Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
As water shortages intensify Iran’s heat wave, authorities shift blame Zelensky and Putin battle for Erdogan Black Sea backing Bloomberg’s Editorial: Confiscate Russian assets? The West should resist WaPo’s David Ignatius: The West feels gloomy about Ukraine. Here’s why it shouldn’t U.S. House backs Israel in 412-9 vote after Democrat called state ‘racist’ Suspected Israeli airstrikes hit Damascus and the surrounding area JPost's Seth J. Frantzman: Syrian role in Hezbollah's 2006 war casts a shadow on Israel North Korea detains American soldier after he crosses DMZ NYT’s Carlos Lozada: A look back at our coming war with China In Central Asia, a hidden pipeline supplies Russia with banned tech South Africa’s President warns that arresting Putin if he visits would risk war Spanish court orders immediate extradition of Venezuela's ex-spymaster to U.S.In The News
Iran
Over the weekend, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned against demonstrations during a visit to drought-plagued Khuzestan, a recurring center of unrest. Local officials in the northeast province of Golestan pleaded on Monday for water tankers, to avert protests. The government can little afford further threats to its authority in the aftermath of its relentless crackdown on the uprising against clerical rule that grew last year from protests over the death 0f Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, in the custody of the “morality police.” – Washington Post
U.S. federal prosecutors can’t auction off 800,000 barrels of seized Iranian oil sitting in a Greek tanker off the coast of Texas because U.S. companies are reluctant to unload it, according to people familiar with the matter. – Wall Street Journal
A European official on Tuesday said he expected no difficulty persuading EU nations to maintain ballistic missile sanctions on Iran that are due to expire in October. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said he sees a window of opportunity by the end of 2023 to try to negotiate a de-escalatory nuclear deal with Iran. – Reuters
The US is sending additional fighter jets and a warship to the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman to increase security after Iranian attempts to seize commercial ships. – The Guardian
Lisa Daftari writes: For these Iranians, as for myself, there is a second-generation nostalgia for the Iran they have learned about through their parents’ stories. They know it wasn’t perfect, but compared to life under the current regime, it was utopia. With no end in sight for the malignant fundamentalist regime in Tehran, it is indeed the case that Iran and the world are owed a profound, heartfelt apology. It should come from Jimmy Carter. – Newsweek
Neville Teller writes: This is why “deal” has become a dirty word in Washington. “Rumors about a nuclear deal, interim or otherwise, are false and misleading,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists in June. In briefings with journalists, officials now use expressions like “mini-agreement” and “interim arrangement.” So whatever the understanding or bargain is between Biden and Khamenei, it is certainly not a deal. – Jerusalem Post
Russia & Ukraine
Residents of the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa were urged to take shelter early Wednesday as authorities warned of repeated cruise missile launches from the Black Sea. Russia had recently launched a barrage of rockets toward the area in retaliation for Ukraine’s deadly assault on a key bridge in Crimea on Monday. – Washington Post
A fire that broke out at the military training grounds in the Kirovske district on the Crimean Peninsula has forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 people and a closure of nearby highway, the Moscow-backed governor of Crimea said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Russia’s parliament on Tuesday extended the maximum age at which men can be mobilised to serve in the army by at least five years – in the case of the highest-ranking officers, up to the age of 70. Last September, Russia announced its first mobilisation since World War Two, calling up more than 300,000 former soldiers in an often-chaotic emergency draft to support its war in Ukraine, a campaign that has been much longer and more attritional than Moscow had expected, and shows no sign of ending. – Reuters
There are a “number of ideas being floated” to help get Ukrainian and Russian grain and fertilizer to global markets after Moscow quit a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The Black Sea deal was brokered by the U.N. and Turkey in July last year to combat a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s top grain exporters. – Reuters
Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russia is far from a failure, but the fight ahead will be long and bloody, the top U.S. general said on Tuesday, even as casualties on both sides mount and the front lines have moved only incrementally. – Reuters
Ukrainian forces have a “significant amount of combat power” that hasn’t yet been committed to the war, the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday, saying Kyiv is conserving some of its tactical effort while troops slowly work their way through deadly Russian minefields. – Associated Press
A meeting of finance chiefs and central bank governors of the Group of 20 leading economies ended on Tuesday in India without a consensus because of differences between countries over the war in Ukraine. Following two days of talks, there was no final communique. Instead, India, as the host nation, was forced to issue the G20 Chair’s summary and an outcome document. – Associated Press
