Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
With tensions rising, Israel and Lebanon expand cease-fire talks Israel launches airstrike in southern Gaza after earlier attack by militants wounded 5 soldiers How an oil pipeline battle shows the US gaining sway in Iraq 'A woman is like a flower': Khamenei defends Iran’s treatment of women as critics cite Mahsa Amini Next steps for Ukraine talks unclear after Moscow meeting, Trump says WSJ Editorial: Putin says nyet again to Trump Iraq freezes funds of Hezbollah and Houthis, official gazette says Separatist forces backed by U.A.E. sweep into oil-rich Yemen region CFR’s Ray Takeyh: Trump’s Middle East order South Korea says the U.S. agreed to help it secure fuel for its reactors Exclusive: China massing military ships across region in show of maritime force, sources say Pentagon deploys new Kamikaze drone copied from Iranian designIn The News
Israel
Israel and Lebanon sent diplomatic envoys to a meeting of a U.S.-led cease-fire monitoring committee for the first time on Wednesday, broadening the talks as fears grew that Israel might renew its offensive against Hezbollah. – New York Times
Israel said on Wednesday that it would begin allowing some Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip for Egypt “in the coming days” through the Rafah border crossing. Such an opening would be a lifeline for Gazans hoping to flee the devastated enclave, particularly the sick and wounded. – New York Times
China will provide $100 million in aid to the Palestinians to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and support reconstruction efforts, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday. – Reuters
Israel has identified the remains of the hostage it received from Hamas on Wednesday as Thai agricultural worker Sudthisak Rinthalak, the prime minister’s office said on Thursday. – Reuters
Israel on Wednesday published a draft law that aims to boost state revenues from a concession for extracting minerals from the Dead Sea as well as tackling its environmental consequences. – Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition skipped a parliamentary vote on Wednesday endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the two-year war in Gaza. – Reuters
Israel said it launched an airstrike on a Hamas militant in southern Gaza late Wednesday in retaliation for an attack earlier in the day that wounded five Israeli soldiers. – Associated Press
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he still planned to visit New York City despite incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threats to arrest him in compliance with an International Criminal Court warrant. – Agence France-Presse
The US threatened last month to personally sanction Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Palestinian officials over illicit payments to Palestinian security prisoners, but ultimately held off on the move after Abbas fired the minister who had signed off on the stipends, a US official, a Palestinian official and three other sources familiar with the matter have told The Times of Israel. – Times of Israel
Prosecutors indicted an 18-year-old on terror charges Wednesday after he allegedly plotted to carry out an Islamic State-inspired attack on IDF soldiers at a bus station in Beersheba. – Times of Israel
Hamas sought to infiltrate, control, and manipulate international and local nongovernmental organizations through the NGO officials that acted as guarantors for foreign staff and visitors, according to Hamas intelligence documents recovered by the IDF and obtained and translated by NGO Monitor. – Jerusalem Post
David Makovsky writes: Recently, Israeli officials belatedly stepped up their condemnations. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now pledged that Israel will act with force to confront “the riots…against Palestinians and against IDF soldiers.” This is too little and too late. Israel must take tangible steps to enforce the law, and Israel’s police in the West Bank must arrest and prosecute perpetrators. To secure the Gaza ceasefire, the United States held both sides’ feet to the fire. To keep the fragile cease-fire alive, the Trump administration must push each side to discredit its own in-group spoilers. But Washington can only prod. For any hope of progress, responsible Arab, Palestinian, and Israeli leaders must summon the resolve to stand up to their own spoilers—publicly and emphatically. Nobody can do it for them. – National Interest
Iran
Iranian drones swept through the mountain air of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region in mid-July, homing in on their targets: oilfields run by Americans. – Reuters
When it comes to financial security for Iran’s jittery public after the 12-day war with Israel, all that glitters is gold — and for many, it remains the most trusted hedge against inflation, sanctions and a weakening rial currency. – Associated Press
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took to social media on Wednesday to outline how women are viewed in Islam, just one day after he reportedly instructed the government to step up its enforcement of the Islamic dress code. – Jerusalem Post
Tehran is now living in a countdown. After one of the driest years on record, Iranian officials and foreign observers are warning that the capital is edging toward “Day Zero,” the moment its taps could effectively run dry. – Jerusalem Post
An Iranian taekwondo athlete withdrew from an international championship in Kenya after she was paired with an opponent from Israel in the first round of the competition. – Algemeiner
Russia and Ukraine
The Russian drone hovered above the wounded Ukrainian soldier, ready to drop a bomblet to finish him off. Suddenly, a Ukrainian drone smashed into the Russian craft, blowing it up and saving the soldier. – Wall Street Journal
