Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israel launches large-scale raids targeting militants in West Bank Top Hamas official Mashaal urges resumption of suicide bombings against Israel NYT’s Bret Stephens: Can we be a little less selective with our moral outrage? Washington Institute’s Aaron Zelin: Hamas Diplomacy: From Haniyeh to Sinwar MEI’s Alex Vatanka: Pezeshkian’s presidency is Khamenei’s Hail Mary moment Russia permanently bans 14 Wall Street Journal staffers, dozens more connected to U.S. WSJ Editorial: ATACMS and Russia’s sanctuary Alma Center’s Sarit Zehavi: Why monitoring Hezbollah is crucial in the pursuit of Middle East peace Philippines seeks offers in procurement of 40 multi-role fighter jets Algerian man charged over synagogue arson attack in France C.I.A. warning helped thwart ISIS attack at Taylor Swift concert in Vienna Gunman in Trump assassination attempt saw rally as ‘target of opportunity,’ FBI official saysIn The News
Israel
Over 326 days as a hostage in Gaza, Qaid Farhan Al-Qadi survived mostly on bread and dates, often underground. His captors moved him from tunnel to tunnel, never staying in one place very long. Then on Tuesday, hearing Israeli soldiers approaching, Al-Qadi’s guards suddenly fled, leaving him alone in a tunnel and frightened the troops might mistake him for a militant. – Wall Street Journal
The Israeli military launched a major ground-and-air operation in the West Bank, a move it said was aimed at preventing terrorist attacks originating from the Palestinian territory, which is rapidly developing into a third battlefront for Israel alongside Gaza and its northern border. – Wall Street Journal
Israel has agreed to a temporary pause of some military operations in the Gaza Strip to enable a polio vaccination campaign there, a senior State Department official said. – Washington Post
A constellation of Palestinian militant groups now operate across the West Bank. They exert de facto control over the refugee camps of Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarm in the north, where worsening economic conditions since Oct. 7 have left many people out of work. – Washington Post
Israeli forces sent tanks deeper into Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and launched strikes across the enclave as they battled Hamas-led militants, killing at least 34 Palestinians on Wednesday, according to medics. – Reuters
The United Nations World Food Programme temporarily suspended movement of its employees across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, saying at least 10 bullets struck one of its clearly marked vehicles as it approached an Israeli military checkpoint. – Reuters
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that the body of a soldier abducted by Gaza militants on October 7 was rescued and taken to Israel. – Reuters
Most Palestinians shopping for hungry families can only stare at the meagre offerings in Gaza City’s street markets, frustrated that soaring prices and shortages of food are pushing essential supplies beyond their reach. – Reuters
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it had failed to protect civilians when settlers carried out a deadly attack on a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, amid mounting international pressure on Israel to crack down on such violence. – Reuters
The city of Jenin, a Palestinian militant stronghold in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been a hotbed of conflict between the Israeli military and Palestinians in recent years. – Reuters
The fate of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is “largely a question that is going to be answered” by the leader of the Palestinian militant group, Deputy CIA Director David Cohen said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The U.S. imposed sanctions on an Israeli nonprofit and a Jewish West Bank settlement security official on Wednesday in Washington’s latest effort to punish Jewish settlers it accuses of extremist violence against Palestinians. – Reuters
An Israeli drone strike on a car crossing through a Syrian checkpoint near the border with Lebanon on Wednesday killed three Palestinian fighters and one member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, two security sources told Reuters. – Reuters
The Israeli military said it has killed five more militants in a large-scale operation in the occupied West Bank early Thursday, including a well-known local commander. – Associated Press
Israel’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 4.5% on Wednesday, and said it’s likely to refrain from cuts for the rest of the year as the war in Gaza continues. – Bloomberg
The new Israeli ambassador to the United Nations has issued a stern warning to the international body amid escalating tensions with Hezbollah and concerns that Iran could be close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. – Fox News
The family members of hostages broke through a fence and ran towards the Gaza border on Thursday morning, after having traveled there to speak to their loved ones via loudspeakers, Israeli media reported. – Jerusalem Post