The Russian military’s command structure is “confusing at best” after last month’s failed rebellion led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner mercenary group, a top U.S. general said on Tuesday. Thousands of Prigozhin’s soldiers have been deeply involved in the Ukraine conflict. But those troops are now handing over their weapons to the Russian military, in an apparent end to their operations in Ukraine. – Politico
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appears to be setting up a showdown between his Turkish and Russian counterparts, with the hard-fought Black Sea grain export deal again appearing on the brink of collapse. – Newsweek
Editorial: Russia wants renewed access for the state-owned Russian Agricultural Bank to the Swift system that facilitates cross-border payments, among other Western concessions. But this would blow a sizable hole in sanctions. More important, Mr. Putin would learn that it works to hold the world’s food supply hostage. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: The desire to make Russia pay for its aggression is understandable, but Western leaders must be mindful of political realities and the rule of law. The best way to hold Putin accountable is to adhere to the principles of due process and respect for property that Russia has sought to destroy. – Bloomberg
David Ignatius writes: As the West helps Ukraine push forward, it should also begin to explore the terms under which a just settlement of this war might be possible. Ukraine will need security guarantees, but a radically weakened Russia will want assurances, too. […] On the other side of this war is a better future for every party to the conflict, including an eventual post-Putin Russia. The thing about tunnels is that if you keep moving though them, darkness eventually gives way to light. – Washington Post
Dara Massicot writes: For now, the Russian front lines are holding, despite the Kremlin’s dysfunctional decisions. Yet the cumulative pressure of bad choices is mounting. Russian front lines might crack in the way Hemingway once wrote about going bankrupt: “gradually, then suddenly.” – New York Times
Javier Blas writes: The West won’t be able to rely on rising Iranian and Venezuelan output to soften the market. As Russia and Saudi Arabia cut their production, prices will rise further. For the last year, Washington and its allies have attempted the energy policy version of squaring a circle. They would soon realize that no matter how hard they try, a circle’s a circle. And oil sanctions always hurt all sides — producers and consumers. – Bloomberg
Joseph Bosco writes: It is time for Washington to shake off the shackles of self-deterrence that helped precipitate this war and allow it to continue. Ukraine, and Western security, deserve victory and peace. Biden should let it happen before isolationist and war-weary forces in Congress vindicate Putin’s strategy of dragging the war out. – The Hill
Jahara Matisek, William Reno, and Sam Rosenberg write: Mobilizing these informal networks will not only help the United States and its allies and partners translate their significant aid packages to Ukraine into lasting success against Russia. It will also establish a template for building a more effective, multipronged response to other would-be aggressors. – Foreign Affairs
Max Bergmann writes: The United States should instead reassure Russians that if they end the war, respect Ukraine’s sovereignty, reduce tensions with the West, and oust Putin, they will be saving their country from defeat and decline and giving Russia a chance to peacefully thrive alongside its neighbors. – Foreign Affairs
Hanna Notte writes: Still, such measures will unlikely suffice to cure Russia’s nuclear fever, absent a more fundamental resolution to its confrontation with the West over Ukraine. […] That requires accurate readings of how Moscow — at any given moment in time — views the dynamics surrounding the Ukraine war and, concomitantly, assesses the requirements of intrawar deterrence and escalation management. In pursuit of such accurate readings, Western defense establishments will have their work cut out. – War on the Rocks
Israel
The House voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution affirming America’s strong support for Israel and condemning antisemitism, a move that sought to put Democrats on the spot after a progressive leader called the country racist. The measure passed 412-9, with one member voting present. The vote came hours after Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, met with President Biden – Wall Street Journal
For more than 15 years, Yasser Antar has been doing the dangerous work of a medic in the West Bank, where firefights, roadblocks and tear gas are part of the job description. But he has never been more frightened than in recent months, as spiking violence between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers has put medics in the crosshairs like never before in his career. – Washington Post
The Biden administration added two Europe-based hacking firms controlled by an Israeli former general to a Commerce Department blacklist on Tuesday, its latest effort to try to rein in a spyware industry that has spiraled out of control in recent years. – New York Times
When Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, called Israel a “racist state” on Saturday, White House officials swiftly proclaimed America’s “ironclad” relationship with its Middle Eastern ally and made clear that President Biden objected to her remarks. – New York Times
