Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
In Ukraine’s south, Russian occupiers tighten the screws Zelensky says Russia has launched offensive in eastern Ukraine Hudson Institute's Walter Russell Mead: The end of Russia’s empire? In Iran, Russia’s war on Ukraine is a political flash point If Iran wants lifting of sanctions, it will have to address concerns - State Department JPost’s Seth J. Frantzman: Iran shows new missiles at parade, but is it falling behind in arms race? WINEP’s Simon Henderson: Saudi-Kuwaiti tensions with Iran over offshore gas field Former U.S. Special Advisor for Iran: Gabriel Noronha: How Congress can nix Biden’s Iran deal Israel airstrikes hit Gaza after rocket fire As the Iran nuclear deal nears, Saudi Arabia is rebuilding its stake in Lebanon US, S Korea urge North’s return to talks after missile tests Stanford University’s Oriana Skylar Mastro and AEI’s Derek Scissors: Beijing is used to learning from Russian failuresIn The News
Russia
The sinking of the Russian warship Moskva is causing tension back home, where some families are reporting sailors dead or missing despite a Defense Ministry claim that the whole crew had been evacuated. – Washington Post
Russian forces are learning from their frustrated assault on Kyiv as they shift to the Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine, and are trying to avoid a repeat of earlier mistakes, the Pentagon and defense strategists say. – Washington Post
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Russian forces have begun a fresh offensive in eastern Ukraine, signaling the latest phase of an invasion that has led to a new confrontation between Russia and the West. – Wall Street Journal
Russia is tightening its hold over occupied areas of southern Ukraine, installing pro-Moscow leaders, hunting for dissenters and dismantling Ukrainian state institutions. – Wall Street Journal
Russia appeared on Monday to launch its anticipated ground offensive in eastern Ukraine as Moscow stepped up missile and artillery strikes across the country in some of the broadest attacks in recent weeks. – Washington Post
High-profile prisoners held by both Russia and Ukraine, including two British fighters believed captured in Mariupol, appealed on Monday to be exchanged. – New York Times
Russia’s central bank chief warned on Monday that the consequences of Western sanctions were only beginning to be felt, and Moscow’s mayor said that 200,000 jobs were at risk in the Russian capital alone, stark acknowledgments that undermined President Vladimir V. Putin’s contention that sanctions had failed to destabilize the Russian economy. – New York Times
Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said Monday his country has joined the international community in implementing tough sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, but that does not mean it has abandoned its traditional neutrality. – Associated Press
Russia’s military targeted regions in Ukraine’s south and east overnight for shelling, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying Moscow has begun a new campaign to conquer the Donbas area in the east of the country. – Bloomberg
A senior official at the Treasury department has pushed back on warnings that the sweeping sanctions package announced by the US and its allies against Russia risks fracturing the international economy, vowing instead to take further retaliatory action if necessary. – Financial Times
Russia took military action against Ukraine in order to change a post-Soviet Union “world order” in which the U.S. and NATO have become dominant global forces, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. said. – Newsweek
U.S. intelligence is watching closely for signs that the Russian armed forces are preparing for any kind of nuclear strike, American military and intelligence sources tell Newsweek. – Newsweek
Russia has been accused of using everything from so-called vacuum bombs to chemical weapons as it fights to overtake Ukraine. Some of the worst weapons that Moscow has allegedly used are indiscriminate in their nature, prompting concerns about their impact on civilian populations from Ukrainian officials, the West, and human rights groups monitoring the war. – The Hill
Russian forces are holding approximately 27,000 Ukrainians in “filtration camps” near the besieged city of Mariupol, according to local authorities. – The Daily Beast
Despite the tight control exercised over information, the Russian public knows that atrocities have taken place on Ukrainian soil, but the state television channels and news outlets deny Russian complicity in these atrocities. Russia’s First Channel made the accusation “With Bucha, the Kiev regime began the first link in a chain of bloody provocations in its own country.” The outlet Ura.ru offered a reward of 5000 euros for information about what had transpired in Bucha. – Middle East Media Research Institute
Russia may be using Ukrainian children as human shields when moving military equipment during their ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate (GUR) claimed in early April. – Jerusalem Post
Russian military officers are reportedly inflating the number of troops they have amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate (GUR) claimed on Saturday. – Jerusalem Post
Moscow’s mayor said on Monday that hundreds of thousands of city residents could lose their jobs as Western companies suspend or pull their operations from Russia. – Business Insider
