Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Mideast powers reject Trump proposal to take over Gaza Following US, Israel says it will halt participation in UN Human Rights Council Israel orders army to prepare for 'voluntary departure' of Gazans after Trump unveils plan JPost Editorial: We shouldn't dismiss Trump's vision for Gaza so quickly Iran calls for OPEC to unite against potential US oil sanctions Iran’s Khamenei names Hezbollah leader as his ‘representative’ in Lebanon Russia indicates talks with U.S. over Ukraine are intensifying AEI’s Michael Rubin: Why the West can’t defeat the Houthis without securing Yemen’s ports Bloomberg’s Shuli Ren: Xi has squandered his most powerful trade war weapon Australia passes tough hate crime laws with mandatory jail time for Nazi salutes France’s budget crisis ends as government survives no-confidence vote Argentina to withdraw from World Health Organization, following TrumpIn The News
Israel
Major Middle East powers rejected President Trump’s surprise proposal for the U.S. to take control of Gaza, redevelop the enclave and move Palestinians out permanently, pointing to the challenges ahead for a notion that breaks with decades of U.S. and international policy toward the region. – Wall Street Journal
Far-right Israelis who have long wanted to resettle the Gaza Strip were euphoric Wednesday over President Donald Trump’s proposal for a U.S. takeover of the enclave and displacement of all the Palestinians living there. – Washington Post
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday there was nothing wrong in Donald Trump’s idea of displacing Palestinians from Gaza after the U.S. president’s proposal drew international criticism. – Reuters
Israel’s defence minister ordered the army on Thursday to prepare a plan to allow the “voluntary departure” of residents from Gaza, Israeli media said, after President Trump drew widespread condemnation over U.S. plans to take over the strip. – Reuters
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told President Donald Trump on Wednesday to avoid ethnic cleansing in Gaza after the U.S. leader proposed that Palestinians resettle elsewhere and the United States take over the war-torn enclave. – Reuters
Gaza should be an essential part of a future Palestinian state, said a European Union foreign policy spokesperson on Wednesday, adding that the EU was committed to a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians. – Reuters
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday the Pentagon was prepared to look at all options for Gaza, a day after President Donald Trump said he would like the U.S. to take control of and redevelop the Gaza Strip. – Reuters
Gazans criticised U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians elsewhere, vowing to never leave the ruins of their homes in the coastal enclave that Trump wants to turn into a “Riviera of the Middle East”. – Reuters
President Donald Trump’s top aides staunchly defended his push to transfer Palestinians out of Gaza and have the U.S. take over the war-ruined enclave, but they also backed away from elements of his proposal in the face of international condemnation. – Reuters
Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, backed President Donald Trump’s plans for the United States to take control of Gaza, though he doesn’t believe Palestinians should be forcibly removed from the land. – Politico
A day after US President Donald Trump stopped American engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced Wednesday that Israel is following suit. – Times of Israel
Editorial: We doubt Mr. Trump has any appetite to send in the 82nd Airborne to occupy Gaza. We know the American people don’t. But perhaps his pitch will cause the rest of the world to do more to support a post-Hamas government in Gaza that would let Palestinians live in a territory that is better than hell on earth. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Audacious talk about moving the Palestinian population out of Gaza is a dangerous distraction. What’s needed now from the president — or the serious Mideast policy thinkers in his administration — is a proposal for a realistic future governing authority in Gaza that is acceptable to all sides. This could be a step toward rebuilding the enclave and achieving a lasting peace. – Washington Post
Editorial: “You can’t keep doing the same mistake over and over again. Gaza is a hellhole right now. It was before the bombing started, frankly. And we’re going to give people a chance to live in a beautiful community that’s safe and secure.” Is the idea of relocating Gaza’s people elsewhere unconventional? Of course. Is the idea of the US taking control of the Strip revolutionary? Certainly. Is the vision of Gaza becoming a Middle Eastern Riviera a bit too rosy? Undoubtedly. But nothing else has worked. This, at least, is an attempt to shake things up and break paradigms that have failed time and again. – Jerusalem Post
Elliot Kaufman writes: That’s what many find so intolerable about Mr. Trump’s idea. Not that it would hurt Palestinians—it would help them—but that it would set back the lost cause, which, profligate as ever with Palestinian lives, had seemed to prosper so wonderfully from the war in Gaza and the death squads’ work on Oct. 7, 2023. – Wall Street Journal
Iran
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian urged OPEC members to unite against possible U.S. sanctions on the major oil producer, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would seek to drive Tehran’s oil exports to zero. – Reuters