The European Union has scaled back a plan to use Russia’s frozen assets to make a massive loan to Ukraine, seeking to address Belgian concerns and leaving a window open for Washington’s push to employ the money to lure Russia into a peace deal. – Wall Street Journal
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on Thursday that if the European Union takes frozen Russian assets, then it may be considered by Moscow as tantamount to an act justifying war. – Reuters
The path ahead for Ukraine peace talks is unclear, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, after what he called “reasonably good” talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. envoys. – Reuters
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner briefed President Donald Trump and Ukrainian officials after a “thorough, productive meeting” with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, a White House official said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday that Russia’s recent battlefield progress in Ukraine had what he described as a positive impact on peace negotiations held with U.S. envoys in Moscow a day earlier. – Reuters
Ukraine has hit the Druzhba oil pipeline in Russia’s central Tambov region, a source in Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The confusion still swirling in Washington over President Donald Trump’s latest peace plan for Ukraine has made at least one thing clear: The U.S. president’s unconventional, all-in approach to diplomacy carries big risks – both domestic and geopolitical – as well as potential rewards. – Reuters
Ukraine and its European allies accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday of feigning interest in peace efforts after five hours of talks with U.S. envoys at the Kremlin produced no breakthrough. – Associated Press
Exclusive drone footage obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday shows a devastated Ukrainian town nearly encircled by Russian forces near the city that Moscow this week claimed to now control. – Associated Press
Editorial: But the Trump Administration is stuck in a view of Mr. Putin’s motives that is contradicted by events: That commerce and cultural exchange among Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. will be insurance against war. That misplaced optimism is familiar from liberal internationalists who think the world is prospering toward peace and whom Mr. Trump derides as “globalists.” What negotiations need is an injection of Mr. Trump’s instinct for American primacy in the world—and realism about the man in the Kremlin. – Wall Street Journal
Sergey Radchenko writes: The best thing that can happen to Russia is that it discovers the limits of its imperialism the hard way—by getting bogged down in Ukraine. By contrast, winning the war (and this is what Putin clearly hopes to accomplish, whether on the battlefield or through peace negotiations) would only further inflame Putin’s hubris and encourage more aggression. Russia should face the consequences of its misguided policies, not reap the rewards of territorial enlargement. It should be made to realize that there are better ways to achieve greatness than invading one’s neighbors. For the sake of peace, Trump should not place further obstacles in the way of this belated realization. – Foreign Affairs
Syria
The European Union on Wednesday issued updated guidance for asylum applications by Syrian nationals that reflects new conditions in Syria a year after the fall of the Bashar Assad. The changes may influence the result of asylum requests of some 110,000 Syrians who were still awaiting an asylum decision at the end of September. – Associated Press
A United Nations Security Council delegation arrived in Syria, state media reports, the first-ever visit to the country, coming just days before the first anniversary of the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. – Agence France-Presse
Syrian authorities say they killed a man and arrested four others who were attempting to smuggle hundreds of landmines to Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist group. – Agence France-Presse
Iraq
Iraq’s armed forces said on Wednesday that the attack last week on Khor Mor gas field, one of the largest in the Kurdistan region, was carried out using two drones, one which hit the field and another which fell outside it. – Reuters
Iraq will freeze the money of Iran-backed armed groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis, the official gazette said. The move will likely be welcomed by Washington, which has long sought to reduce Iran’s influence in Iraq and other countries in the Middle East where Tehran has allies. – Reuters
The United States inaugurated a massive new consulate compound Wednesday in Irbil, the capital of northern Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region. The move highlighted Washington’s diplomatic and strategic engagement in the Kurdish region, particularly as the U.S. moves troops that had been stationed elsewhere in Iraq as part of a mission against the Islamic State group, under an agreement with the central government in Baghdad. – Associated Press
Turkey
Turkey is telling Russia, Ukraine, and all other parties to keep energy infrastructure out of their conflict and wants energy flows to continue uninterrupted, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said after a series of attacks off Turkey’s Black Sea coast. – Reuters
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday said the “very scary” attacks of recent days on Russia-linked tankers in the Black Sea threatened the safety of all in the region and showed the reach of the war in Ukraine was expanding. – Reuters