President Biden’s meeting Tuesday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog has already drawn fire from both sides of the political spectrum, as the president seeks to advance his policies in the Middle East despite strained relations with Jerusalem. – The Hill
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden that opposition parties are not serious about negotiating an agreement on the coalition’s planned judicial overhaul, according to a report Tuesday. – Times of Israel
After positioning himself for months as a peacemaker mediating Israel’s warring political camps, President Isaac Herzog took off for Washington early Tuesday to try to bridge another chasm that seems to be growing wider with each passing week. – Times of Israel
A Palestinian prisoners association on Sunday called on Iraq to conclude a deal with Israel to exchange Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, abducted in Iraq in March, with Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel. – Times of Israel
In a new letter set to be sent to Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Tuesday, a bipartisan group of 50 lawmakers is set to press the administration to prioritize ending the Palestinian Authority’s payments to the families of individuals who have carried out terror attacks on Israelis, known as the “pay for slay” program. – Jewish Insider
During a meeting at the White House with President Isaac Herzog, U.S. President Joe Biden urged Israeli leaders to halt the judicial overhaul legislation, telling them to “Please stop now. Don’t pass anything this important without a broad consensus,” according to senior New York Times commentator Thomas Friedman. – Haaretz
The Palestinian Authority has issued a stiff warning to unruly gunmen in the West Bank, saying it will “cut off the hand of anyone who tries to tamper with the security and stability” of the Palestinians. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: Liberals quibble over wording—you’re supposed to speak of “democracy” and “Netanyahu” instead of “racism” and “Zionism”—but under the cover offered by presidential spats and judicial reform, the vilification of Israel has gone mainstream in the Democratic Party. This will be hard to take back, even when Israel gets a new Prime Minister. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: After all, Netanyahu is the prime minister, and despite all the noise and the protests, it does not appear as though he or his government are going anywhere anytime soon. If Biden truly wants to influence Israeli policy, Netanyahu is the man he needs to deal with. – Jerusalem Post
Alon Pinkas writes: In the end, the critical issue is not whether there will be a meeting, but the contents, tone and quality of such a meeting. If Netanyahu continues on his current course of dismantling Israeli democracy and policy in the West Bank, he may regret this future meeting. – Haaretz
Zina Rakhamilova writes: And yet, we have always had to watch our backs with or without the PA. Israel has shown that we will do whatever we must to keep our citizens safe and to stop Iran from gaining more power in the West Bank than it already has. – Jerusalem Post
Abe Greenwald writes: It’s defended by Iron Dome, the IDF, the faith and innovation of its people, and the workings of its rugged democracy. Joe Biden, having struck out with the scolding approach, has just invited Netanyahu to the United States. Let’s see just how restrained Israel’s critics are about that. – Commentary Magazine
Turkey
Saudi Arabia and Turkey are seeking to broker a deal to repatriate Ukrainian children taken to Russia and held in children’s homes or adopted by Russian families, according to four people familiar with the talks. – Financial Times
Cypriot diplomats are seeking to revive peace talks on the divided island with proposed appointments of UN and EU envoys in a bid to find a federal solution five decades after occupation of the north of the island by Turkish troops. – The Guardian
Seth J. Frantzman writes: This is Erdogan’s first official visit to the region since his re-election as President in May, cementing his position as one of Turkiye’s most influential leaders ever.” Ankara sees this as a “win-win” strategy. This follows how Ankara usually conducts foreign policy by creating a crisis and then solving the crisis. It did this with NATO and also declared victory. It did this with the US and also claims victory. Now it claims victory in the Gulf. – Jerusalem Post
Middle East & North Africa
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday turned back a bid by hardline conservatives to end five presidential emergency declarations that allow for sanctions against America’s enemies in the Middle East and Africa. – Reuters
Heritage sites in Iraq, home to multiple civilizations going back more than six millennia, have been hard hit by looting and damage over the decades of conflict before and after the U.S. invasion of 2003. Most notoriously, the militant Islamic State group demolished numerous ancient sites in northern Iraq, including Islamic shrines, raising outrage among Iraqis and abroad. – Associated Press
Israeli airstrikes hit the area of Damascus early Wednesday, Syrian state media reported. Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported that Syria’s air defenses had shot down “most of” the missiles. It said in a statement, citing military sources, that two soldiers were injured and there were “some material losses” from the airstrikes. – Associated Press
Senate delays in confirming US Ambassadors harm United States national security, particularly in the Middle East, where key ally countries such as Israel, Jordan and Egypt lack permanent envoys, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned. – Jerusalem Post