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has named Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem as his “representative” in Lebanon, Iranian media reported Wednesday. – Agence France Presse
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday during his visit to Washington, praising US President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, which the president restored on Tuesday. – Jerusalem Post
Iran used Russian-made long-range air defense systems in a military exercise on Wednesday, following Israeli strikes in October which Israel said had seriously weakened Tehran’s defensive capabilities. – Times of Israel
Aidin Panahi writes: This is Israel’s chance to secure its long-term safety. This is America’s strategic opportunity to reassert global leadership. This is the world’s moment to invest in sustainable peace. The choices we make now will define the future of the Middle East. The world cannot afford to wait. We must get this right. – Jerusalem Post
Russia & Ukraine
The Kremlin said contacts between the U.S. and Russia had taken place and recently intensified, the first time Moscow has indicated the two countries are discussing a potential plan to end fighting in Ukraine. – Wall Street Journal
Ukraine’s military will create robotic vehicle units to deploy at the front, the defence minister said on Wednesday, as Kyiv and Moscow vie to gain a technological advantage over their enemy after nearly three years of vicious fighting. – Reuters
North Korean ballistic missiles fired at Ukraine by Russian forces since late December have been far more precise than salvos of the weapons launched over the past year, two senior Ukrainian sources told Reuters. – Reuters
Ukraine continues to receive military aid from the U.S., but there’s no discussion currently about any prospective packages, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Ukraine and other European nations have the potential to buy and store liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States in Ukraine and this could strengthen Europe’s energy security as gas transits from Russia end, its foreign minister said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Ukraine has brought back 150 troops from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday, announcing the latest prisoner swap with Russia. – Reuters
Ukraine accused Russian spies of orchestrating multiple bomb attacks on its draft offices, as officials reported a new explosion on Wednesday that killed one person and hurt four more at a conscription centre in the west of the country. – Reuters
Russia welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump’s view that drawing Ukraine towards the NATO military alliance was an issue of concern to Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Ukraine wants to collaborate with partner countries on postwar projects worth billions of dollars not just in mining rare earth elements, but also in energy and construction sectors to help rebuild the country, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Wednesday. – Associated Press
A project to establish a court to prosecute the Russian leaders who orchestrated the invasion of Ukraine took a step forward Wednesday, with an announcement from a group of international organizations, including the European Union and the Council of Europe, working together with Ukraine. – Associated Press
Syria
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa received an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit France in the coming weeks, the Syrian president’s office said in a statement on Wednesday. – Reuters
Hundreds of Syrians who sought refuge in Cyprus after the onset of civil war over a decade ago have withdrawn asylum applications in the weeks since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Cypriot officials said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Syria’s General Authority for Land and Sea Ports said on Wednesday that it had agreed to a new contract with French shipping and logistics group CMA CGM to operate the container terminal at the Latakia port. – Reuters
Syria’s Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Wednesday the group had not received any plans from the U.S. forces in northern and eastern Syria to withdraw. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
A Tunisian court sentenced a number of top politicians, former officials and journalists to long prison terms on Wednesday, defence lawyers said, the latest move in what critics say is an attempt to stamp out opposition to President Kais Saied. – Reuters
Italy’s justice minister said on Wednesday Rome had no choice but to free a Libyan military officer wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court because of what he described as mistakes and inaccuracies in the court’s arrest warrant. – Reuters
Turkish prosecutors have issued a third indictment against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu – a potential challenger to President Tayyip Erdogan – for remarks criticising the city’s prosecutor, according to the indictment and local media. – Reuters
An official from the Lebanese Hezbollah group on Wednesday described U.S. plans to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip as “criminal orders”. – Reuters
