Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israeli warplanes target former Syrian army bases in southern Syria, security sources say France working with Arab states for one-stage hostage release UN Security Council to meet over Iran's growing stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium Iran says won’t negotiate under ‘intimidation’ as Trump ramps up pressure WINEP’s Michael Knights and Hamdi Malik: Iran could lose Iraq Marco Rubio says talks in Saudi Arabia key to resuming military support for Ukraine Ukraine strikes Moscow in biggest drone attack on Russian capital Syria to integrate U.S.-backed Kurdish militia into armed forces in win for new leader North Korea fires missiles after slamming US-South Korea drills U.S., China discuss a Trump-Xi summit for June Philippines arrests former President Rodrigo Duterte on ICC warrant WSJ Editorial: Has Canada learned from its lost decade?In The News
Israel
President Trump’s hostage envoy suggested Hamas was willing to lay down its arms in exchange for a truce and said the U.S. has interests that are separate from Israel’s, in comments on Israeli television that further frustrated some Israeli officials already concerned by his direct talks with the militant group. – Wall Street Journal
Israel said on Monday that it was willing to defend Syria’s Druze community following days of violence in Syria that a war monitor said led to mass killings of another religious minority. – Reuters
Israeli jets conducted several raids on former Syrian army barracks and outposts in the southern Daraa province on Monday in the latest string of strikes targeting the country’s military infrastructure, two Syrian security sources said. – Reuters
Israel is actively encouraging U.N. agencies and other aid groups to take over the work of the U.N. Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, Israel’s ambassador said on Monday, after banning the agency on Israeli territory in January. – Reuters
Israel’s suspension of goods entering Gaza is taking a toll on the Palestinian enclave, with some bakeries closing and food prices rising, while a cut in the electricity supply could deprive people of clean water, Palestinian officials said. – Reuters
Germany is concerned about Israel’s move to cut electricity supplies to Gaza and by talks on ending water supplies, the German Federal Foreign Office said Monday. – Politico
France supports a one-time release of all hostages held in Gaza as part of a comprehensive agreement to end the war, Ofer Bronchtein, the Israeli advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron, said in a statement released on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
Israel’s Knesset Health Committee held a heated discussion on a proposal for Israel to leave the World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations agency. The committee will hold another discussion to hear from government ministry representatives. – Jerusalem Post
Protesters continued to demonstrate outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Monday, demanding the return of the remaining hostages held in Gaza. – Jerusalem Post
A new government directive, effective Monday, will regulate the registration of international humanitarian organizations operating in Palestinian areas, allowing Israel to deny or revoke permits for groups engaged in boycotts, delegitimization, or denial of the October 7 massacre, according to a statement from the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry. – Jerusalem Post
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Monday said that deadlines were needed on a deal for the next phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and that “all things are on the table” if the terror group agrees to demilitarize and leaving the Gaza Strip. – Times of Israel
Editorial: Israel needs to internalize this message, even when it comes to such a sensitive issue as direct talks with Hamas. Disagreements with the administration will arise; when they do, they should be aired through the many available private channels. In public, however, refrain from calling down Trump administration officials. It’s just not smart; nothing good will come of it. – Jerusalem Post
Shay Gal writes: How long must we endure biased reporting before demanding accountability from the institutions responsible for global justice? The global community deserves a United Nations uncompromisingly committed to truth, transparency, and accountability – not a distorted shadow undermining peace by rewriting reality. Ignoring this warning could cost the UN its moral voice precisely when the world needs it most. – Jerusalem Post
Yisrael Medad writes: Israel’s new strategic vision should take the initiative to establish regional Middle East stability while creating a human resources base resting on its non-Islamist minorities. An agenda would encompass economic, health, and security issues, along with democracy. This would also garner support from Christian friends of Israel in Central and Eastern Europe as well as Africa and South America. It would be an alliance for civilization. An alliance of moral values and freedom. – Jerusalem Post
Neville Teller writes: “The UN stands ready to cooperate fully in this endeavor.” Initial knee-jerk reactions by US and Israeli spokesmen to the Arab-endorsed plan may yet be modified, especially as the White House announced on March 5 that, with Israel’s prior knowledge, the US was engaged in direct talks with Hamas about the ceasefire. The door is open for discussion and negotiation. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
The United Nations Security Council will meet behind closed doors on Wednesday over Iran’s expansion of its stock of uranium close to weapons grade, diplomats said on Monday. – Reuters
Two men accused of being members of a Russian organized crime group will face trial in the United States on Monday over what prosecutors call an unsuccessful Tehran-backed attempt to kill an Iranian dissident living in New York. – Reuters
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the Trump administration is prepared to enforce US sanctions on Iranian oil production. – Bloomberg
