exec Carlos Ghosn's escape. Meanwhile in America, officials can't explain mysterious drone-like objects flying over the Midwest.   Exiled US football star Colin Kaepernick appeared to weigh in on the US clash with Iran. And the Golden Globes handed out another round of awards to Hollywood. A new war, of a new kind By killing Soleimani, the United States has "started a new war" in the region, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday. "This is an American beginning in the region. We didn't go attack them. They started a new war, of a new kind, in the region," the leader of the Iranian-backed group told supporters at a memorial rally south of Beirut.   The latest in Iran Mourners surround the coffins of Soleimani and others killed by the US drone strike Sunday in Mashhad, Iran. Iran took one more step away from the JCPOA nuclear deal brokered by then-President Barack Obama back in 2015, announcing Sunday that it would no longer limit itself to agreed restrictions on uranium enrichment.   Iraqi officials are preparing to ask the US to withdraw troops from the country. The parliament voted Sunday to "obligate" the government to work toward "ending the presence of all foreign troops on Iraqi soil."    Trump threatened to sanction Iraq. "If they do ask us to leave, if we don't do it in a very friendly basis. We will charge them sanctions like they've never seen before ever," Trump said aboard Air Force One, according to a pool report. "It'll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame." The sky turns red from bushfires in Bemboka, in Australia's New South Wales state on January 5, 2020.     Some free advice for world leaders: Stay home for the holidays. Scott Morrison jetted off to Hawaii before Christmas, and despite rushing back has struggled ever since to get a handle on Australia's vicious wildfire crisis. The Prime Minister was hoist with his own petard after critics revived the phrase "Where the bloody hell are you?," which Morrison used while serving as his country's tourism chief. Another Prime Minister with a fresh mandate is also under fire. The UK opposition slammed Boris Sunday for "sunning himself, drinking vodka Martinis" in the Caribbean as Britain's top ally, the US, lurches towards war with Iran. We all need a break sometimes. But when bad things happen, world leaders are rarely forgiven for escaping the office. Obama got a wake up call when a terrorist tried to down an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, while he was off the grid in his native Hawaii. His predecessor George W. Bush was accused of missing 9/11 hijacking warnings during a sleepy summer at his Texas ranch.  In reality, the infrastructure of the presidency is so huge and mobile that a US President can be chief wherever he is. When he plays golf for instance, a military aid trails him on a cart carrying the nuclear codes. It's quite feasible to end the world from the fairway of the 16th hole. And Trump's vacation in sunny Florida didn't stop him launching the raid against Soleimani. Actually, given the cacophony whipped up by the tweeter-in-chief, his critics might prefer his fingers spent more time wrapped around his 7-iron and less pounding his iPhone keyboard. Thousands of US soldiers are being deployed to the Middle East in the wake of Soleimani's killing, despite Trump's campaign promises to "bring our troops back home." Above, Trump speaks in Concord, New Hampshire, back in January 2016.   2020 The US presidential election is now just months away, and timing is everything -- so Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren is raising doubts about why Trump chose to stir up trouble with Iran now. "Look, I think that people are reasonably asking about the timing and why it is that the administration seems to have all kinds of different answers," the Massachusetts Senator told CNN's Jake Tapper. Thanks for reading. On Monday, NATO meets about Iran, witches ride in Italy, and Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial begins. In the Pacific, the president of tiny Kiribati heads to Beijing to meet his most powerful neighbor. Things are looking complicated out there. Send your advice for the world's leaders to meanwhile@cnn.com View in browser  |  All CNN Newsletters Copyright © 2020 Cable News Network, Inc. A WarnerMedia Company, All rights reserved. You are receiving this message because you opted in via Facebook or CNN's website in relation to a new politics newsletter from CNN. Our mailing address is: Cable News Network, Inc. A WarnerMedia Company 1 CNN Center NW Atlanta, GA 30303-2762 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.