Two Syrian soldiers were injured after alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted sites in the Damascus area on Tuesday night, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. – Jerusalem Post
Seth J. Frantzman writes: It’s also unclear what the rules of engagement are for the new warplanes the US is sending. Iran has spent decades harassing ships and harassing the US and others, and it has gotten used to the fact that while warning shots may be fired, no one wants a real conflict in the region. – Jerusalem Post
Seth J. Frantzman writes: In essence, Hezbollah sees 2006 as an important symbol and believes that saving the Syrian regime, with Iran’s backing, has enabled a new paradigm in the region. Now that the regime is secure and back in the Arab League, Hezbollah feels emboldened. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
A U.S. soldier was taken into custody by North Korean authorities after he crossed the border during a tour on the South Korean side, U.S. officials said. The U.S. service member, who was on a tour of the Joint Security Area between the two Korean states, crossed the military demarcation line into North Korea willfully and without permission, said Col. Isaac Taylor, a spokesman for U.S. Forces Korea, which oversees the roughly 28,500 American military personnel stationed in South Korea. – Wall Street Journal
A U.S. submarine capable of launching nuclear ballistic missiles arrived in South Korea on Tuesday for the first time in four decades, the latest effort by Washington to boost South Koreans’ trust in its commitment to defending the country against North Korea. – New York Times
North Korea launched two ballistic missiles eastward early on Wednesday, Japan’s and South Korea’s militaries said, just hours after a U.S. ballistic missile submarine arrived in a South Korean port for the first time in four decades. Both of the missiles appeared to have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, the Japanese Defence Ministry said. – Reuters
North Korea was silent about the highly unusual entry of an American soldier across the Koreas’ heavily fortified border although it test-fired short-range missiles Wednesday in its latest weapons display. – Associated Press
Tom Rogan writes: Amid already poor relations with Washington, King is unlikely to be laughing much in Pyongyang. Indeed, he is likely now a guest of either the very unpleasant Ministry of State Security or equally unpleasant Reconnaissance General Bureau. – Washington Examiner
China
Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, the 100-year-old who was at the heart of the United States’ rapprochement with China half a century ago, said during a surprise visit to Beijing that the two countries must learn to coexist peacefully and avoid confrontation. – Washington Post
Longtime trading partners China and Algeria agreed on Tuesday to strengthen cooperation in other areas including security and national defence, boosting Beijing’s already robust ties with a major nation on the African side of the Mediterranean. – Reuters
China named a former top official from its secret intelligence agency the new head of Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong, as the finance hub continues to crack down on dissent. Dong Jingwei, 59, was appointed as director of the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, according to a statement on Tuesday from the government in Beijing. – Bloomberg
The European Union’s foreign policy chief aims to make his long-delayed visit to China in the fall, ahead of a planned summit between the two sides. “I have all assurances that the meeting will be before our next summit,” Josep Borrell said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “The purpose of the visit is to hold the strategic dialog during the preparation steps for the summit.” – Bloomberg
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team faces growing congressional pressure to reveal its analysis of the Chinese spy balloon shot down after violating U.S. airspace earlier this year. “They have had months to figure [it] out,” Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a Tuesday hearing. “And they haven’t told you. And they haven’t told me what was on the balloon.” – Washington Examiner
One of China’s most populous provinces has deleted mortality data that offered an indication of the heavy death toll from Beijing’s relaxation of Covid-19 controls at the end of last year. – Financial Times
Editorial: Any of those decisions — or other unknowns — could again cause a rupture and increase tensions in the U.S.-China relationship. But the damage can be contained if officials can talk directly to each other, explain intentions clearly and make sure the loudest, most extreme voices don’t prevail. Breakthroughs might still come, with more hard work. But for now, let’s keep talking. – Washington Post
Carlos Lozada writes: The trap Weiss foresees is not China tricking the United States into conflict, which is what happens in “2034.” Rather, it is that Washington, understanding nothing but a zero-sum world, will accept that conflict with China is inevitable or necessary. In other words, bipartisanship may be required for peace, but it can also lead to war. – New York Times
Michael Allen and Connor Pfeiffer writes: The Pentagon is investing billions in industrial capacity. To remain the arsenal of democracy, the U.S. must allocate additional resources, authorize long-term weapons purchases, and reform glacial bureaucracies. Only then can the U.S. sustain its longer-term national security objectives in Asia and Europe. – Wall Street Journal