Qaid Farhan Alkadi, who was rescued from Hamas captivity on Tuesday in a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), revealed details from his captivity, including undergoing surgery with almost no anesthesia and witnessing the murder of a fellow hostage, N12 reported on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
Top Hamas official Khaled Mashal called on Wednesday for a resumption of suicide bombings in the West Bank, Arabic media reported, and encouraged Palestinians and supporters of the Palestinian cause to engage in “actual resistance against the Zionist entity.” – Times of Israel
During joint IDF, ISA and Israeli Border Police counterterrorism activities in Tulkarm, following exchanges of fire, the forces eliminated five terrorists who had hidden inside a mosque. – Arutz Sheva
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke by phone on Wednesday. The two spoke about the situation in the Middle East, according to Zelenskyy’s spokesman Sergii Nykyforov. – Haaretz
The United States and other countries mediating between Israel and Hamas are expected to float a new proposal “within days” in a bid to find a solution to two key issues that the two sides have yet to agree upon: the Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border and the Netzarim corridor that bisects the Gaza Strip. – Haaretz
Bret Stephens writes: It says something about the moral priorities of much of today’s global left that Iran is one Middle Eastern regime toward which they’ve advocated better relations, including the lifting of economic sanctions, while simultaneously insisting on boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Why that is — the mental pathways that lead self-declared champions of human rights to make common cause with some of the worst regimes on earth while directing their moral fury at countries, including Israel, that protect the values those champions pretend to hold dear — has been one of humanity’s great puzzles for over a century. – New York Times
Herb Keinon writes: Just as some of the lessons learned from Gaza on October 7 can be applied to the West Bank, the reverse is also true: lessons learned over the years fighting terror in Judea and Samaria can be applied in Gaza. For instance, the operation currently underway in northern Samaria is an indication of what the future holds in Gaza […]What this predicts is that when the intense fighting stops in Gaza, the continuous war against terrorists – preventing the resurrection of a terrorist infrastructure there – will continue for years, if not decades. – Jerusalem Post
Aaron Y. Zelin writes: Washington should also do more to curb the major increase in Hamas diplomatic engagement on the world stage—otherwise, the group could wind up being legitimized as the sole voice of Palestine despite starting a destructive war and losing much of its infrastructure in Gaza. For example, the State Department could exert far more pressure on U.S. allies and partners that host or meet with Hamas. If private conversations or official demarches do not have the desired effect, the administration may need to call these countries out publicly. – Washington Institute
Iran
An Iranian hacking group ran a fake professional recruiting business to lure national security officials across Iran, Syria and Lebanon into a cyber espionage trap, according to new research by U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant, a division of Alphabet’s Google Cloud. – Reuters
One person died and 10 were injured due to a gas leak at an Iranian Revolutionary Guards facility in Isfahan, the force said in a statement. – Reuters
Iran has spent the last decade quietly smuggling advanced weapons into the West Bank to arm more than two dozen militant factions responsible for a spate of recent terror attacks, experts say, culminating on Wednesday in a massive Israeli military operation to root out Tehran’s proxies. – The Free Beacon
Alex Vatanka writes: Khamenei’s plan for Pezeshkian’s presidency, aimed at recovering some public legitimacy for the regime and helping to ease Tehran’s international isolation, will require an actual change in the policies that have brought Iran to this point. The list is long but includes domestic repression and costly foreign policy actions, including turning the United States and Israel into eternal enemies. Unless Khamenei gives Pezeshkian some latitude to implement change on key policy questions, then no amount of protection from the supreme leader can help the new president turn things around so that it will be felt in a positive and tangible way by the Iranian people. – Middle East Institute
Russia & Ukraine
Russia said it has banned 92 people from entering the country Wednesday, including journalists from U.S. based newspapers The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Washington Post. – Wall Street Journal