Iran said Monday it would not negotiate under “intimidation,” after US President Donald Trump sought to ratchet up pressure on Tehran by ending a sanctions waiver that had allowed Iraq to buy electricity from its Shiite neighbor. – Times of Israel
Mordechai Kedar writes: One could argue that the ball is in Iran’s court since Azerbaijan has never provoked Iran militarily and has never launched a military operation against Iran. Azerbaijan continues to reach out to Iran for peace but is repeatedly disappointed. Iran’s actions in its relationship with Azerbaijan indicate that Iran is not willing to relinquish its geopolitical ambitions in the South Caucasus, particularly in Azerbaijan. – Jerusalem Post
Michael Knights and Hamdi Malik write: This approach would be a change in tack for Washington. Over the past decade, successive U.S. administrations turned a blind eye to Iran’s nefarious regional activities during nuclear negotiations because trying to dismantle Iran’s huge regional proxy network was an overwhelming, complex process. But after the fall of Assad and the weakening of Hezbollah, U.S. officials may be able to do both. By edging Iran out of Iraq, Washington has a chance to simultaneously reduce Tehran’s global footprint and improve the odds for a deal that stops its nuclear program. The Trump administration should jump at the chance. – Foreign Affairs
Russia & Ukraine
The Trump administration might restart intelligence and military support to Kyiv if high-level talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials on a potential peace process make headway on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. – Wall Street Journal
Support here for President Volodymyr Zelensky soared after his face-off with President Trump in the Oval Office over peace talks with Russia. Days later, Zelensky sought to mollify Trump with a carefully worded public message calling the incident “regrettable.” – Wall Street Journal
Ukrainian forces battled to stave off fierce Russian attacks both inside Russia and along Ukraine’s front lines, as the country’s officials prepared Monday for high-stakes talks in Saudi Arabia with an increasingly skeptical ally, the United States. – Washington Post
Ukrainian forces have stalled the Russian offensive in the eastern Donetsk region in recent months and have started to win back small patches of land, according to Ukrainian soldiers and military analysts. – New York Times
Ukraine targeted the Russian capital early on Wednesday in what seemed to be the biggest drone attack so far, forcing the closure of two of the airports serving the city, sparking fires and damaging houses, officials and media said. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, plans a visit to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, two people briefed on the plans said on Monday. – Reuters
Kyiv’s top general said on Monday that Ukrainian troops fighting in Russia’s Kursk region were not at risk of encirclement, despite a recent counteroffensive by Russian forces that has included North Korean troops. – Reuters
Russia accused two British diplomats on Monday of spying and gave them two weeks to leave the country, reinforcing the downward trajectory of Moscow’s diplomatic relations with Europe even as it negotiates to restore ties with the United States. – Reuters
Ukraine plans to purchase around 4.5 million first-person view (FPV) drones in 2025, Kyiv’s defence ministry said on Monday, more than doubling last year’s rate as its war with Russia grows increasingly hi-tech. – Reuters
Russian forces are attempting to create an active fighting zone in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy, across the border from Russia’s Kursk region, Ukraine’s border guard spokesman said on Monday. – Reuters
Firefighters are bringing under control a large fire in a warehouse in Russia’s southern region of Samara, after Ukraine launched an overnight drone attack targeting enterprises there, media and authorities said on Monday. – Reuters
Walter Russell Mead writes: Meanwhile, a bargain with Russia may pose more problems than benefits for the MAGA movement in years to come. If Russia fails to honor the bargain scrupulously, as is likely, American opinion is likely to turn against a failed bargain, as happened with the Yalta agreements. And if the deal succeeds in restoring American power as détente did, the political pressure in the U.S. to return to a more ideologically assertive foreign policy will intensify—as happened in the Ford, Carter and Reagan years. – Wall Street Journal
Rahm Emanuel writes: But if we are smart, we’re poised in this moment to buttress America’s military deterrence, help Ukraine repel a decade-long invasion and render the Russians a big strategic loss. A world no longer confident in the United States and its security guarantees will be much more dangerous. We should seize small victories when they come within reach. – Washington Post
Marc Champion writes: A much worse scenario is that Trump is indeed playing chess and knows what he’s doing. In that case, he’s deliberately ceding Eastern Europe to Moscow as a sphere of influence, weakening Western Europe – which the 47th US president sees as an economic and ideological rival – and setting new international norms consistent with his seizing a stronger sphere of control for the US in Canada, Greenland, Mexico and Panama. We’ll find out which it is all too soon. – Bloomberg
Alexander Kolyandr writes: In particular, Russia would want to see a respite on import bans of parts and equipment for its troubled civil aviation fleet, ground transportation, and power generation, before anything else. […] In summary, expect Russia to have three pressing sanctions-lifting priorities: cross-border financial transactions, including corresponding accounts; Oil tanker fleet protection from the secondary sanctions, and high-precision, aviation, power-generating equipment and parts. The only question? Whether the Trump administration agrees. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Syria