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared his support for Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s stance on Ukraine during a phone call between the two men on Monday. – Algemeiner
Iuliia Mendel writes: The Russians had promised humanitarian corridors for civilians, but they always thwarted them with shelling. On the 16th day they heard familiar voices in the street nearby and came out to find that people were waiting for a bus to leave. The bus never arrived, but, desperate, they all walked, hoping no one would harm them. – Washington Post
Walter Russell Mead writes: As the war exposes the darkness inherent in Mr. Putin’s regime, and as atrocities abroad and repression at home impress the mark of Cain ever more deeply on its brow, it is impossible not to hope for a Russian defeat. Nevertheless, caution is in order. Mr. Putin and those around him know that in Ukraine they aren’t fighting only for an adjustment of frontiers. They are fighting for their world, and it may be psychologically impossible for them to accept defeat until every measure, however ruthless, and every weapon, however heinous, has been brought into play. – Wall Street Journal
Tom Keatinge writes: We need to focus on enforcing sanctions. As Britain and its allied governments are discovering, economic curbs are far easier to announce than to implement. Success depends on private sector co-operation. Names of targeted individuals or entities must be linked to companies and ownership structures — as the authorities in Jersey have successfully done — so banks have information to act on. Governments must monitor evasion by those it has sanctioned to ensure the restrictions are maintained. Where the private sector fails to meet its obligations, guidance and enforcement is required. – Financial Times
Robert Maginnis writes: Regardless of Ukraine’s efforts and the West’s flow of arms, Moscow is ultimately capable of committing more assets than Ukraine which means over time the Kremlin’s mass could ultimately crush Ukraine’s better tactics, and home field advantage, especially should the West grow weary of financing that war. – Fox News
Mason Clark, George Barros, Kateryna Stepanenko, and Karolina Hird write: Russian forces may be able to gain ground through the heavy concentration of artillery and numbers. However, Russian operations are unlikely to be dramatically more successful than previous major offensives around Kyiv. The Russian military is unlikely to have addressed the root causes—poor coordination, the inability to conduct cross-country operations, and low morale—that impeded prior offensives. – Institute for the Study of War
Iran
Russia’s war on Ukraine, however, has exposed just how much Tehran has tilted toward Moscow in recent years as the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers stoked decades-old, hard-line anger at America. Members of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard train on Russian surface-to-air missile systems and aircraft. Hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi visited Russian President Vladimir Putin on one of his first trips abroad. – Associated Press
The Iran-backed Shi’ite militias in Iraq capitalized on the events at Al-Aqsa to harshly criticize the Arab regimes which maintain formal relations with Israel, as well as the Iraqi government which, they claim, has de facto normalized relations with Israel and supplies it with oil via Jordan. – Middle East Media Research Institute
The US on Monday appeared to reject the key Iranian demand to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from a terror blacklist in order for Tehran to return to compliance with the multilateral nuclear agreement the two sides reached in 2015. – Times of Israel
Ned Price, State Department Spokesperson, addressed a question about the holdup in coming to a revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran on Monday.“We are prepared for a return to full JCPOA implementation,” he said. “We are also prepared for broader diplomatic efforts to resolve issues outside of the JCPOA and this specific nuclear file.” – Jerusalem Post
Seth J. Frantzman writes: Iran claimed it demonstrated surface-to-surface missiles and new drones at a parade this week. According to reports in Iranian and regional media, President Ebrahim Raisi also threatened Israel during the Monday parade. But reports from the parade were unclear about whether Iran’s usual claims to have rolled out some new missile or military threat are actually slowing down. – Jerusalem Post
Simon Henderson writes: Given these circumstances, and in the interest of avoiding actions that might mistakenly exacerbate political sensitivities between the parties, Washington’s best approach may be to remain merely an observer at this point. Any revenue that Tehran might earn from the project is a long way off; in the meantime, the case gives key Gulf states an opportunity to have working relations with each other despite tensions. – Washington Institute
Gabriel Noronha writes: Ideally, Democrats and Republicans should work together to develop a hard-nosed strategy to contain Iran’s radical ambitions of nuclear extortion, hostage-taking, and regional aggression. Then both parties could equally share the responsibility for dealing with the regime’s destructive agenda—sharing the blame when things get hard, and reaping the credit when prospects improve. – Tablet Magazine