As Americans and prominent Russian dissidents were freed in August’s historic prisoner swap, a little-known self-described hippie and artist was also released. Though far from the headlines, Alexandra Skochilenko’s seven-year prison term for a tiny antiwar protest exemplifies the risks of dissent even for ordinary citizens in today’s Russia. – Washington Post
Russia has claimed that the security adviser with the Reuters news agency who was killed when a missile struck a hotel in eastern Ukraine last week was a British spy, linking his death to Moscow’s assertion that foreign mercenaries are involved in Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region. – Washington Post
Ukraine’s top diplomat said on Wednesday that the biggest problem faced by Kyiv as it battles Russia is that its allies are afraid of approving new policies to support Ukraine out of a fear of escalation. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin will mount a counteroffensive to try to retake territory in the Kursk region captured by Ukrainian troops, but Russian forces will encounter “a difficult fight,” Deputy CIA Director David Cohen said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Ukraine has systematically targeted Russian energy infrastructure to try to disrupt Russia’s economy and its ability to fund its military effort. – Reuters
The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed talk by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy about a plan he has to end the war and said Russia would continue what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine. – Reuters
Russia said on Wednesday it wanted the International Atomic Energy Agency to take a “more objective and clearer” stance on nuclear safety, a day after the agency head visited a Russian nuclear plant near where Ukraine has mounted an incursion into the country. – Reuters
European consumers will face higher prices unless Kyiv agrees to extend a deal on Russian gas transit via Ukraine once it expires on Dec. 31, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Two airports serving the Russian cities of Kazan and Nizhnekamsk in the Tatarstan region reopened on Wednesday after briefly suspending operations for flight safety reasons, Rosaviatsia, the federal air transport agency, said on Telegram. – Reuters
Russia said on Wednesday its forces had defused unexploded U.S.-supplied munitions fired by Ukraine that were shot down just 5 km (3 miles) from Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant, which Moscow has accused Ukrainian forces of trying to strike. – Reuters
A Ukraine drone attack sparked a fire at an oil depot in Russia’s southern Rostov region, while drones also attempted to attack the Kirov region, some 1,500 km (930 miles) northeast of the border with Ukraine, authorities said on Wednesday. – Reuters
A Russian missile slammed into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s home city on Wednesday, local authorities said, just as Kryvyi Rih was observing an official day of mourning for an attack the previous day that killed four civilians at a hotel. – Associated Press
After three weeks of fighting, Russia is still struggling to dislodge Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region, a surprisingly slow and low-key response to the first occupation of its territory since World War II. – Associated Press
The International Monetary Fund will meet with Ukrainian officials next week to review the war-torn country’s budget outlook and decide whether to disburse the next $1.1 billion from a $15.6 billion aid program. – Bloomberg
Editorial: Ukraine has been attacking Russian targets with domestically produced drones, and on Sunday President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the “first successful combat use of our new weapon—a Ukrainian long-range rocket drone” designed “to destroy the enemy’s offensive potential.” Ukraine has the intention and every right to take the fight to the aggressor’s territory. The U.S. can strengthen Ukraine’s position and make negotiations to end the war more likely by removing the restrictions that preserve Russia’s sanctuary. – Wall Street Journal
Ilan Berman writes: Whether it stays that way is still an open question. It’s already clear, however, that Ukraine has accomplished one of the principal aims of its daring military raid: to bring the conflict home to ordinary Russians and underscore that the war of choice embarked upon by their president carries potentially dire consequences for them personally. – The Hill
Alfred Kueppers writes: Russia needs more troops if it is to retake its marchlands, but it cannot do so unless it abandons its positions in Ukraine or deploys young conscripts. Sending last year’s schoolboys to war is politically complicated in light of an earlier vow by Putin not to deploy them to Ukraine. Now, however, the war has come to them […]With Ukraine’s goals still unclear, the operation’s success remains unknown. For the Kremlin leadership, however, one outcome is certain: A time of trouble has begun. – The Hill
