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August 21, 2023 U.S. Sanctions Target Turkey-Backed Militias in Syria, but Not Turkish Authorities The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Thursday against a pair of Turkey-backed Syrian militias — the Suleiman Shah Brigade and the Hamza Brigade — responsible for serious human rights abuses,... August 16, 2023 Iran’s Pension Funds Are a Fiscal Time Bomb Waiting to Explode Protests by Iranian retirees have surged this year, with demonstrations last week in several of Iran’s largest cities. Their calls to increase meager government pensions are both a cry of desperation... August 15, 2023 UK Sanctions Turkish Entities Supplying Electronics to Russia UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly last week announced “new sanctions on individuals and businesses outside Russia supporting Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine,” including two Turkish businesses... August 14, 2023 Biden Establishes Review Process to Regulate China-Bound Investment in Key Industries President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that enables the Treasury Department to review and block outbound private-sector investment in China within key industries that are critical to... August 10, 2023 New U.S., UK, Canadian Sanctions Target Former Lebanese Central Bank Governor The United States, in coordination with the United Kingdom and Canada, imposed sanctions today on former Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and three of his associates. Washington once considered... August 3, 2023 Continued Hezbollah Impunity Risks Regional Explosion Three years ago this week, in a Beirut blast widely blamed on Hezbollah, one of the world’s largest-ever non-nuclear explosions killed over 220 people, wounded 7,000, and destroyed or damaged 74,000... August 3, 2023 Alleged Turkish Money Launderer to Face Trial A Utah court last week released Turkish businessman Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, whom Austria extradited last year, as he awaits trial in U.S. federal court for several money laundering schemes that allegedly... July 26, 2023 America’s Food Supplies Face Growing Cyber Threats Produce giant Dole disclosed to federal and state regulators earlier this month the impact of a February 2023 ransomware attack that cost the company $10.5 million. As the food and agriculture sector increasingly... July 21, 2023 Pending ICJ Case Threatens to Demand Unconditional Israeli Withdrawal from West Bank The United States and other governments have until July 25 to submit their first round of written statements in an International Court of Justice (ICJ) case that could establish a new legal framework demanding... July 21, 2023 Beijing Mounts Record-Breaking Warship Deployments Around Taiwan as Island’s Presidential Election Approaches China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deployed a record number of warships near Taiwan this month, surpassing a previous high established after former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s travelled... July 19, 2023 Massive Healthcare Data Breach Demonstrates Need to Implement Cybersecurity Best Practices The largest U.S. healthcare provider confirmed last week that a breach of its external data storage system exposed the personal information of at least 11 million patients. The largest data breach of a... July 18, 2023 Ransomware Attack on Japanese Port Is a Warning to U.S. Shipping Japan’s largest port suffered a ransomware attack earlier this month, halting all shipments through the port for two days. This security incident underscores the need to strengthen the resilience of... July 17, 2023 UNHRC Special Rapporteur Report Justifies Terrorism, Ignores Israeli Security Needs United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese released last Monday her latest assessment of “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.” In her report,... July 14, 2023 Biden Is Wrong: Ukraine Needs ATACMS President Joe Biden said Wednesday that while he is considering granting Kyiv’s request for the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), Ukraine has already received “equivalent” missiles from other... July 10, 2023 OPCW Meeting Sets Up Critical Opportunity to Sideline Russia The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will convene this week for a thrice-yearly meeting of its Executive Council (EC). The 41-nation policy-making body has a chance to hold Russia... July 7, 2023 IDF Dismantles Terror Infrastructure in 48-Hour Operation in Jenin On July 5, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew from the Jenin Refugee Camp, concluding a significant but limited military operation in the northern West Bank in response to months of sustained terror... July 7, 2023 Israel Should Strengthen Ties with Taiwan I recently visited Taiwan as the guest of its president, Tsai Ing-wen, with a delegation comprised of leaders from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank based in Washington, DC, and some... July 5, 2023 Cooperation Between Israel and Its Neighbors Can Defeat Shared Cyber Threats Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week launched a new cyber threat intelligence sharing platform, dubbed Crystal Ball, to help combat ransomware and other cyberattacks. The joint effort demonstrates... June 26, 2023 U.S.