Turkey demanded an explanation from Iraqi Kurdish officials after former leader Masoud Barzani arrived in a mainly Kurdish Turkish border region last weekend surrounded by heavily armed and uniformed guards. – Reuters
Turkey finalised a one-year extension of its two expiring gas import contracts with Russia that total 22 bcm, and is considering investing in U.S. gas production as it moves to diversify energy sources, Turkey’s energy minister said. – Reuters
Lebanon
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Wednesday that a lasting peace with Israel could pave the way to normalising ties with the country and establishing economic ties but that those milestones remained far off given current tensions. – Reuters
Filipina worker Loren Capobres said the world stood still when she kissed Pope Leo’s hand this week in Lebanon, but hopes his message for peace will linger after his departure, leading to better working conditions and a lasting peace in the country. – Reuters
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers wrote to the president and prime minister of Lebanon on Wednesday demanding they urgently move forward to disarm Hezbollah, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel in November 2024. – Jewish Insider
Yemen
An armed separatist group backed by the United Arab Emirates led a rapid march into a resource-rich region of Yemen on Wednesday, taking over wide sections of the territory in a matter of hours. – New York Times
A Pentagon investigation has faulted U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for using Signal on his personal device to transmit sensitive information about planned strikes in Yemen, saying it could have endangered U.S. troops if intercepted, two people familiar with the document said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The crew of the Greek-operated cargo ship Eternity C, which sank in the Red Sea in July after being attacked by Yemen’s Houthis, have been released, an official with the ship’s operator and a maritime security source told Reuters on Wednesday. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
The French government on Wednesday criticized the decision by an Algerian court to uphold a seven-year jail sentence for French journalist Christophe Gleizes despite its efforts to convince Algerian authorities to change the verdict. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia is open to canceling some projects in its Vision 2030 program, the kingdom’s finance minister said, in some of the strongest public comments yet on the country’s willingness to backtrack on costly developments. – Bloomberg
US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the creation of Task Force Scorpion Strike, a new formation overseeing the US military’s first one-way-attack drone squadron deployed in the Middle East, according to a Wednesday press release. – Jerusalem Post
David Ignatius writes: Trump’s ambition as a peacemaker appears boundless. “Iran does want to make a deal … I am totally open to it,” he said during the crown prince’s visit. Trump’s problem is that he’s juggling so many diplomatic balls at once that some of them will inevitably tumble to the ground. That’s what happened after his Gaza peace deal. He promised far more than he has so far delivered. Trump is now trying to broker a desperately needed Ukraine peace agreement. But his credibility as an omnidirectional mediator will be enhanced if he can demonstrate that he not only announces projects with fanfare but gets them done. – Washington Post
Ray Takeyh writes: But any such conversations or efforts must be circumspect and limited. The Middle East is ultimately no place for idealism and lofty ambitions. It is, instead, a place for power and realism—which makes it perfect for this U.S. president. For now, oil continues to flow, the Iranian threat has been diminished, the fighting in Gaza has subsided, and there are no major upheavals. In a region known mostly for chaos, these are consequential achievements. – Foreign Affairs
Korean Peninsula
South Korea and the United States have agreed to form a joint venture to help the American ally secure enriched uranium fuel for its nuclear power plants, President Lee Jae Myung said on Wednesday. – New York Times
More than 200 South Koreans joined a tour of the National Assembly on Wednesday to view parts of the compound associated with last year’s martial law crisis, including a sports field where helicopters carrying masked soldiers landed. – Reuters
South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday sought a combined 15-year prison sentence for former First Lady Kim Keon Hee, who has been indicted for bribery and other charges and is currently on trial. – Reuters
James Holmes writes: The principle that old can be good reigns beneath the waves as well. In many cases, old-fashioned diesel-electric submarines (SSKs), which have been around in one form or another for well over a century, are adequate unto the times and surroundings. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force used SSKs to great effect during the Cold War, dispatching them to monitor and, if necessary, interdict Soviet or Chinese shipping in straits along the first island chain. Japanese boats have resumed access-denial operations in this age of a domineering China. – National Interest
China
China’s economy is in a bad way and President Xi Jinping should focus on improving the lives of his people and not “territorial expansion”, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said in an interview with the New York Times. – Reuters