Richard Arnold writes: The new pro-Russian government in Georgia is even less likely than its predecessors to facilitate the return of an unwanted community, making the Ahiska a contender for the dubious distinction of being Putin’s most punished minority. It is a long and sad history of persecution as well as sheer bad luck. Cut off and barred from their ancestral homeland, the only viable future for these people is in the United States and other Western countries. They should be offered assistance and a warm welcome. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Hezbollah
The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday unanimously voted to extend a long-running peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for another year, but Israel’s ally the United States said changes should be made to the operation’s mandate in the future. – Reuters
Lebanon has been waiting for war since October, when Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah began firing at Israel because of the war in Gaza, itself a response to Hamas’s assault on the Jewish state. The two sides have been trading fire along the border, exchanges that could spiral into a bigger, broader conflict involving global as well as regional powers.. – Bloomberg
Sarit Zehavi writes: Understanding Hezbollah’s true goals and the broader implications of their actions is essential for developing effective strategies to address this ongoing conflict. It is not enough to rely on superficial assessments of proportionality and restraint. A comprehensive approach that includes vigilant monitoring and robust safeguards is necessary to ensure that any ceasefire holds and that the threat from Hezbollah is genuinely squelched. – The Hill
Middle East & North Africa
Yemen’s Houthi group has agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to reach a damaged crude oil tanker in the Red Sea, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on Wednesday, after the Iran-aligned militants attacked the Greek-flagged vessel last week. – Reuters
Israeli, American, Egyptian and Qatari negotiators were meeting in Doha on Wednesday for “technical/working level” talks on a ceasefire in Gaza, a source with knowledge of the meeting told Reuters without giving further details. – Reuters
International shipping authorities are very worried about a possible environmental disaster in the Red Sea following an attack on a tanker carrying about a million barrels of crude oil. – The Hill
Korean Peninsula
South Korean authorities on Wednesday began an investigation to tackle faked pornographic images after a massive network was uncovered—involving hundreds of victims, many of them minors. The revelation reflected the scale of the problem facing South Korea, which according to some researchers is the source for roughly half of so-called “deepfake” porn videos spread globally. – Wall Street Journal
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday pledged urgent reform of the national pension fund, one of the world’s largest with $830 billion of assets, to make it more equitable and to ensure income security for an ageing population. – Reuters
North Korea on Tuesday test-fired multiple rocket launch system, according to state media, in what could have been a demonstration for Russia, which has been firing North Korean artillery in its war against Ukraine. – Newsweek
China
The two veterans of Hong Kong’s long boisterous news media scene didn’t shy away from publishing pro-democracy voices on their Stand News site, even as China cranked up its national security clampdown to silence critics in the city. Then the police came knocking and, more than two and a half years later, a judge Thursday convicted the two journalists […]of conspiring to publish seditious materials on the now-defunct liberal news outlet. Both face potential prison sentences. – New York Times
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held wide-ranging talks with one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top military officials on Thursday, wrapping up three days of talks in Beijing intended to ease tension between the two superpowers. – Reuters
The intrusion of a Chinese spy plane into Japanese airspace is a “wake-up call” for Tokyo about the aggressive nature of China’s leadership, U.S. lawmaker John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China said on Wednesday. – Reuters
China’s embassy in the Philippines on Thursday said it had sent a diplomatic note of protest to the Japanese embassy in the Southeast Asian country concerning “irresponsible” remarks its ambassador made regarding the South China Sea’s Sabina Shoal. – Reuters
Senior White House official Jake Sullivan said China and the US have a duty to avoid competition spiraling into conflict, during rare talks with a top Chinese general that broke another logjam in bilateral ties. – Bloomberg
South Asia
A younger generation of officers that tracked the protesters and public sentiment on social media played a crucial role in persuading the top rungs of the army to pull support for Hasina’s government, said Maj. Gen. Nayeem Ashfaque Chowdhury, a retired officer who has held senior posts in the Bangladeshi army. – Wall Street Journal
