Wars at home and away

Hello from the FT newsroom. When Donald Trump won the US election, he was full of big promises about ending conflicts in Europe and the Middle East. The events of this week — from Israel’s renewed ground operation in the Gaza Strip, to fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine — suggest it will be tougher than he thought.

Why? Our reporters explained how Trump’s peacemaking ambitions unravelled.

Meanwhile, at home, Trump is stoking his own war: this time with the judiciary. Legal experts say his attacks on judges and their rulings threaten a constitutional crisis. Are those fears justified?

My choices this week

1. Turkish police detained the main political challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday, shocking European politicians and investors who had been warming to Ankara. Turkey has been plunged into fresh crisis.
2. President Emmanuel Macron has suggested France’s “nuclear umbrella” could be used by other European countries, as the US steps away from its role as Nato security guarantor. The idea brings Europe into “uncharted territory”. [Free to read]
3. Wall Street succession battles tend to be hard-fought, secretive sagas. But some suspect that Goldman Sachs has already decided its next CEO, well before incumbent David Solomon is ready to step aside. Our US banking editor Josh Franklin reports.
4. UK ministers set out plans for radical reform of welfare policies for the sick and disabled this week. These charts explain the expensive dilemma that officials are trying to solve. For more analysis of the latest UK political news, sign up for a free 30-day trial to Stephen Bush’s Inside Politics newsletter.
5. In an ever more digital world, are we getting worse at concentrating? In this week’s Data Points, John Burn-Murdoch examines how our cognitive abilities have changed over time and asks whether humans have passed peak brain power.
6. The workplace performance review has never been popular. But is there a better way to do it? Pilita Clark asks how to spot an underperformer at work. [Free to read]

Thanks for reading,

Patrick Jenkins, FT deputy editor

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