China is deploying a large number of naval and coast guard vessels across East Asian waters, at one point more than 100, in the largest maritime show of force to date, according to four sources and intelligence reports reviewed by Reuters. – Reuters
China and Russia reached “broad consensus” on a range of issues during the Chinese foreign minister’s trip to Moscow this week, amid a burst of diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine and as Beijing seeks to rally support in a row with Tokyo. – Reuters
The United States has halted plans to impose sanctions on China’s ministry of state security over a massive cyber spying campaign to avoid derailing a trade truce struck by both countries this year, the Financial Times said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaffirmed China’s position on Tuesday on remarks made by Japan’s prime minister regarding Taiwan during talks with his French counterpart in Beijing and called on Paris to “continue to understand and support” that stance. – Reuters
China and France pledged deeper cooperation on global issues like the war in Ukraine and trade, as France prepares to take on the presidency of the Group of Seven next year. French President Emmanuel Macron met with China’s Xi Jinping on Thursday morning as part of a three-day state visit focusing on trade and diplomacy. – Associated Press
China on Wednesday blasted the U.K. government’s latest delay in deciding whether to approve the construction of a huge Chinese Embassy in London. British authorities said Tuesday that a planned decision by Dec. 10 would be pushed back to Jan. 20, following mounting security concerns. – Associated Press
China slammed Israel on Wednesday for joining a United Nations declaration condemning its human rights record, accusing some nations of “slandering” Beijing on the international stage as bilateral relations between the two countries grow increasingly tense. – Algemeiner
Spencer Faragasso, Mohammadreza Giveh, and Aline Spyrka write: Thus, the growing export of sanctioned Chinese manufactured goods to Russia requires a more targeted response. Chinese manufacturers have emerged as suppliers of Tier 1 goods to Russia’s military industrial complex. This case study showed that some of those goods went to sanctioned Russian entities connected to the war in Ukraine. It is expected that Russia will seek out more substitutes in China for Western products. That is why the current sanctions regime implemented by the United States and its allies and partners needs to be expanded to more aggressively target Chinese entities that manufacture and sell Tier 1 goods to Russia. Russia’s military industrial complex should not be allowed to benefit from the procurement of Chinese substitutes for Western products. – Institute for Science and International Security
Josh Hodges and Michael Sobolik write: This context explains Huang’s disagreement with Trump’s AI policy and Nvidia’s opposition to the GAIN AI Act. China’s market offers steady revenue for Nvidia, even if it loses its dominant market position at home. Nvidia is entitled under U.S. laws to advocate for this position, but it is the responsibility of policymakers to put the national interest ahead of corporate interests. The U.S. Constitution protects Huang’s right to call being a “China hawk” a “badge of shame,” as he recently did, but the Constitution also charges elected officials to provide for the common defense. – Foreign Policy
South Asia
Thousands in Bangladesh flocked to hear the plans of the students who toppled long-time leader Sheikh Hasina when they launched a new political party this year, but now it finds itself struggling to translate the street power into votes. – Reuters
A new round of peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan has failed to produce a breakthrough to end tensions between the South Asian neighbours, although they agreed to continue their fragile ceasefire, officials from both countries said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The shooting of National Guard members in Washington, D.C., over which an Afghan immigrant has been charged, has nothing to do with Afghanistan’s people or its government, Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Wednesday. – Reuters
India will pay about $2 billion to lease a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia, according to people familiar with the matter, finalizing delivery of the vessel after roughly a decade of talks just as President Vladimir Putin makes a visit to New Delhi this week. – Bloomberg
Lauren Dagan Amos and John Spencer write: India’s performance in Sindoor, especially its defeat of Chinese-origin PL-15 missiles and HQ-9/P air defenses, provides operational insights that are directly relevant to Israel, as Chinese technology expands across the Middle East. The emerging convergence is not rhetorical; it is doctrinal. India’s willingness to impose costs on an ecosystem that enables terrorism, and to do so without waiting for external validation, opens new avenues for Israel-India strategic coordination. – Algemeiner
James Crabtree and Rudra Chaudhuri write: Both Europe and India face similar predicaments that could bring them closer together. Neither side feels able to rely on the United States as they once did. Both seek new partnerships to help protect themselves from a more capricious Washington. Until only six months ago, India seemed destined to align ever more closely with the United States, in part to fend off future Chinese aggression. Now, Trump’s pressure campaign means that India will pursue a renewed multialignment, not out of ideological conviction but as a practical necessity. The ultimate irony of Trump’s approach is that it is producing precisely the outcome it sought to prevent: a more multialigned India, invested in multiple partnerships and less susceptible to bludgeoning pressure from the United States. – Foreign Affairs