Don Ritter writes: With the growing sophistication of its military, autocratic China is the biggest winner of all from the present Western strategy to abandon fossil fuels. And if the United States and the West continue along their present path of shifting away from fossil fuels, it is quite possible that autocratic producers will dominate the world, and China, soon to surpass the United States as their biggest consumer, will be the dominant player. – The National Interest
Calder Walton writes: What Western governments need more than anything, however, is imagination when it comes to intelligence collection about closed police states. Imagination is what led the CIA to develop high-altitude U-2 planes that were capable of spying behind the Iron Curtain when other methods were impossible. […] These will be the weapons of this century’s cold war—and those that will determine its outcome. – Foreign Affairs
South Asia
On the final night of his visit to Washington in late June, after 15 standing ovations in Congress and an opulent White House dinner tailored to his vegetarian tastes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India set time aside to court and be cheered by another important constituency: the Indian diaspora. – New York Times
More than two dozen Indian opposition parties said on Tuesday that they had formed an alliance called “INDIA” to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in parliamentary elections next year. The alliance said in a statement that the BJP was assaulting the character of the republic and they pledged to “safeguard the idea of India as enshrined in the Constitution”. – Reuters
A suicide attack blast near a paramilitary force vehicle wounded several peopled and killed the attacker in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, police officials said, while a separate “martyr” was also killed, a high-ranking police official said. Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a newly founded jihadist group, claimed responsibility for the attack. – Reuters
Asia
On the shipping label, the Chinese drones were billed as heavy-duty cropdusters, the kind used by orchards and big farms. But the identity of the buyer — a Russian company that purchased a truckload of the aircraft in early May at nearly $14,000 each — hinted at other possible uses. – Washington Post
Thailand’s parliament gathered on Wednesday to vote for prime minister for the second time in less than a week — a test for democracy in a nation where a powerful military and its royalist allies have often pushed back against democratic change. – New York Times
Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court ruled Tuesday that an investigation into the Philippines’ deadly “war on drugs” can resume, rejecting Manila’s objections to the case going ahead at the global court. – Associated Press
A senior Conservative MP has been criticised for claiming there had been improvements in Afghanistan. Tobias Ellwood, who is chair of the Commons Defence Committee, described it as a “country transformed” following a recent visit. He also called for the UK government to re-engage with the Taliban and for Kabul’s British embassy to reopen. – BBC
China and Russia are deepening their military co-operation with their largest joint naval and air exercise on Japan’s doorstep. – Financial Times
Editorial: The key for the United States will be to deepen and nurture these cooperative relationships while enabling innovation to thrive through multilateral collaboration. In so doing, we can make our supply chains for semiconductors and other critical technologies secure and resilient against actions by adversaries and enable open societies to win the technological competition with dictatorships. – Hoover Institution
Tom Rogan writes: This is a standard courtesy expected of former government officials when they travel to meet foreign officials. We shouldn’t be surprised by that omission. In the end, Duterte has always been far more of a Chinese Communist official in Filipino clothing than he has been a servant of Filipino interests. – Washington Examiner
Marcus Andreopoulos writes: Looking west, the United States and India are actively deepening their ties; it appears inevitable that the Quad will have to bring military cooperation within its framework. With such high stakes, New Delhi should urge Thimphu to maintain the status quo in Doklam in the face of continued pressure from Beijing. – Foreign Policy
Europe
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hopes to hold onto power by selling himself as the repairman for a broken Britain. But with inflation still high, debt ballooning and growth sputtering to a halt, economic woes may prove to be Mr. Sunak’s undoing. – New York Times
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday criticised EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s decision to hire a U.S. economist over a European to help oversee Big Tech, adding her previous work could lead to conflicts of interest. Leaders of the main political groups at the European Parliament have also chided Vestager for picking Fiona Scott Morton, 56, the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Justice during former President Barack Obama’s tenure. – Reuters
Pankaj Mishra writes: Greater disasters would await in the longer term. It may seem a cliché to invoke, as during its civil war in the 1930s, Spain as the crucial battlefield for the struggle for democracy. But that’s what it looks like — at least for now, before Trump’s re-election campaign really gets going. – Bloomberg
Caroline de Gruyter writes: Europeans still have a long way to go. But reading about those scary days during the Cuban missile crisis, and their absence from any decision-making, also serves as a reminder of how far they have come already. – Foreign Policy
