Hello, everyone. Today at WPR, we’re covering the problems with the Trump administration’s framing of its attack on Venezuela when considering civilian casualties, and the EU’s efforts to tighten its borders amid deepening internal divisions over migration. | But first, here’s our take on today’s top story: |  | South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae at a drum-off in Nara, Japan, Jan. 13, 2026 (photo via Lee’s official X account). |
| South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s visit to Japan on Tuesday continues a trend of warm ties between two East Asian powerhouse economies that, less than a decade ago, were at each other’s throats over historical and trade disputes. | Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae welcomed Lee to her hometown and political base of Nara for a friendly visit that seemed choreographed to showcase the two leaders’ personal chemistry. Upon Lee’s arrival, Takaichi broke protocol to greet Lee at his hotel, a gesture that Lee said he and the South Korean people were “deeply grateful” for. | Yet an even more meaningful gesture came in the context of historical issues that once roiled the relationship. Takaichi and Lee announced an agreement to conduct talks on how to jointly identify the remains of 136 Korean forced laborers believed to have died in an undersea mine collapse in Japan’s Yamaguchi prefecture in 1942. | “Through this summit, I find it meaningful that we were able to achieve a small but significant step forward on historical issues,” Lee said. “I am grateful for the respected prime minister’s special attention.” | After their meeting, Takaichi, known to have played drums in a heavy metal band during her youth, arranged … Purchase a subscription now to read the rest and get the full top story in your Daily Review email every day. |
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| | The Trump administration’s actions and justifications for them raise obvious legal concerns under the U.N. Charter, as well as under older norms of sovereign immunity, which among other things protect sitting heads of state from arrest and prosecution. But the wider question of howlethal force against third parties was used to capture Maduro also requires careful attention. One reason this matters is because international law on the use of lethal force distinguishes between armed conflict and law enforcement, and the bar for collateral harm to civilian bystanders is much higher for the latter than for the former, WPR columnist Charli Carpenter writes. | | | The interior ministers of all 27 European Union member states last month reached a political agreement on a set of reforms that are widely seen as a significant shift in Europe’s approach to migration. The meeting in Brussels gave fresh momentum to implementation of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, which is scheduled to come into effect in mid-2026 and will overhaul the EU’s asylum system. | | | Iraq: “Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, whose bloc won the largest share of seats in November’s parliamentary elections, has stepped aside to clear the field for a rival, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki,” the Associated Press reports. The bloc led by al-Sudani won 46 seats in parliament while al-Maliki’s bloc won 30, and both men had sought the backing of the Shiite Coordination Framework, a coalition of the leading Shiite Islamist parties, to form a government. But the SCF asked the two candidates to resolve the issue themselves. | In a WPR briefing in December 2024, Renad Mansour explained that the election would likely test the ruling coalition’s cohesiveness. “With an upcoming election, the SCF’s consolidation of power will face a significant challenge, revealing whether Iraq is on the path to a more centralized and stable political system or whether it will instead revert to the cycles of fragmentation and conflict that have defined it over the past few decades since the U.S. invasion,” Mansour wrote. Time will tell whether the agreement between al-Sudani and al-Maliki means that a major split in the SCF has been avoided. | Somalia, UAE: Somalia’s government announced Monday that it will annull all agreements with the United Arab Emirates, including those related to port deals and security cooperation. The move was in direct response to allegations that Abu Dhabi had exfiltrated a UAE-aligned Yemeni separatist leader to Somalia, which the Somali government said was a violation of its sovereignty. The development comes as the UAE’s rising influence in the Horn of Africa, including ties with the breakaway region of Somaliland, has generated tensions with Mogadishu. See this WPR briefing by Jonathan Fenton-Harvey for more. | | The paid edition of today’s newsletter includes additional On Our Radar items on Iran, Hungary and France. | Purchase your subscription now to make sure you don’t miss anything. | If you believe you are already a paid subscriber and are receiving this free edition by mistake, please reply to this email and we’ll make sure you receive the paid edition going forward. | | More from WPR | Mohammad Salami on the increasing use of private military contractors by Gulf nations. James Bosworth on three elections to watch this year in Latin America. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen on the destabilizing impacts of the Saudi-UAE rivalry. Paul Poast on why Trump’s Venezuela attack is actually consistent with “America First.”
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Welcome to my geopolitics blog site. This is a Hawaii Island news site focusing on geopolitical news, analysis, information, and commentary. I will cite a variety of sources, ranging from all sides of the political spectrum.