Asia
Taiwan expressed thanks and China was upset on Wednesday after President Donald Trump signed into law legislation requiring the U.S. State Department to regularly review and update guidelines on how the United States officially interacts with Taipei. – Reuters
Kazakhstan will divert more crude through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in December after its main export route, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, cut capacity following damage from a Ukrainian drone attack, five industry sources said. – Reuters
Malaysian authorities on Thursday charged a former top aide to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim with receiving bribes, increasing scrutiny on the premier’s pledge to crack down on corruption. – Reuters
An Australian court has jailed for 16 years the former kingpin of a multibillion-dollar drug trafficking syndicate, police said on Thursday, bringing to a close their 14-year investigation of man popularly called “Asia’s El Chapo”. – Reuters
Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia had received the United States’ review of the AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership and is “working through it”. – Reuters
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. – Associated Press
An election candidate in the strife-torn nation of Myanmar has been detained by a resistance group opposed to army rule, state media reported Wednesday, the first known such action before the polls scheduled for later this month. – Associated Press
Jewish communities around the world sounded the alarm on Wednesday after a new report said the number of antisemitic incidents in Australia remained at “unprecedentedly high levels” during the past year. – Times of Israel
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced an increase in soldiers’ salary, months after his military chief revealed attempts to unseat him. – Bloomberg
Japan’s cabinet approved a Fiscal Year 2025 supplementary budget that is poised to put the country on track to dedicate upwards of two percent of its GDP to defense. The supplementary budget includes an additional $7 billion – or 1.1 trillion yen – for defense spending for Japan’s current fiscal year, which will conclude March 31, 2026. – USNI News
Europe
The European Union presented a $3.5 billion plan to secure critical raw materials as tensions over China’s control over rare earths leave industry in the bloc vulnerable to supply shortages. – Wall Street Journal
Over two-thirds of the member states of NATO have committed to the weapons for Ukraine through the so-called Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), which has received commitments worth $4 billion so far, the alliance’s secretary general Mark Rutte said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Britain’s King Charles welcomed German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday at the start of his three-day state visit to Britain, the latest show of closer relations between the European allies following Brexit. – Reuters
Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev has called on the minority government of Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov to resign following mass protests this week against its 2026 budget. – Reuters
The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled plans to boost EU resilience to threats like rare earth shortages by strengthening trade measures and adding new economic security tools. – Reuters
Defying a government warning, farmers in northern Greece blocked traffic at border crossings Wednesday in an escalating protest over delayed European Union -backed subsidy payments. The delays follow revelations of widespread fraudulent claims for EU funds. – Associated Press
NATO needs to increase its presence on the European eastern flank despite Russia’s renewed push to constrain the military alliance during peace talks with the US, according to Romania’s foreign minister. – Bloomberg
The US is inviting Poland to the next Group of 20 summit — and plans to shun South Africa — when President Donald Trump hosts the forum of the largest global economies in 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. – Bloomberg
Sam Rosenberg writes: The Maginot Line failed because it was static. Today’s defenses are dynamic. Far from speculative, the technology is the proven toolkit of Ukraine’s survival. And rather than political theater, the strategy offers the only operational way to make current troop levels viable. Recent Russian drone incursions, the launch of Eastern Sentry, and the rapid construction of border defenses from Finland to Romania all point in the same direction. Europe is learning to deter at the speed of modern war. This collective, layered, and networked planning is the best strategy Europe has. – War on the Rocks
Dalibor Rohac writes: It does not take much effort to see that three add to a highly toxic mix, which nonetheless aligns with the administration’s behavior. The fact that these considerations are also a stark departure from the traditional, bipartisan understanding of US interests in Europe should not be read as a consolation but as a reminder of just how far the United States has shifted away from the long-standing understanding of its own role in the world. And the sooner Europeans come to grips with this version of America, rather than its naively idealized, more benign version, the better for everyone involved. – National Interest
Africa
The number of deaths of children under 5 years old is projected to rise this year for the first time in decades, the Gates Foundation, the philanthropy chaired by billionaire Bill Gates that is a major funder of global health and development causes, said in a report Thursday. – Wall Street Journal