Afghanistan
Three blasts rocked a boys’ school in a Shiite Hazara neighbourhood of the Afghan capital on Tuesday causing casualties, police said. – Agence France-Presse
Although the chaos of the rushed American exodus last August brought an ignoble end to the United States’ longest-ever war after 20 years, for Afghans emerging from four decades of near-constant conflict, the Taliban takeover has brought an unaccustomed peace. – Yahoo News
Brent Anderson writes: The resurgence of the Taliban has threatened the return of its past brutality and repression, particularly of women. And the war in Ukraine is a fresh reminder of Afghanistan’s long history of upheaval. – New York Times
Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government faces another challenge to its survival, as a rocket fired late Monday from Gaza raised fears of a new conflict and clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians in and near Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site threaten the fragile ruling coalition. – Wall Street Journal
Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza early Tuesday in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory, raising fears of a wider conflict amid heightened tensions after days of clashes at a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem. – Wall Street Journal
Palestinian militants fired a rocket into southern Israel for the first time in months on Monday, in another escalation after clashes at a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem, a series of deadly attacks inside Israel and military raids across the occupied West Bank. – Associated Press
A number of U.S. officials engaged in phone calls with Israelis, Palestinians and Arab representatives in the region over the weekend to see to it that tensions in Jerusalem do not escalate, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Monday. – Reuters
Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Monday that Israel’s “unilateral” moves against Muslim worshippers at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque seriously undermined the prospects for peace in the region, state media said. – Reuters
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett came out against those who incite against Israel and encourage terrorists, hours after Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh praised Palestinian attacks on Israelis in a speech to the parliament in Amman on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call Monday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss tensions in Jerusalem and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported. – Times of Israel
Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas warned Monday that his party’s temporary freeze of participation in the government or the Knesset could become permanent if there is no change for the better in Israel’s policy regarding the Temple Mount, the scene of recent violent clashes between Muslim worshipers and Israeli police. – Times of Israel
Police on Tuesday announced the detention of 20 suspects will be extended after they were arrested during recent riots in Jerusalem’s Old City amid heightened tensions surrounding the Temple Mount. According to police, the detainees are suspected of rioting, assault and hurling rocks and fireworks toward Israeli citizens and security forces. – Times of Israel
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is enraged because Egypt, Qatar and other parties chose to hold direct contacts on ways of preventing further escalation with Israel in the aftermath of the recent tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank, a senior official with the ruling Fatah faction said. – Jerusalem Post
Israel is considering possible responses to the conduct of the Jordanian foreign minister, who summoned an Israeli representative to Jordan for a clarification call. – Arutz Sheva
Israeli officials are preparing for significant developments this week in connection with the negotiations between the world powers and Iran on its nuclear program. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to announce in the coming days whether he has decided to leave the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations or to accede to Tehran’s demand to remove the group from the list. – Haaretz
A Palestinian man indicted Monday for the murder of three Jerusalem residents in ISIS-inspired attacks told the court he doesn’t regret committing them. – Haaretz
Editorial: Ra’am’s decision to “freeze” its membership in the coalition and Ayman Odeh’s call on Arabs who serve in the police and the army to “throw their weapons at the faces” of the Jewish majority is bad leadership and ignores the huge problem facing their constituents. It is time for all the elements involved in this crisis – including the Arab leadership in local municipalities – to make it a priority to end the scourge of crime and murder. – Jerusalem Post
Seth J. Frantzman writes: In short, Israel is not just building an alliance of the willing with Arab states but also mapping out a new system of states that links Greece with Egypt and onward to the Gulf and India. This will be knit together with Israeli technical know-how and the shared concerns these states have about bellicose neighbors or a world in which countries such as Russia can upset the apple cart of international relations. – The Hill