-South Korean Cyber Cooperation Can Combat North Korean Threats Washington and Seoul held a high-level cybersecurity meeting over the course of three days last week as a follow-up to a joint pledge in April to increase cyber defense collaboration. This type of dialogue... June 23, 2023 New Iran Deal Could Spell End to IAEA Investigation Washington is reportedly prepared to conclude a new Iran deal that would limit U.S. pressure on Tehran to cooperate with nuclear inspectors and address the regime’s possible atomic weapons activities,... June 21, 2023 In the Tri-Border Area, Hezbollah Agents Are Again in the Wind An Argentinian federal judge issued an international arrest warrant last week against four Lebanese nationals suspected of involvement in the July 1994 terror attack against the AMIA building, the Jewish... June 21, 2023 Sanctioned Russian Bank to Begin Money Transfers to Turkey VTB Bank, Russia’s second-largest lender, announced last week that it would more than double the number of countries to which retail clients can transfer funds, with Turkey as one of the key new destinations.... June 16, 2023 Iran and Venezuela Deepen Their Strategic Alliance Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi just wrapped up a two-day visit to Caracas, during which he consolidated Iran’s strategic alliance with the regime of Nicolas Maduro. While talk of American imperialism... June 16, 2023 Congress Should Protect U.S. Leadership in Quantum Research The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology heard from administration officials and academic experts last week on the importance of reauthorizing the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) Act to... June 15, 2023 Trade Between Russia and China Surges in 2023 Preliminary data published last week by China’s General Administration of Customs show that in the first five months of 2023, trade between Russia and China reached $93.8 billion, a 41 percent increase... June 12, 2023 Bipartisan Coalition Urges Biden to Send ATACMS to Ukraine A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers introduced a resolution on Friday urging the Biden administration to send Ukraine the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). These missiles would facilitate Kyiv’s... June 5, 2023 Lebanese Judge Indicts Hezbollah Members for UN Peacekeeper’s Death A military investigative judge in Lebanon indicted five alleged members of Hezbollah last Thursday for killing an Irish peacekeeper in December. If the men’s affiliations are confirmed, they would be... June 2, 2023 Top U.S. Lawmakers Want Action Against Lebanon’s Corrupt Central Bank Chief The chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sent a letter on Tuesday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling on the administration to “support independent, international... May 25, 2023 Russia and Partners Block Condemnation of Chemical Weapons Treaty Violations The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) held its fifth review conference last week to assess implementation of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and set priorities... May 24, 2023 Xi Doubles Down on Ideological Indoctrination at the Expense of China’s Economic Recovery In several speeches and policy pronouncements this spring, Chinese leader Xi Jinping outlined plans for a sweeping indoctrination drive aimed at tightening his hold on power. Xi’s declarations re-affirm... May 18, 2023 Treasury’s Sanctions Strike at Key Russian Ransomware Figure The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned Mikhail Matveev, a key figure in the Russian cybercrime world. In conjunction with a newly unsealed federal indictment of Mateev and a $10 million... May 16, 2023 Iran’s Inflationary Quagmire: Economic Challenges and Potential Instability Iran’s inflation rate in the previous Persian year (March 2022-March 2023) reached an unsettling 45.8 percent, the state-run Statistical Center of Iran reported this week. The country’s economic plight,... May 12, 2023 UK Sends Long-Range Missiles to Ukraine Even Though U.S. Refused British Defence Secretary Benjamin Wallace announced yesterday that London has sent Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine. By leading where Washington would not, the United Kingdom has provided Kyiv with a... May 9, 2023 Jordan Carries Out Rare Strike in Syria Against the