- Twitter locks the accounts and shadowbans several WikiLeaks accounts. [Link]
- Trump announces Gen James Mattis will be retiring as Secretary of Defense at the end of February. [Link]
- Gen James Mattis publishes his resignation letter. In the letter, Mattis says Trump deserves a Defense Secretary with the same foreign policy views. [Link]
- North Korea reaffirms their long-standing position that the US must retract its nuclear threat towards North Korea before North Korea denuclearizes. [Link]
- Trump is considering a significant drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan. [Link]
- Trump orders the military to begin planning the withdrawal of about half of US forces in Afghanistan. [Link]
- US troops will withdraw from posts on the Turkish/Syria border. [Link] Â
- Moon of Alabama explains how Turkish threats of realignment pushed Trump to withdraw from Syria. [Link]
- Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israel will continue to take aggressive actions to prevent Iranian intrenchment in Syria. [Link] Â
- The US carries out airstrikes in defense of US ground forces in Somalia. Al-Shabaab militants were threatening the US forces. [Link]