Nahum Barnea writes: While Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid avoid openly discussing the issue, they are both well aware of its gravity. They are convinced that if Saudi Arabia decides to go in the footsteps of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and openly sign an agreement with Israel, the Middle East would see a tectonic shift that will forever change Israel’s standing in the region. – Ynet
Arabian Peninsula
In response to criticism recently voiced in the Arab media, which accused Europe of discriminating between the refugees from Ukraine, who are received with warmth, and those from the Middle East and Africa, who are not, two Arab journalists published articles that rejected this criticism, stating that the Arabs should learn from the fraternity, solidarity and humanity shown to refugees in the West. – Middle East Media Research Institute
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have agreed to rid their ranks of child soldiers, who have fought by the thousands during the country’s seven years of civil war, the United Nations said Monday. – Associated Press
Nadia Oweidat writes: Beyond these immediate threats, promoting liberal values online is a matter of profound political concern. Authoritarian regimes clearly understand the consequences of exposure to liberal democratic norms; this is why they ensure that populations around the world, including in the Middle East, see only the most sinister side of the West online and in television images. […]Today, young Arabic speakers are flooded with anti-democratic messages around the clock. They are inescapable, particularly on social media. – Washington Institute
Middle East & North Africa
The head of Libya’s Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah and several other top officials in his administration including security chiefs are heading to Algeria for an official visit, the GNU said on Monday. – Reuters
Now, with the Syrian economy shattered by a decade of war and still stifled by international sanctions, it has turned into a multi-billion-dollar industry, worth far more than any legal exports. Although there have been public denials from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, reports have linked powerful figures in business and the military to the manufacturing and distribution of Captagon. – BBC
Turkey has launched a new ground and air cross-border offensive against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, that has left at least 19 suspected Kurdish rebels dead and has wounded at least four Turkish soldiers, Turkey’s defense minister said Monday. – Associated Press
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati is due to visit Saudi Arabia in the next two weeks, a first trip by a Lebanese premier to the Arab powerhouse in almost four years following an unprecedented rupture in relations. – CNN
Korean Peninsula
The U.S. special envoy for North Korea said Monday that Washington and Seoul agreed on the need for a strong response to North Korea’s recent spate of missile tests, though they remain open to dialogue with the country. – Associated Press
North Korea ultimately wants to have more nuclear weapons to use against the U.S. troops in South Korea and Japan in the event of an invasion, according to a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. – CNBC
Trevor Filseth writes: Despite the absence of a parade, various indicators suggest that Pyongyang is preparing to hold one in the near future. NK News, a South Korea-based news site dedicated to covering North Korean politics, observed that satellite footage depicted soldiers conducting drills at the country’s Mirim parade training base. It also noted that there has been an increase in tire tread marks around a known heavy weapons garage, suggesting that the weapons systems within it had been taken out for practice in advance of a parade. – The National Interest
China
China’s severe Covid-19 restrictions, which for two years aided the country’s pandemic rebound by keeping the virus outside its borders, are now emerging as the largest threat to its growth. – Wall Street Journal
Chinese ships patrol the sea around the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, an uninhabited island chain also claimed by China and Taiwan, near where Kinjo lives. The islands, which are known in China as the Diaoyu Islands and Diaoyutai in Taiwan, have become one of the focus points of increasing tensions in the region. – CNN
A satellite photo has revealed that China has built a new long-range, early-warning radar that can be used to detect ballistic missiles from thousands of miles away, likely giving it coverage of all of Japan. – Defense News
Editorial: The better response would be for Beijing to ease up on its zero-Covid mania. But the Communist Party doesn’t seem able to change a policy so closely associated with President Xi Jinping after two years of propaganda extolling its Covid response as superior to the West’s. The party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, said Sunday that everything is going according to plan with zero-Covid. The Party is never wrong. – Wall Street Journal
Michael Schuman writes: The Chinese believe the U.S. botched its pandemic response by placing politics and ideology over saving lives. But Xi Jinping has been guilty of much the same, choosing his political ambitions at home and abroad over the public welfare. In that, China is certainly no exception. – The Atlantic