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said his country plans to quickly roll out efforts intended to reconstruct Gaza, in an apparent response to Donald Trump’s proposal of displacing Palestinians from the war-ravaged enclave. – Bloomberg
Michael Rubin writes: Donald Trump rejects protracted American deployments but, as the case of the late Qods Force chief Qassem Soleimani shows, he is not averse to using the military completely. Trump is correct to calibrate policy to reality rather than wishful thinking. Yemen would be a good place to start. The country is primed for a new beginning, and Yemenis are ready and waiting for the Houthis to following Hezbollah into oblivion. – 19FortyFive
Korean Peninsula
South Korea’s defence ministry has blocked access to the DeepSeek artificial intelligence tool on ministry computers used for military purposes, an official said on Thursday. – Reuters
Donald Trump’s plan to rebuild the devastated Gaza Strip as a new “Riviera” appears to be taking a page from his playbook with Kim Jong Un, when the US leader floated a coastal real estate development plan in exchange for North Korea’s denuclearization. – Bloomberg
President Trump has the unwavering support of South Korea’s leftist Democratic, or Minju, party in his quest for the Nobel Peace Prize. […] Later, though, a member of Korea’s national assembly, Park Sun-won, disclosed that he had nominated the president for the prize for his “efforts toward North Korea’s denuclearization and his contributions to peace on the Korean peninsula.” – New York Sun
China
The U.S. Postal Service said it would resume accepting parcels from China and Hong Kong, after temporarily suspending the service and sparking concerns about delivery disruptions. – Wall Street Journal
China has formally launched a dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Chinese goods, the Geneva-based body said on Wednesday. – Reuters
China’s President Xi Jinping met Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra in Beijing on Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, as the two countries eye closer ties amid growing global uncertainties. – Reuters
China is willing to work with the European Union to boost cooperation and respond to “global challenges,” its foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as the bloc faced potential U.S. tariffs on its shipments to the world’s largest economy. – Reuters
Thomas J. Duesterberg writes: President Trump recently threatened Moscow with new sanctions unless Mr. Putin agrees to a quick peace in Ukraine. The Russian president should take the threat seriously because his country’s ravaged economy is teetering on the edge. Another round of severe sanctions could push it into outright crisis. If that happens, Mr. Xi will certainly get the message. He’ll be forced to think about the price of his own aggression against Taiwan. – Wall Street Journal
Shuli Ren writes: After Trump’s win, perhaps in a nod to its vulnerability, Beijing signaled to the public in December that boosting consumption would be its top priority this year. Is that a real pivot, or mere lip service? Only time will tell. But one thing is certain: Xi squandered his most powerful trade war weapon — his people. – Bloomberg
South Asia
Thousands of protesters set fire to the home of Bangladesh’s founding leader, as his daughter, ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina delivered a fiery social media speech calling on her supporters to stand against the interim government. – Reuters
Indian opposition lawmakers questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and demanded a discussion in parliament on Thursday over what they said was ill-treatment of 104 Indian immigrants deported by the U.S. – Reuters
A U.S. military plane carrying 104 deported Indian illegal immigrants landed in India on Wednesday, authorities said, part of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda a week before he is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington. – Reuters
The U.N. refugees and migration agencies on Wednesday expressed their concern over Pakistan’s decision to deport thousands of Afghan refugees awaiting relocation to the United States and elsewhere. – Associated Press
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said Wednesday that his country’s friendship with China has “gone through ups and downs” but it won’t be broken down by extremist attacks that have killed Chinese nationals. – Associated Press
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party looks set to return to power in India’s capital after almost three decades in a tightly-contested local election, some exit polls predicted. – Bloomberg
Mihir Sharma writes: It does not set them apart from any other party, let alone Modi’s, which prides itself on welfare programs. Kejriwal may yet win another term in Delhi; he remains personally popular with its residents. But a decade of prioritizing his national ambitions over implementation has destroyed his chance of emerging as the progressive alternative to Modi. – Bloomberg
Andy Mukherjee writes: That may not be a bad thing altogether. As a businessman who just lost his startup to bankruptcy told me in Mumbai, anybody can float an enterprise in India, though only a half dozen or so local conglomerates have the wherewithal to keep it afloat amid bureaucratic red tape. That lock may be about to open. Fear — of Trump — is the key. – Bloomberg
Asia
Australia passed tough anti-hate crime laws on Thursday, including mandatory minimum sentences for terror offences and displaying hate symbols, in a bid to tackle a recent surge in antisemitism. – Reuters