Bangladesh’s caretaker government revoked a ban on the country’s main Islamic party and its affiliated groups on Wednesday, saying it has not found evidence of their involvement in “terrorist activities”. – Reuters
Suspected militants kidnapped four people, including an army officer who was sitting in a mosque in a former stronghold of Pakistani Taliban to receive mourners after attending his father’s funeral, officials said Thursday. – Associated Press
A candidate with roots in Marxist socialist policy in Sri Lanka is gaining momentum in next month’s presidential election with a strong message to combat corruption and scrutinize investment deals with China to avoid another debt trap. – Bloomberg
The top House Republican with oversight of foreign affairs is calling for President Biden’s national security adviser to sit for public questioning in September about the decisionmaking behind the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan, coming upon the three-year anniversary of America’s chaotic exit from the country. – The Hill
Editorial: At the same time, the Taliban cannot escape accountability for this unconscionable smothering of the ambitions and daily lives of half the population. The U.S. Magnitsky Act was created to target those who grossly violate human rights; why not aim its sanctions at more the leaders of Afghanistan, who have promulgated such draconian laws? – Washington Post
Sadanand Dhume writes: Mr. Modi is on shaky ground. After 10 years in office, he can no longer credibly blame the opposition for India’s problems. Many of the prime minister’s grand promises—such as doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022 and cleaning the Ganges River—have failed to materialize. YouTubers with an antigovernment message have seen their viewership soar. A recent poll by India Today shows that only 49% of Indians see Mr. Modi as the best choice for prime minister, the lowest percentage in three years. – Wall Street Journal
Asia
The United States will work with Pacific Island nations to rein in drug trafficking by criminal networks from China, which use the region as a way station for narcotics exports to the U.S., Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Thursday. – Reuters
The Philippines has started soliciting offers as it plans to procure 40 new multi-role fighter aircraft to boost its territorial defence, the defence minister said on Thursday. – Reuters
A court in Thailand on Thursday found Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, a member of a famous Spanish acting family, guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced him to life in prison, in a lurid case that involved the victim being dismembered. – Associated Press
A military court in Myanmar has given a life prison sentence to a local journalist and sentenced one of his colleagues to 20 years after convicting them under a counterterrorism law, their editor said Wednesday. – Associated Press
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brushed aside suggestions of US involvement in a new Pacific security accord after he was recorded privately discussing the deal with a senior Biden administration official. – Bloomberg
Doug Livermore writes: But there’s also a need for more imaginative approaches to the fundamentals — Ukraine has won the Battle of the Black Sea despite having a tiny navy that was largely neutered at the war’s outset. Cheap, single-use unmanned drone vessels armed with large explosive charges and long-range missiles have sunk numerous Russian warships and seen the rest huddled in safe ports. Hardly anyone saw this coming. It’s a fair bet that any new conflict will generate similar surprises, so smart thinking and rapid tech development are now at a premium. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Europe
Sweden now has Europe’s highest gun-homicide rate, and the military is helping police fight street gangs. In Denmark, residents of the commune Christiania shut their famed open-air cannabis market after violent gangs took over. In Belgium, armed security forces have started guarding customs trucks carrying seized cocaine to prevent criminals from stealing it back. – Wall Street Journal
French judicial authorities brought preliminary charges against Telegram founder Pavel Durov for a host of crimes, including complicity in distributing child pornography, illegal drugs and hacking software on the messaging app—a stunning blow for an entrepreneur who became a hero for internet libertarians over the past decade. – Wall Street Journal
Sahra Wagenknecht, who has never met a political party she could tolerate, has founded her own, and she is shaking up German politics with a combination of right-wing nationalism and left-wing socialism, articulated with seriousness and fluency. – New York Times
A 33-year-old Algerian man was charged on Wednesday with attempted murder and other crimes after an arson attack on a synagogue in southern France last week, prosecutors said. – New York Times