Oriana Skylar Mastro and Derek Scissors write: The steps to support Ukraine and punish Russia are immediately less potent in a China contingency. And an unfortunate side effect of the tragedy in Ukraine is that China has a relatively low-cost opportunity to learn—it may become a more formidable challenger than it would’ve been otherwise. The United States and its allies should realize that their effectiveness with regard to Russia is highly unlikely to translate. In a Taiwan contingency, the United States must be able to immediately implement both a stronger package of actions aimed at China and also a second package aimed at minimizing the long-term cost of the first. – Foreign Policy
South Asia
The International Monetary Fund will consider providing quick financial assistance to debt-burdened Sri Lanka following representations by India, Sri Lanka’s finance ministry said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Sri Lanka’s opposition leader warned the country is facing a period of “extreme austerity” as he pushes to build support in parliament to change the constitution and remove the Rajapaksa family from power. – Bloomberg
Richard M. Rossow writes: As the Russian invasion of Ukraine evolves, U.S. pressure on India to take a tougher line will continue—especially as further human rights atrocities come to light. India’s position may change incrementally, as it has already, but a sharp break from Russia is unlikely. This will continue to make a CAATSA waiver decision harder than it would have been a few months before. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Asia
The war in Ukraine is reviving concerns in Taiwan and some Asia-Pacific nations about the fragility of their internet connections because they rely on undersea cables that could be severed in a Chinese attack. – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. is sending two top officials to the Solomon Islands following a visit last week by an Australian senator over concerns that China could establish a military presence in the South Pacific island nation. – Associated Press
Andrew S. Erickson and Gabriel Collins write: China seeks to win without fighting, or with minimal fighting. For Taiwan, the best path is trying to avoid the fight by ensuring that if it starts, it will last for months, be bloody, and prevent China from consolidating meaningful gains before American and allied firepower arrives. With rapidly deployable assistance, munitions, and training, Washington can help Taiwan to become a dragon-choking porcupine before it’s too late. – War on the Rocks
Europe
Police in Sweden said Monday they have arrested dozens of people following clashes over plans by a far-right Scandinavian politician to burn a Quran over Easter weekend. – Wall Street Journal
Germany’s employers and unions have joined together in opposing an immediate European Union ban on natural gas imports from Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, saying such a move would lead to factory shutdowns and the loss of jobs in the bloc’s largest economy. – Associated Press
Paris prosecutors are studying a report by the European Union’s fraud agency accusing French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and other members of her nationalist party of misusing public funds while serving in the European Parliament. – Associated Press
Ukraine on Monday rejected as baseless and false the accusations made by Serbia’s president that Ukraine’s secret service is behind a series of hoax bomb threats against Air Serbia flights to Russia. – Associated Press
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that his dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin has stalled after mass killings were discovered in Ukraine. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy formally submitted a completed questionnaire on European Union membership to an envoy on Monday and said he believed this step would lead to his country gaining candidate status within weeks. – Reuters
The European Union is planning to establish a solidarity trust fund to finance the reconstruction of war-shattered Ukraine as member states were told they should expect to pay the bulk of the costs. – Bloomberg
Marine Le Pen has dismissed allegations that she misappropriated tens of thousands of euros in EU funds as a “dirty tricks” campaign by Brussels days ahead of the second and final round of a tight presidential election race against Emmanuel Macron. – Financial Times
Tom Rogan writes: As it is for Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s war in Ukraine carries significant personal and policy import. […]For Johnson, the war in Ukraine is a chance to emulate his hero, Winston Churchill, on who Johnson wrote a book. The British Prime Minister also wants to show that Brexit has unleashed his vision of a “Global Britain.” – Washington Examiner