A team of doctors and nurses battled to revive Adabi, an 86-year-old Myanmar refugee fighting long-standing heart problems and pneumonia, as her daughter watched tearfully in a hospital in northwestern Thailand. – Reuters
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown will visit China next week, the first visit by a leader of the small South Pacific state in a decade, to help improve ties ranging from trade, climate and investment to tourism and infrastructure. – Reuters
Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka raised concerns that the mass deportation of criminals from the U.S. posed a safety risk to Pacific Island states in a meeting with the Congressional Pacific Islands Caucus chairman, Fiji’s government said on Thursday. – Reuters
Malaysia sees any proposal for the forced displacement of Palestinians as constituting ethnic cleansing and a violation of international law, the foreign ministry said on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump proposed a U.S. takeover of Gaza. – Reuters
The state of Western Australia has called an election, setting the stage for a final test for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left Labor party ahead of a national vote due by May. – Reuters
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is banking on a raft of populist measures in his first months in office to energize consumers in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, part of his goals to boost growth to levels not seen in nearly three decades. – Bloomberg
Europe
The French government survived a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly, ending a challenge to President Emmanuel Macron’s prime minister and clearing the path to adopt a 2025 budget after months of political brinkmanship that rattled markets and left France’s finances in limbo. – Wall Street Journal
President Trump has signaled that he wants to put the Arctic back at the top of the U.S.’s priority list. He has said the U.S. needs to take ownership of Greenland for national security and that the Coast Guard will expand its fleet of icebreakers. – Wall Street Journal
Alstom reached a deal to sell its rail factory in the German town of Goerlitz to defense consortium KNDS, which plans to build battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. – Wall Street Journal
The sudden freezing of U.S. foreign aid has become a clear forewarning of the United States’ changing approach to global engagement and piles pressure on European governments to contain the fallout, officials and aid groups say. – Washington Post
Survivors of Sweden’s worst mass shooting on Wednesday recalled trying to save the lives of their comrades at a school for adults in Orebro, a day after a gunman killed 11 people on what the prime minister called a “dark day” in the country’s history. – Reuters
France rejected on Wednesday comments by U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting the United States could take control of Gaza and Palestinians could be displaced elsewhere saying it would violate international law and destabilise the region. – Reuters
Britain’s foreign minister David Lammy, in a visit to Ukraine on Wednesday, will announce a further 55 million pounds ($68.7 million) in financial support to help put it in the “strongest position possible”. – Reuters
Nearly 3 1/2 decades after leaving the Soviet Union, the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this weekend will flip a switch to end electricity-grid connections to neighboring Russia and Belarus — and turn to their European Union allies. – Associated Press
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda called for street protests if this year’s presidential vote is overturned as in Romania, where a top court recently voided an election due to allegations of foreign interference. – Bloomberg
Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev urged the European Union to not let itself be sidelined by Russia and the US in potential peace talks over Ukraine. – Bloomberg
Prime Minister Keir Starmer distanced the U.K. from U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to take over the Gaza Strip and turn it into the “the Riviera of the Middle East.” – Politico
The EU General Court Wednesday upheld European Commission penalties of €320 million against Poland. The ruling related to daily fines imposed on Poland over its Supreme Court disciplinary chamber, which allowed judges to be punished for their rulings. The chamber has since been disbanded. – Politico
Editorial: America’s GOP balances these factions, for now. The French right, though, has failed to transcend the elder Le Pen’s limitations. Mr. Bayrou takes as a hero his fellow Béarnais, King Henri IV, famed for reconciling Catholics and Protestants in the 16th Century. The king quipped of his conversion to Catholicism: “Paris is well worth a mass.” Were Mr. Bayrou to embrace supply-side economics, he could proclaim that France’s future is worth a tax cut. – New York Sun
Walter Berbrick writes: Congress has an opportunity to lead now. Holding House Foreign Affairs Committee hearings on Greenland’s strategic role, introducing the U.S.-Greenland COFA Authorization Act, and organizing a congressional delegation to Greenland should be immediate priorities in 2025. This bold, bipartisan strategy ensures that as Greenland moves toward independence, it does so as a committed U.S. ally — aligned with Western values and fully integrated into NATO. The window of opportunity is closing, and America must lead now. – The Hill