The C.I.A. provided intelligence to Austrian authorities that allowed them to disrupt a plot that could have killed thousands of people at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna this month, the agency’s deputy director said on Wednesday. – New York Times
Germany is facing three critical state elections — Saxony also votes Sunday and Brandenburg on Sept. 22 — all in the former East Germany, where polls show such grievances are pushing many voters to the extremes, whether left or right. The expected results are already causing much hand-wringing in Berlin about the future of German democracy. – New York Times
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed concern at the growing threat from far-right groups in the United Kingdom and called on progressive political parties across Europe to work together to deal with the shared challenge. – Reuters
Denmark on Wednesday nominated Dan Jorgensen, a centre-left minister for development cooperation and global climate policy, for a post on the new European Commission following EU parliamentary elections earlier this year. – Reuters
Slovakia’s government approved plans on Wednesday to buy six mobile air defence systems from Israel for 554.3 million euros ($616.88 million), it said on its website, as the NATO member state strengthens protection of its airspace. – Reuters
Flights were grounded, civil servants were locked out of their computers and police officers resorted to texting one another in the Netherlands on Wednesday as a network outage at the Ministry of Defense caused major IT failures across the country. – Associated Press
Top German officials said Wednesday they will hold talks with the country’s opposition and state governments on ways to step up deportations and curb migration following the Solingen knife attack, in which a suspected extremist from Syria who had avoided being deported is accused of killing three people. – Associated Press
The Swiss government wants to cancel a ban on building new nuclear plants that’s been in place since 2018. – Bloomberg
Nicholas Kristof writes: In fairness, critics sometimes make Europe into a caricature, ignoring its enormous strengths. Instead of making people indolent, its investments in human capital have empowered people to work […]Yet Europe needs a future as vital as its past. I fear that unless it sheds pointless but costly regulations, embraces innovation and bolsters its national security, it may become less a model for the world’s liberals than a warning. – New York Times
Peter Kuras writes: But all too often, Germany has focused on the symbols of Nazi injustice while ignoring or even condoning the continuation of the brutality they represent. In practice, that has meant the far-right penetration of the security services, the laundering of extreme ideas in the media and the willingness of other political parties to adopt racialized fearmongering as an electoral tactic. While the AfD has been kept from power, the kind of hateful language that built its support has become a significant part of German political life. – New York Times
Africa
The U.N. World Food Program is investigating two of its top officials in Sudan over allegations including fraud and concealing information from donors about its ability to deliver food aid to civilians amid the nation’s dire hunger crisis, according to 11 people with knowledge of the probe. – Reuters
Africa has secured less than 10% of the estimated $245 million it needs to fight a surging mpox outbreak on the continent, a senior official from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Egypt delivered its first military aid to Somalia in more than four decades on Tuesday, three diplomatic and Somali government sources said, a move likely to deepen strains between the two countries and Ethiopia. – Reuters
Six Polish students and a lecturer from the Warsaw University who were detained in Nigeria during protests there have been released, the Polish foreign ministry said Wednesday. They are in good health and will be returning home this week. – Associated Press
A Swiss citizen has been arrested in Burkina Faso, Swiss authorities said on Wednesday, as the West African nation governed by a military junta continues to sever its ties with the West. The citizen’s identity was not immediately released. – Associated Press
The Americas
As Mexico’s president nears the end of his six-year term, his final mission is a sweeping redesign of the judiciary that he says is needed to fight corruption. But in a potential turning point for Mexico’s democracy, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is facing a backlash from critics who say the move is a power grab aimed at eroding judicial independence and expanding the sway of his political movement. – New York Times
Honduras’ foreign ministry on Wednesday said it would end a more than a century-old extradition treaty with the U.S. after Washington’s ambassador expressed concern about a meeting between Honduran and Venezuelan defense officials. – Reuters
A controversial reform of Mexico’s judiciary will be debated and voted on in Congress next week, a leading ruling party lawmaker said on Wednesday, amid concerns from Canada and the U.S that the changes could impact investment and trade. – Reuters