Anders Östlund writes: Let’s hope that is not the case, that the horrors of Mariupol and Bucha will remind Germany’s political class that prosperity is only one consideration for the responsible politician. The first consideration for any government is the security of its people. Strategic interests and human rights may be expensive, but they are also foundation stones for democratic states. Without them, everything else crumbles. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Nicolas Tenzer writes: If Macron is re-elected, this will be his last term under the Constitution. This should give him additional freedom because he will be freed from the prison of electoral constraints. […]As a convinced European, he will also be able to take the lead — as he should — in the fight against Putin’s regime, the main threat to Europe, and deal with the consequences that this will have in the Middle East, mainly in Syria, but also in sub-Saharan Africa. In concrete terms, this means throwing all his weight behind the Western allies’ total commitment to the protection and the entire liberation of Ukraine. Only these decisions, at a time of grave European crisis, will be sufficient to win Macron the place in the history books that he so craves. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Roy Mathews writes: In the end, those who oppose Finland’s NATO membership must understand that the country’s ascension to the alliance will be based on the Finns’ belief that joining NATO will be the best way to protect their sovereignty. Finland no longer needs Cold War realpolitik to preserve its place in the world. It is time for Finlandization to be a point of reference for how far the country has come instead of a buzzword for geopolitical hostage-taking. – The National Interest
Jan-Werner Müller writes: If there is now a larger struggle between democracy and autocracy, as U.S. President Joe Biden keeps pointing out, then democracies cannot forfeit tools that could help their cause. Above all, Western leaders should stop making the problem worse by funding the rise of autocracies they claim to oppose. And they should let go of the illusion that those same regimes will collapse on their own—especially when they are actively subsidized by democracies themselves. – Foreign Affairs
The Americas
Mexico’s congress dealt a major setback to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador late Sunday in his bid for state control over the country’s energy sector, a priority of his nationalist agenda. – Wall Street Journal
American and Cuban officials are due to meet in Washington on Thursday to discuss migration concerns, people familiar with the matter said, in the highest-level formal U.S. talks with Havana since President Joe Biden took office last year. – Reuters
Despite concern that sanctions against Russia would cause a shortfall of fertilizer in Brazil, preliminary shipping data shows orders being fulfilled and vessels heading for Brazil, potentially allowing a normal grain planting season. – Reuters
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday criticized the Texas government over its imposition of enhanced commercial truck inspections earlier this month, which disrupted trade at the Mexico-U.S. border. – Reuters
Editorial: Biden doesn’t need Title 42 to secure the southern border — Title 42 was always, at best, a temporary measure. The only way to restore order on our southern border is to end the catch-and-release policies that are causing the crisis. For all his other faults, Trump recognized this and worked with Mexico to identify and implement a solution. – Washington Examiner
Ryan C. Berg writes: Even if the Biden administration is reticent to leverage Nicaragua’s participation in the Central America Free Trade Agreement, there are also measures short of suspension worth exploring. The administration could curtail correspondent banking between the U.S. and Nicaragua or freeze central bank assets held in U.S. banks. At the very least, Biden should, at the stroke of a pen, assign Nicaragua’s export quotas in critical industries like sugar to another country in the Americas, rather than increasing the quotas and affording the Ortega regime additional time to comply. – The Hill
Cybersecurity
Hackers used software made by the Israeli spyware company NSO Group to infiltrate the official residence of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the New Yorker reported on Monday. – Times of Israel
A U.S Cyber Command wish list shared with Congress shows $236 million worth of unfunded priorities, including about $168 million to support its Cyber Mission Force, a group of 6,200 personnel charged with conducting offensive and defensive cyber operations. – CyberScoop
Timothy H. Edgar writes: As war rages in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s Russia will launch more cyberattacks, quite possibly targeting critical infrastructure in the United States. Biden’s team has amassed an impressive record of accomplishments over its first fifteen months, but there remains much work to do. One thing is sure: cyber threats will be “acute” for many years to come. – The National Interest
Defense
The Pentagon will train Ukrainian troops on how to use howitzer artillery systems sent to Ukraine to help in its war with Russia, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday. – The Hill
As Pentagon officials gauge the defense industry’s ability to ramp up arms production in response to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, firms are still grappling with pandemic-related supply chain and workforce woes. – Defense News
The Biden administration is pledging not to test destructive ground-launched anti-satellite missiles, a novel if narrow promise on the international stage, and is calling on other nations to follow suit to ensure the safety of the heavens. – Breaking Defense