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The Golden Globes gave lead acting prizes to Tracee Ellis Rossfor “black-ish” and to Ryan Gosling for “La La Land.” Page C1.

Glitter for Hollywood, Gold for Winners

At first blush, there’s a baf-fling, inside-out quality to JulianAssange’s latest star turn in ourshambolic national story.

He belongs in jail for “waginghis war” againstthe United Statesby exposing itssecrets, the conser-vative Fox Newshost Sean Hannity

has said of him. An “anti-Ameri-can operative with blood on hishands,” Sarah Palin once calledhim.

Yet last week brought the sightof Mr. Hannity speaking with Mr.Assange in glowing terms about“what drives him to exposegovernment and media corrup-tion” through Clinton campaignhacks that American intelligence

has attributed to Russia. And Ms.Palin hailed him as a great truthteller, even apologizing for previ-ous unpleasantries. (Cue soundof needle sliding across recordalbum.)

O.K., the fact that WikiLeaks’election-year splash was bad forthe Democrats and good forPresident-elect Donald J. Trumpmay have a teeny-weeny bit todo with their change of heart.

But what’s up with Mr. As-sange, who seems equally com-fortable being a hero of theAmerican left as he is being oneof the American right, or even ofRussian Putinists? What does hewant, anyway?

The answer has been in frontof us all along. And the current

For Assange, a 10-Year VisionOf Toppling Power Is a Reality

JIMRUTENBERG

MEDIATOR

Continued on Page B4

During nearly two decades in the Sen-ate, Jeff Sessions had never endorsedanyone in a presidential primary. Butlast January, the Alabama Republican,afraid that his party was floundering,sent a five-point questionnaire to all itspresidential contenders to determinewho might deserve his support.

Just one answered: Donald J. Trump.Mr. Sessions is in many ways Mr.

Trump’s antithesis: reedy-voiced, di-minutive and mild-mannered, a devoutMethodist and an Eagle Scout who willsoon celebrate a golden wedding anni-

versary with his college sweetheart. Hisfather ran a country store in the DeepSouth. And he is widely regarded as rig-idly honest and inflexible on issues heconsiders matters of principle. Mr.Trump has meandered across the poli-tical spectrum; Mr. Sessions has been adeeply conservative Republican his en-tire life.

But besides their age — both are 70 —Mr. Sessions shared one trait with Mr.

Trump: He was an outsider, dismissedby much of the Republican Party as afringe player on all but his signature is-sue, immigration. The two men unex-pectedly bonded over their willingnessto buck the establishment and the un-likely hope that lower-middle- and work-ing-class voters would carry a billion-aire to the White House.

For Mr. Sessions, that alliance haspaid off in a fashion that few ever imag-

ined. Rejected for a federal judgeship,passed over for a crucial Senate commit-tee chairmanship and long consideredtoo far right to attain a cabinet post, hehas defied the odds.

Within days, he could be confirmed asattorney general of the United States.

Some cabinet nominees arrive at con-firmation hearings with records that re-quire considerable guesswork. Not Mr.Sessions. His rock-ribbed conservatismwas forged in the deep poverty and iso-lation of rural Alabama, sharpened dur-ing 16 years as a federal prosecutor andstate attorney general and polished as a

Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican and the nominee for attorney general, greeting President-elect Donald J. Trump in Mobile last month.STEPHEN CROWLEY/THE NEW YORK TIMES

A Bond Over Bucking the EstablishmentSessions Forms an Alliance With Trump

That Could Lift Him to the Justice Department

Continued on Page A10

My dad got a drone for Christ-mas.

My dad lost a drone on Christ-mas.

— @miss_jordon, on Twitter

If this Christmas was the sea-son of the drone, it was also a timeof crashes, losses and tweeted la-ments. Social media is rich withcommentary about fathers (majortargets) crashing drones, girl-friends with tiny blades en-

meshed in their hair (mothers re-moved them) and crying childrenwhose favorite present went poofin the sky.

“How would you like it if yourlaptop flew away?” Shelley Hol-loway’s husband asked her afterhe lost his holiday drone. Ms. Hol-loway, of Clawson, Mich., hadposted a note on Nextdoor, thecommunity-based social network,saying that “his Christmas hasbeen ruined ever since.” (Appar-ently he didn’t like the ribbing.)

Most drones are harmless toys

— albeit ones that seem to have ashorter shelf life than a Christmastree — and can be bought at Ama-zon or Walmart for under $100.But drones, particularly biggerones, can cause major damageand injury, especially in the handsof neophytes.

Like birds, drones can besucked into engines, creating arisk of planes being brought down.There is also a risk of dronesthemselves falling on people ortheir property. The Federal Avia-tion Administration requires a $5

registration for drones over 0.55pounds, and insurance companiesare girding for a wave of drone-re-lated accident claims.

“We’re adamant,” said ScottMcLean, a spokesman for the Cal-ifornia Department of Forestryand Fire Protection. “If a drone isseen in the vicinity of a wildlandfire, we will remove our aircraft,which unfortunately can causethe fire to grow exponentially.”

The agency, known as Cal Fire,has adopted the warning “If you

Santa Left a Drone Under the Tree. And Dad Crashed It Into One.By CAROL POGASH

Continued on Page B4

WASHINGTON — Russianwarplanes have carried outairstrikes to support Turkey’s of-fensive in northern Syria againstthe Islamic State, an importantevolution in a budding Russian-Turkish partnership. The deep-ening ties threaten to marginalizethe United States in the struggleto shape Syria’s ultimate fate.