Somalia’s leader said Wednesday that it was “better not to respond” a day after President Trump called Somali immigrants “garbage” during a xenophobic tirade. – New York Times
The Sudanese paramilitary force that besieged then overran a city in Darfur in late October is systematically holding trapped residents for ransom, killing or beating those whose families cannot pay, witnesses, aid workers and researchers say. – Reuters
A parliamentary inquiry in Kenya has accused British troops training there of a pattern of sexual misconduct and environmental harm that has led the forces from the former colonial power to be seen as an “occupying presence”. – Reuters
Rwanda’s foreign minister said on Wednesday he hoped an accord set to be signed by U.S. President Donald Trump and the presidents of Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday would be a step toward peace, even after accusing Congo’s army of violating earlier peace deals in recent days. – Reuters
The United States will restrict visas for Nigerians and their family members involved in mass killings and violence against Christians in the West African country, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday. – Associated Press
Alex Laskaris and Olivier Walther write: The world has changed since the French intervened in 2013 to halt the advance of rebels and jihadis toward Bamako, and the conditions that led to the mobilization of a gratis regional and global coalition no longer exist. The current junta in Mali bet the farm that a combination of Russian mercenaries and its remaining military allies, unbound by rules of engagement or the laws of war, could stem the tide. As jihadi groups gradually close in on Bamako, one does not need the genius of Barbara Tuchman, who wrote about delusion in government, to grasp the folly of that wager. In Mali, the question is who—if anyone—will pick up the pieces. – Foreign Policy
The Americas
With a U.S. Navy flotilla off the coast and President Trump pushing for strongman Nicolás Maduro’s ouster, Venezuelans are focused on a more urgent matter: the price of Christmas preparations. – Wall Street Journal
Two survivors of a Sept. 2 U.S. strike on a boat in the Caribbean were killed in follow-up attacks after they were seen still aboard the damaged vessel alongside packages of illegal narcotics, a senior commander is expected to tell lawmakers Thursday. – Wall Street Journal
The family of a Colombian man killed in a U.S. strike on a boat in the Caribbean Sea filed a complaint Tuesday with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), alleging the United States committed human rights violations in an “extra-judicial killing.” – Washington Post
Deportation flights carrying Venezuelan migrants were scheduled to resume from the United States to the authoritarian country on Wednesday, officials in Caracas said, despite President Donald Trump’s warning over the weekend that Venezuela’s airspace should be considered closed as the threat of a U.S. attack loomed. – Washington Post
A group of Democratic and Republican U.S. senators filed a resolution on Wednesday that would block U.S. military action against Venezuela without congressional approval, after President Donald Trump said a land campaign would begin shortly. – Reuters
Peru’s electoral authority will provide bulletproof vests to presidential candidates ahead of April’s elections after a spate of attacks on politicians in the Andean nation. – Reuters
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a Venezuelan actress for allegedly using her entertainment career to launder money and support the Tren de Aragua gang. – Reuters
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday confirmed he held a “respectful and cordial” phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump about 10 days ago, framing the conversation as a potential opening for diplomacy. – Reuters
Chile’s leftist presidential candidate Jeannette Jara met with US head of state Donald Trump’s ambassador to the Latin American nation, the diplomat said on Wednesday following tensions between both nations. – Bloomberg
Colombian politicians are gravitating to China as relations sour with Washington under Donald Trump. Beijing is on a charm offensive, inviting politicians on all-expense-paid trips ahead of the Andean nation’s presidential elections next year. – Bloomberg
Arturo McFields writes: Dictatorships are not eternal; they have an expiration date. The main problem is that not all of them fall through votes or conventional processes. There are regimes, like Venezuela’s, where everything has already been tried, and the only option left is military force. It is not the best option, but it is the only one. The historic fall of socialist regimes like those in Bolivia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is the fruit of the left’s failure, but it is also the result of a strong and strategic U.S. foreign policy. It is a once in a lifetime moment for change, to achieve peace through strength. – The Hill
North America
President Trump’s pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was the result of something extraordinary for a Central American leader and convicted cocaine trafficker—a web of powerful advocates stretching from Washington to Mar-a-Lago. – Wall Street Journal
The Mexican Senate on Wednesday confirmed Ernestina Godoy, a close ally of President Claudia Sheinbaum, as the country’s new attorney general, cementing a key appointment just hours after the president submitted a shortlist of candidates for the role. – Reuters
The former head of the notorious Haitian gang 400 Mawozo was sentenced on Wednesday in a U.S. court to life in prison for masterminding the 2021 kidnapping of a group of American missionaries. – Reuters