Assad-Backed Narco-Trade Jordan carried out airstrikes in southern Syria on Monday morning targeting a prominent drug lord and a narcotics factory in nearby Daraa province. Jordanian airstrikes in Syria are extremely rare and... May 8, 2023 Erdogan Threatens to Discard Election Results With elections just six days away and the polls showing a neck-and-neck race between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Erdogan is threatening to block a transition... May 3, 2023 Iran’s Meaningless Concession Ahead of Key Nuclear Meeting Iran has begun reinstalling surveillance cameras and monitoring technologies at key nuclear sites ahead of a June International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting, according to a reporter for The Wall... April 28, 2023 Washington Declaration Shores Up U.S. Security Commitments to South Korea The United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) released a statement they called the Washington Declaration on Wednesday during the state visit of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to the White House.... April 26, 2023 New European Sanctions Target Assad Regime Narco-Traffickers The European Union (EU) announced sanctions this week on over a dozen Syrian individuals and entities responsible for “the production and trafficking of narcotics, notably Captagon.” The designations... April 26, 2023 Upcoming Paraguayan Election a Bellwether for Taiwan’s International Standing The outcome of this month’s hotly contested Paraguayan election will likely determine whether Asuncion maintains diplomatic relations with Taipei or switches recognition to Beijing, a move that would... April 24, 2023 Eyeing Congress, Biden Administration Approves Possible F-16 Equipment Sale to Turkey The Biden administration announced on April 17 its approval of a possible foreign military sale to Turkey to support Ankara’s existing F-16 fighter jet fleet, totaling an estimated $259 million. Washington’s... April 24, 2023 Morningstar Blacklist May Violate State Anti-BDS Laws The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) this week reported that Sustainalytics — the environmental, social, governance (ESG) ratings arm of Morningstar, Inc. — imposes negative “controversy” ratings on... April 18, 2023 G7 Members Announce Plan to Reduce Nuclear Fuel Dependence on Russia The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Japan announced a new initiative on Sunday to replace Russian nuclear fuels and further reduce “reliance on Russia in the nuclear fuel supply chain... April 17, 2023 U.S. Sanctions Turkish Entities for Aiding Russian War Effort The United States and United Kingdom imposed sanctions Wednesday on three Turkish targets as part of the West’s continued effort to “cut off more of the international assets and finance channels still... April 13, 2023 All Eyes on the Iranian Regime as ‘Quds Day’ Dawns in the Middle East Israel has deployed thousands of officers in Jerusalem and in the vicinity of the Temple Mount and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound ahead of this Friday’s “Quds Day,” a yearly event manufactured by the... March 29, 2023 Under Pressure from Congress, Administration Sanctions Syrian Narco-traffickers The Treasury Department announced sanctions on Tuesday on eight targets for “supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the production or export of Captagon, a dangerous amphetamine.”... March 28, 2023 U.S. Should Send Cluster Munitions to Ukraine The top Republicans on the House and Senate foreign affairs and armed services committees sent a letter to President Joe Biden last week urging him to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions, specifically... March 24, 2023 Top General Suggests Administration Would Tolerate Iran Having Nuclear Weapons The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark A. Milley, said at a congressional hearing on Thursday that the United States “remains committed, as a matter of policy, that Iran will not have... March 21, 2023 Washington Steps Up Anti-Ransomware Efforts, Again The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced a new pilot program last week to warn critical infrastructure operators about vulnerabilities in their systems that ransomware actors... March 13, 2023 TSA’s Cybersecurity Requirements Prepare for Takeoff The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued fresh cybersecurity requirements last Tuesday for airports and aircraft operators. The announcement seeks to implement the Biden administration’s... March 13, 2023 Russia Is Fueling China’s Nuclear Weapons Expansion A senior Department of Defense official on Wednesday confirmed media reports that Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company, provided China with nuclear fuel for a key reactor that will enable...

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