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Iran Strikes and Deadlines
US President Donald Trump warned that Iran’s power plants and bridges will be destroyed if Iran does not meet his latest deadline to agree to a deal that includes reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
“San Salvador — When Donald Trump won the presidency of the United States again, in November 2024, many analysts predicted the destruction of American democracy”
The warning came as airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran, and Iranian officials urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants.
Trump also threatened that the whole civilisation will die tonight if Tehran does not allow traffic to fully resume in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits in peacetime.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said 14 million people, including himself, have volunteered to fight.
US Vice President JD Vance said negotiations were on with Iran but that the ball is in the Iranians’ court now during a press conference in Hungary’s Budapest.
Trump’s Second-Term Image
Le Nouvel Obs described how, since the start of his second term, Donald Trump has stamped his image on the United States, with his name or face adorning official buildings.
The analysis said an opposition sees the displays as tools of "propaganda" worthy of "totalitarian dictators".
It also said the most indelible mark of his desire to reshape the United States in his image was the autumn destruction of the east wing of the White House.
The article framed the effort as leaving a physical trace of power on institutions, from the destruction of an east wing of the White House to the addition of his name on certain historic buildings.
It noted that the piece was published January 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM, and updated January 20, 2026 at 9:39 AM.
Davos Dialogue and Order
Amnesty International’s Agnès Callamard told the World Economic Forum in Davos that the "spirit of dialogue" is painfully and increasingly absent from international affairs.
“To be such a prosaic man, Donald Trump lends himself to metaphors”
She said the United States, in the first year since Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, pulled out of multilateral bodies, sought to intimidate other states, and attacked the principles and institutions that underlie the international justice system.
Callamard argued that "Some powerful states are unashamedly working to demolish the rules-based international order" and reshape the world to serve their own interests.
She said the only certainty regarding the wrecking of international law and multilateral institutions is that it will cause widespread suffering and large-scale destruction in the world.
Amnesty said Callamard would participate in the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos for its entire duration, from January 19 to 23.