Eliot L. Engel writes: The United States needs to support democracy, the rule of law, and the free press, as well as oppose corruption. Those features are in decline in Serbia, but they are in the ascendance in Kosovo. I urge the Biden administration to return to basics: Refocus on U.S. values and stop bullying Kosovo. And it needs to rebalance its policy in the Balkans to support those who embrace those priorities and stand up to those who don’t. – Foreign Policy
Africa
While Mr. Mandela is still lionized around the world, many South Africans, especially young people, believe that he did not do enough to create structural changes that would lift the fortunes of the country’s Black majority. White South Africans still hold a disproportionate share of the nation’s land, and earn three and a half times more than Black people. – New York Times
The leader of South Africa said that his country would risk war with Russia if it arrested President Vladimir V. Putin at a diplomatic summit in Johannesburg next month. – New York Times
Democratic Republic of Congo’s former president Joseph Kabila has rejected accusations from neighbouring Uganda that he gave sanctuary to an Islamist rebel group and allowed it to expand and exploit mineral resources. Kabila led Congo from 2001 to 2019 when he was succeeded by current president Felix Tshisekedi. – Reuters
The Tunisian defense ministry said on Tuesday it had received four T-6C training aircraft from the United States, as part of cooperation to renew its fleet of training aircraft for the air force. Last month, four Tunisian soldiers died after a military aircraft crashed into the sea, an accident that President Kais Saied attributed to an aging military fleet. – Reuters
Eliot Pence writes: The appointment of Johnnie Carson, a four-time ambassador, three-time retiree, and much respected and admired Africa hand, as the lead in charge of implementing the commitments made at last December’s summit, suggests a different vision. Experience and “knowing what works” are critical, but so too is knowing when what has worked won’t work anymore. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Latin America
Precursor chemicals used by Mexican cartels to make the deadly opioid fentanyl do not come from China, its embassy in Mexico said on Tuesday, rejecting U.S. officials’ accusations. The embassy said in a statement that China had measures in place to prevent the trafficking of substances used to make illegal drugs, and added the U.S. was “blindly shirking its responsibilities” by not taking domestic action. – Reuters
The need to restructure Venezuela’s public debt, raise international financing and provide guarantees for investors are key policy focuses for several candidates competing to represent the opposition in the 2024 presidential election. – Reuters
Spain’s High Court on Tuesday ordered that global police agency Interpol immediately extradite a former director of Venezuelan military intelligence to the United States, where he is wanted on drug trafficking charges, from Spain. – Reuters
The ghosts of colonial history returned to haunt European and Latin American leaders at their summit in Brussels. […] The divergence in views was so profound that the two sides struggled to align their thinking at their first summit in eight years — especially to find words to condemn Russia’s war of aggression in their closing communiqué. – Politico
European Union and Latin American leaders concluded a summit that was supposed to be a love-in after eight years of separation, but instead ended Tuesday with aggravation over the failure to unanimously support even a bland statement on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. – Associated Press
There is a tense calm in Lima ahead of a new round of anti-government protests this week, which will see tens of thousands of police deployed in Peru’s capital as demonstrators once again seek political reform and accountability for the alleged abuses during previous rallies. – CNN
Cybersecurity
The Pentagon’s procurement process is one of several major obstacles hampering efforts to develop and apply artificial intelligence technology, a panel of AI experts told members of Congress Tuesday. – Defense News
Buffalo, El Paso, Glendale, Calif., and Colorado Springs. Those are just a few of the cities that have been racked by social media-fueled terrorist attacks since 2019. Statistically, it will only be a matter of months before the U.S. witnesses another terrorist attack committed by a “keyboard warrior.” – CyberScoop
Kate Woodsome writes: Congress, parents and the media rightly have raised alarm about social media’s correlation with poor mental health. Tech companies need to be held accountable for the bait-and-switch — promising connection and delivering its opposite. But users dependent on social media cannot afford to wait for the tech giants to change how they make money. – Washington Post
Defense
U.S. attempts to foster closer military integration among allies are extending into space. The U.S. military wants allies to train and plan together for space operations, in the same way that they already do in ground, air and naval combat, Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, said in an interview. – Wall Street Journal
The Senate’s draft annual defense bill would add Kosovo to the list of eastern European countries eligible for U.S. military training amid heightened tensions in the Balkans. – Defense News
The Department of Justice has sent out a letter reminding states to follow a law passed six months ago that allows military spouses to more easily transfer their job licenses during permanent change of station moves. – Military.com