Africa
Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has ordered defense forces to begin preparations for a withdrawal of its troops from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a statement said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have seized control of a mining town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province, eight sources said on Wednesday, in an apparent violation of a unilateral ceasefire they declared this week. – Reuters
Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, a daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma, appeared in court on Thursday after being charged with inciting violence during riots in 2021 in which more than 300 people were killed. – Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend an upcoming G20 meeting in South Africa, the top U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday, days after President Donald Trump threatened to cut off funding to the African country. – Reuters
International Criminal Court prosecutors said on Wednesday they were closely monitoring events in Democratic Republic of Congo, where Rwandan-backed rebels are trying to expand their territory after capturing the city of Goma. – Reuters
Britain and Mauritius denied on Wednesday media reports that London could end up paying double the amount in a renegotiated deal to retain a U.S.-British military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. – Reuters
Kenya has already started talks with International Monetary Fund officials to secure a new lending program when the current one expires in April, its finance minister told Reuters on Wednesday. – Reuters
The Americas
The U.S. and Panama issued dueling statements Wednesday over access to the Panama Canal, with the State Department saying all fees would be waived for American government vessels and Panama firing back that no deal had been reached. – Wall Street Journal
Argentina will withdraw from the World Health Organization, a spokesman for President Javier Milei said Wednesday, just weeks after his ally, President Donald Trump, announced he would again pull out of the global health alliance. – Washington Post
The Trump administration is holding 10 migrants with suspected gang affiliations in the same prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that has housed men accused of being members of Al Qaeda, U.S. defense officials said on Wednesday. – New York Times
Guatemala will accept 40% more deportation flights from the United States, including both Guatemalan deportees and those of other nationalities, President Bernardo Arevalo said after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday. – Reuters
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to take over the Gaza Strip, and dismissed his expansionist ambitions and tariff threats against trading partners as “bravado”. – Reuters
The Trump administration is set to announce it has formally seized a Venezuelan government plane that’s been held in the Dominican Republic since last year, a move that may complicate efforts to cooperate on deportations. – Bloomberg
North America
Canada’s Alberta province, a major gas producer, needs to find new export markets in face of a U.S. tariff threat, and expanding in Japan is an important target, its minister of environment and protected areas, Rebecca Schulz, told Reuters. – Reuters
One person died and 15 were arrested trying to enter Canada from the United States in three incidents in recent weeks, Canadian police said on Wednesday, highlighting efforts to secure the border as U.S. President Donald Trump demands a crackdown. – Reuters
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau in a call on Wednesday that he welcomed an international conversation on the importance of trade and collaboration, Starmer’s office said. – Reuters
Canada’s longstanding position on Gaza has not changed and it is committed to achieving a two-state solution, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a post on X on Wednesday. – Reuters
Canadian business and labor leaders will meet in Toronto this Friday to discuss diversifying trade and boosting the economy in the wake of U.S. threats to impose tariffs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Mexican and U.S. officials agreed to ongoing and open dialogue on economic issues like strengthening regional supply chains and the traceability of foreign investment on Wednesday, a senior Mexican official told Reuters. – Reuters
Gregory Lyakhov writes: Rebuilding trust will not be easy. Canada requires more than a policy adjustment; it needs a fundamental shift in leadership. The next prime minister must prioritize genuine partnerships based on shared values rather than political gain. Until then, the damage to Canada’s reputation remains.With Trudeau stepping down, Canada has a rare opportunity to reset its foreign policy. The question now is whether the next leader will seize this chance, or allow the damage to deepen. Time will tell, but the stakes could not be higher. – Algemeiner
United States
The White House tried to sell a skeptical Republican Party and foreign-policy establishment on taking over the beleaguered Gaza Strip after President Trump surprised many of his own allies with his plan to rebuild the enclave. – Wall Street Journal