Supporters of Venezuela’s political opposition and backers of the ruling party each held rallies on Wednesday to mark the one-month anniversary of July’s disputed presidential election, as arrests of opposition figures continued. – Reuters
A senior U.S. general accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday of undermining the democratic will of Venezuela’s people following July’s disputed presidential election, and said it was an example of how democracy was under attack around the world. – Reuters
Haitian forces working with police sent from Kenya have launched a joint operation to oust criminal gangs from one of the roughest neighborhoods of Haiti’s capital, Prime Minister Garry Conille said Wednesday. – Associated Press
Juan Pablo Spinetto writes: The Mexican government is surely free to choose its own destiny, but the country can’t be both an integral part of North America’s trade bloc and a nationalist fortress where the rule of law depends on your political allegiance or passport. Sheinbaum will have to consider her best path, particularly with the USMCA up for revision in 2026. But in the end, something has to give. – Bloomberg
Robbie Gramer writes: “A lot of people have critical views of the United States as not always a good player regarding their actions in Latin America,” Chang said, citing Guatemala among other cases. “With this specific example, however, you can see how the United States can actually help in countries that are struggling with democratic transitions.” – Foreign Policy
United States
The gunman in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump searched online for events of both Trump and President Joe Biden, looked up information about explosives over the last five years and eyed the Pennsylvania campaign rally where he opened fire last month as a “target of opportunity,” a senior FBI official said Wednesday. – Associated Press
Efforts in California to establish first-in-the-nation safety measures for the largest artificial intelligence systems cleared an important vote Wednesday that could pave the way for U.S. regulations on the technology evolving at warp speed. – Associated Press
The University of Michigan (UM) and The New School in New York City have restored funding to student clubs, following a spending freeze enacted by anti-Zionist factions who seized control of their student governments and vowed to cripple school operations until their demands for a boycott of Israel were met. – The Algemeiner
Cybersecurity
A man who posed as a teenage YouTube star was sentenced to 17 years in prison for coercing hundreds of people across the world, including 180 children, into performing sexual acts on camera. – Washington Post
A Chinese hacking group exploited a software bug to compromise several internet companies in the United States and abroad, a cybersecurity firm said on Tuesday. – Reuters
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Wednesday threatened to shut down the local operations of X, formerly Twitter, unless its billionaire owner Elon Musk names a legal representative in Brazil within 24 hours. – Associated Press
Iranian-sponsored hackers are acting as access brokers for ransomware affiliates like ALPHV, U.S. intelligence agencies warned in a joint alert Wednesday. – CyberScoop
Senior U.S. intelligence officials on Wednesday expressed confidence that they are better poised to respond to foreign cyberattacks on the 2024 election than previous cycles — even after the breach of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign by Iranian hackers. – The Record
Defense
A Pennsylvania ammunition plant that makes a key artillery shell in Ukraine’s fight against Russia has managed to boost production by 50% to meet surging demand, with more capacity set to come on line. – Associated Press
The U.S. Army has awarded Aerovironment a contract worth up to $990 million to provide Switchblade loitering munitions for infantry battalions, according to a Pentagon announcement posted Tuesday evening. – Defense News
A series of experiments with available technology and new unit configurations being tested in Louisiana will shape the future of brigade combat teams and how they deploy to tomorrow’s fights. – Defense News
Austal USA will pay out a $24 million fine in a deal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice to settle an accounting fraud case, Australian parent company Austal announced Tuesday. – USNI News
Matthew P. Funaiole and Aidan Powers-Riggs writes: It has returned to the fore in recent years as politicians on both sides increasingly turn their attention to the Arctic’s rising importance to global trade and security. Addressing these roadblocks is critical to the ICE Pact’s long-term success. Looking forward, building collective capabilities to safeguard peace and security in the Arctic must remain one of NATO’s north stars. Maintaining a NATO presence in this remote frontier is key to preserving the alliance’s Arctic influence—and protecting U.S. interests. – Foreign Policy