Honduras’ former President Juan Orlando Hernández thanked U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday for pardoning him in his first communication since being released from a U.S. prison. – Associated Press
Dozens of farmers drove their tractors in a caravan to Mexico City and blocked an entrance to Mexico’s Congress on Wednesday to protest a new national water law that imposes stricter controls on water use. – Associated Press
Canada has become the first non-EU country to join the bloc’s flagship rearmament program, Security Action for Europe (SAFE), whose funds could support Ottawa’s fighter jet and submarine procurement. – Defense News
United States
President Trump has pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife, who were charged last year with allegedly taking nearly $600,000 in foreign bribes. – Wall Street Journal
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, a prominent ally of President Trump, criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson, calling him an ineffective leader who is losing control over the GOP conference headed into the midterm elections. – Wall Street Journal
In a classified briefing for lawmakers scrutinizing the Trump administration’s killing of suspected drug smugglers around Latin America, top Republicans in the room appeared frustrated. – Washington Post
Even for a president who has long made clear he’s no fan of Somalia, the latest round of White House contempt was a shock Wednesday in the country’s largest Somali community. – Associated Press
The Trump administration will increase vetting of applicants for H-1B visas, with a specific instruction to reject anyone who was involved in “censorship” of free speech. – Bloomberg
The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on a bipartisan basis on Wednesday to advance a bill designating the entire Muslim Brotherhood globally as a terrorist organization, weeks after the Trump administration took action to target certain branches of the group. – Jewish Insider
Jennifer Bayer Michaels writes: I may feel politically alone in this moment, but I am not alone. Countless Jews and Americans want this party to succeed yet feel unspoken for and unrepresented. We require something simple: a Democratic Party that remembers its own values and has the courage to live by them in earnest. Only after my community’s safety is secure, and the party recognizes it not as a favor but as a fundamental principle, will I consider coming home. For the first time in my life, I am politically homeless. I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left me. – Wall Street Journal
Cybersecurity
Thailand has seized assets worth more than $300 million, including shares in a major regional energy company, and issued arrest warrants for 42 people in a high-profile push against regional scam networks, officials said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Australia’s internet regulator said a teen social media ban would be the first domino to fall in a global push to rein in Big Tech, as Meta’s Instagram, Facebook and Threads began locking out hundreds of thousands of accounts ahead of a deadline next week. – Reuters
Nvidia on Wednesday published new data showing that its latest artificial intelligence server can improve the performance of new models – including two popular ones from China – by 10 times. – Reuters
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met separately with President Donald Trump and Republican senators Wednesday as tech executives work to secure favorable federal policies for the artificial intelligence industry, including the limited sale of Nvidia’s highly valued computer chips to U.S. rivals like China – Associated Press
China’s ruling Communist Party is using artificial intelligence to turbocharge the surveillance and control of its 1.4 billion citizens, with the technology reaching further into daily life, predicting public demonstrations and monitoring the moods of prison inmates, according to a new report. – CNN
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is following through on President Donald Trump’s directive to strengthen national security by rapidly advancing artificial intelligence through the recently approved Genesis Mission. Not all Americans are openly embracing rapid AI implementation. – Military.com
The Department of Justice announced the dismantling of a website used by a scam center in Myanmar to siphon thousands of dollars from multiple victims. An affidavit filed this week supported the domain seizure of tickmilleas.com — a spoof of legitimate forex and commodities trading platform TickMill. – The Record
Defense
The Pentagon is deploying to the Middle East a new kamikaze drone copied from a widely used Iranian version, turning to a crude but effective weapon. – Wall Street Journal
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shocked official Washington in mid-October when he announced that the four-star head of U.S. military operations in the Caribbean was retiring less than a year into his tenure. – Wall Street Journal
A Pentagon watchdog has found Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated some of the department’s regulations when he shared sensitive information from his cellphone on Signal earlier this year, according to Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz). – Wall Street Journal
Unmanned boat maker Saronic announced a $300 million expansion to its Louisiana shipyard on Wednesday. The Austin, Texas-based robotics firm bought the former Gulf Craft yard n April to build larger unmanned surface vehicles beyond the company’s current slate of small USVs. – USNI News