Officers from several U.S. federal agencies searched for illegal immigrants on Wednesday in Aurora, the Colorado city with a large migrant population where President Donald Trump laid out his immigration policies during his campaign. – Reuters
Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday praised President Donald Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to take over the war-torn Gaza Strip and said House Republicans would stand with Trump on his initiative. – Reuters
The Trump administration has been considering a plan for reform at the World Health Organization, including putting an American in charge, in order for it to remain a member of the global health agency, according to two sources familiar with the plan and a proposal document reviewed by Reuters. – Reuters
President Donald Trump has “not committed” to sending American troops to Gaza, after the president said Tuesday that the U.S. will “take over” the decimated territory, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. – Politico
The Trump administration has canceled $4 billion in U.S. pledges to the world’s largest climate fund — gutting a U.N. initiative helping over 100 countries adapt to the rapidly changing world. – Politico
The Trump administration is considering three potential areas for the absorption of refugee Gazans after President Donald Trump announced that the US plans to take over the Gaza Strip and relocate those currently there to rebuild the area, N12 reported on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
A member of the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who was involved in the 2019 bombing that killed an Israeli teenager is scheduled to speak at a Georgetown University Law Students for Justice in Palestine event next week, Jewish Insider has learned. – Jewish Insider
Editorial: U.S. automakers face a challenging future as drivers around the world turn toward electric vehicles, an industry dominated by Chinese manufacturers. […] Trump could protect American automakers, of course, granting them a monopoly over the domestic market by imposing tariffs on vehicles from everywhere else — condemning Americans to drive shoddy, pricey cars that nobody else wants. This would be an odd policy goal, but maybe it’s all a trade war could achieve. – Washington Post
Memy Peer writes: Iran, the global sponsor of terror, must be punished. Its nuclear program must be dismantled. Its tyrannical regime, which oppresses its own citizens before exporting violence abroad, must fall. The radical Islamic war against Israel did not start on October 7—it has been ongoing since 1948. The very premise of this war is the refusal to acknowledge the Jewish people’s historical and moral right to their homeland. No matter how much the world tries to rewrite history, the truth remains unchanged: the Jewish connection to Israel predates Islam itself. – Jerusalem Post
Ben Fishman writes: The Trump administration chose to take a big swing at the aid establishment before making major policy decisions. As it proceeds with this review process, it will need to establish which issues and states it deems most crucial to the United States, and therefore most worthy of U.S. support. […] The review can then work backwards to determine which existing programs contribute most to U.S. security, stability, and prosperity, and which can be safely eliminated without putting allies or Americans at risk. – Washington Institute
Cybersecurity
The European Commission is using its raft of digital regulations to target foreign e-commerce platforms like Shein over concerns they are allowing cheap products that might be unsafe or break European Union law to enter the EU. – Wall Street Journal
Italy’s government said on Wednesday that seven mobile phone users in the country had been targeted by spyware on Meta Platforms’ (META.O), WhatsApp messaging service, and it called the incident “particularly serious”. – Reuters
A hacker who claimed responsibility for dozens of cyberattacks on government institutions in Spain and the U.S. was arrested by Spanish National Police. Spanish officials touted the arrest in a statement on Wednesday, accusing the unnamed hacker of breaching systems used by the U.S. Army, United Nations, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and several government bodies in Spain. – The Record
Seven Italians and victims in more than a dozen other European countries were targeted with spyware as part of a broad hacking campaign revealed by WhatsApp on Friday, the Italian government said. – The Record
Thailand cut off power supply on Wednesday to three areas in Myanmar where online scamming hubs are concentrated. The cuts to fuel, internet and electricity target the scam hubs of Myawaddy, Payathonzu and Tachileik, where criminal syndicates have set up enclaves devoted to fraud. – The Record
Defense
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino agreed to expand cooperation between the U.S. military and Panama’s security forces during a call on Wednesday, the Pentagon said, in the wake of a dispute over the Panama Canal. – Reuters
The U.S. Navy said on Wednesday that Australia, Japan and Philippine defence forces will work together with the U.S. to conduct maritime activity within the Philippines exclusive economic zone on Feb. 5 to enhance cooperation and interoperability. – Reuters
A satellite communications system used by the US and UK to run military operations is central to efforts by Britain to resolve the sovereignty of the Chagos islands, UK security officials familiar with the matter said. – Bloomberg