The air missions, which tookplace for about a week near thestrategically important town of AlBab, represent the Kremlin’s firstuse of its military might to help theTurks in their fight against themilitant group. The Russiansseized an opening to try to build amilitary relationship with Turkey,a NATO member, as the UnitedStates has sought to keep the em-phasis on taking Raqqa, the Is-lamic State’s self-declared capital.

The Russian bombing is a re-markable turnabout from Novem-ber 2015, when a Turkish F-16fighter jet shot down a RussianSu-24 attack plane that had vio-lated Turkey’s airspace.

Russia and Turkey had alreadybeen involved in a joint effort toestablish a cease-fire in Syria —one that does not involve theUnited States. At the same time,ties between the United Statesand Turkey have come undergrowing strain as the Turkishpresident, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,has become increasingly alarmedabout the Kurdish forces knownas the Y.P.G. The United Stateshas aligned itself with those forcesto combat the Islamic State in Syr-ia.

Some analysts say Russia ap-

STRIKES BY RUSSIABUTTRESS TURKEY IN BATTLE VS. ISIS

ALLIANCE SHUNS THE U.S.

As Rift Heals, Some SeeDeal to Protect Assad

and Reject Kurds

By MICHAEL R. GORDONand ERIC SCHMITT

Continued on Page A3

By SHARON LaFRANIEREand MATT APUZZO

A Palestinian driver plowed a truck intoa group of Israeli soldiers, killing fourand injuring 17, officials said. PAGE A4

Attack on Soldiers in JerusalemA plan by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo wouldhelp college students already receivingaid but needing a final boost. PAGE A14

NEW YORK A14-15, 18

Trying to Fill a Tuition Gap

President Enrique Peña Nieto is brac-ing for a crackdown on immigration andtrade by Donald J. Trump. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A3-8

Mexico Awaits Trump Moves

After a mass shooting at Fort Lau-derdale’s airport came to an orderlyend, chaos and uncertainty unfoldedover the next 12 hours. PAGE A9

NATIONAL A9-13

Airport Attack’s AftershocksIf Barry Bonds and Roger Clemensenter the Hall of Fame someday, howwill the charges of drug use be ad-dressed? Sports of The Times. PAGE D1

SPORTSMONDAY D1-5

All-Stars and Defendants

Green Bay won an N.F.C. wild-cardgame, 38-13, in the frigid cold. PAGE D1

Giants Fall to Packers

Charles M. Blow PAGE A17

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A16-17

Nat Hentoff, an author, social commenta-tor and jazz critic, wrote for The VillageVoice for 50 years and relished being atroublemaker. He was 91. PAGE B6

OBITUARIES B5-6

A Provocateur With a Pen

Sales of the most capable headsets havebeen sluggish by most estimates, heldback by high costs, a lack of must-havecontent, and the complexity and awk-wardness of the products. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-4

A Check on Virtual Reality

A party ends in disaster in “The Pre-sent.” A review. Above, Richard Rox-burgh and Cate Blanchett. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-10

Blanchett on Broadway

TEHRAN — With the death ofAyatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Raf-sanjani on Sunday, Iran’s politicalfactions knew immediately thatany space by reformers to maneu-ver had just significantly de-creased.

Change had come, and it did notfavor those seeking to turn Iraninto a less revolutionary countrywith more tolerance and outreachto the West — especially theUnited States.

Mr. Rafsanjani, a former presi-dent who helped found the Islamicrepublic, had been the one mantoo large to be sidelined by conser-vative hard-liners. Now he wassuddenly gone, dead from whatstate media described as cardiacarrest — and with no one influen-tial enough to fill his shoes.

Iran’s long-marginalized re-formists and moderates, whowould use Mr. Rafsanjani’s regu-lar calls for more personal free-doms and requests to establishbetter relations with the UnitedStates to advance their politicalagendas, suddenly felt exposedand weakened.

Who would now warn publiclyagainst “Islamic fascism,” whenthe hard-liners sought to influenceelections? Who would stateopenly that there should be a nu-clear compromise?

Mr. Rafsanjani said things oth-ers would not dare to say, allagreed, and his voice had at leastcreated some tolerance for de-bates.

“Hard-liners will be happy, but

this is the start of a period of anxi-ety for many,” said Fazel Meybodi,a cleric from the holy city Qumwho supports reforms in Iran.“His death disturbs the fragile bal-ance we had in Iran.”

There simply are no replace-ments for Mr. Rafsanjani, analystsfrom all factions say.

His death also reflects the dwin-dling number of leaders from thegeneration that overthrew theshah nearly four decades ago.Most are now in their 80s or evenolder.

“It is a very powerful reminderthat Iran is at the beginning of amajor leadership transition thatwill play a very psychological role

Reformists in Iran Lose a Voice That Countered the Hard-Liners

By THOMAS ERDBRINK

RAHEB HOMAVANDI/REUTERS

Ayatollah Ali Akbar HashemiRafsanjani, 82, was a formerpresident and a founder of theIslamic republic. Page A8.

A ‘Kingmaker’ Dies

Continued on Page A8

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAUL DRINKWATER/NBCUNIVERSAL

Charges of conspiracy to defraud theU.S. stemmed from the inquiry into VW’semissions cheating scandal. PAGE A13

VW Executive Arrested

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVI . . . No. 57,472 © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2017

Today, variable cloudiness, anothercold day, high 25. Tonight, partlycloudy, cold, low 22. Tomorrow,mostly cloudy, not as cold, high 39.Weather map appears on Page D6.

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