The Syrian government signed an agreement to integrate a large U.S.-backed Kurdish-led militia into its military forces, a major step toward consolidating Damascus’s control over the country after an armed revolt by former regime loyalists set off sectarian killings. – Wall Street Journal
The first ransom demand came in a text message on Sami al-Izoo’s phone 10 days after he witnessed his brother being kidnapped, forced into a truck with dark tinted windows by six masked men. – New York Times
Gunmen attacked a position held by Syrian security forces in Damascus overnight, a war monitor said on Monday, raising fears that the deadly violence sweeping Syria’s coastal region could spread to other parts of the country. – New York Times
Syria’s Islamist-led government on Monday said it had completed a military operation against a nascent insurgency by Bashar al-Assad loyalists, as it faced Western demands for accountability over the reported killing of hundreds of civilians. – Reuters
Gunfire erupts in a crowded street as masked men in the back of a military truck unleash a barrage of bullets. In another video circulating on Syrian social media, apartment buildings — reportedly home to Alawite families — are engulfed in flames within seconds, their windows flashing as the fire takes hold. – New York Sun
Syria’s defense ministry announced on Monday the end of a major security operation in coastal provinces, after days of violence and mass killings that sparked international concern. – Agence France Presse
Jim Geraghty writes: They had a decent argument that sanctions put in place to punish the Assad regime shouldn’t apply to a government run by the guys who toppled him. Plenty of people in Syria deserve more, deserve a chance to build a better future for their children. But given the carnage now unleashed in Syria, it’s hard to envision the United States or other Western governments lifting sanctions anytime soon. Here’s hoping that Syria hasn’t closed one dark chapter of its history only to start a new one. – Washington Post
Aaron Y. Zelin writes: If Syria is not permitted to deal with its legacy of problems free from interference by regional actors, then spoilers will continue to emerge and undermine the transition. Of course, pressuring U.S. partners should not be viewed as absolving the failures of the new government in Damascus. Yet before Washington can accurately point out those failures and craft policies to address them, it needs a clearer understanding of the extremely complicated and sensitive facts on the ground, especially when violence flares up as it did last week and the gears of disinformation start churning. – Washington Institute
Turkey
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey was advising Syrian authorities to help ease tensions and welcomed interim Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa’s commitment to punishing those who acted outside the law. – Reuters
The IDF Spokesperson launched official social media platforms in the Turkish language last week due to “regional developments,” the military announced. – Jerusalem Post
Timothy Ash writes: The country has been a mainstay of European security through its 70-odd year membership of NATO. Notwithstanding rows including disputes on migration, the safe haven given to Kurdish opposition groups and, as a result, Sweden’s NATO membership, these are immensely challenging times and this is a good moment to move on. Turkey remains a critical partner and ally for Europe and its cooperation is absolutely key if we are to weather the storm caused by our common dilemmas and common threats. – Centre for European Policy Analysis
Middle East & North Africa
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ahead of talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials that Washington hopes will deliver substantial progress towards ending Russia’s war with Ukraine. – Reuters
After the U.S. moved to block Iraq’s imports of electricity from Iran, Baghdad is looking to Qatar and Oman as possible options should Washington do the same regarding their trade in gas, the boss of Iraq’s South Gas Company said on Monday. – Reuters
Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday that they would take military measures as soon as a four-day deadline for lifting a blockage of aid into Gaza ends. – Reuters
Algeria’s president has announced plans to import a staggering 1 million sheep ahead of this year’s Eid al-Adha, the holiday during which Muslims worldwide purchase livestock for sacrifice. – Associated Press
Donald Trump’s administration officially requested Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani to secure the release of Israeli-Russian hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov “as soon as possible,” a report by the London-based Qatari news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said on Monday, citing two unidentified Iraqi officials. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies had started targeting his country. – Reuters
North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Monday, hours after condemning the South Korean and U.S. militaries for launching drills that Pyongyang called a “dangerous provocative act” that risked accidentally sparking a confrontation. – Reuters
The guns are silent on the first major American-Korean military exercises since President Trump’s inauguration. Planes are not dropping bombs, and cannons aren’t booming on warships offshore. Not to worry though, the American command advises, we’re still playing war games — without the noises of war. – New York Sun
China
When mining executive Shaun Verner first visited his company’s graphite deposit in Mozambique in 2017, he felt sure he had a winner. His goal: to challenge China’s dominance over the world’s supply of a critical mineral used in everything from electric vehicles to submarine hulls. – Wall Street Journal
Washington and Beijing have begun discussions about a potential “birthday summit” in June in the U.S. between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to people familiar with the matter. – Wall Street Journal
China will continue to grow bilateral relations with Canada on the basis of mutual respect and equality, the foreign ministry said after Mark Carney won the race to lead Canada’s ruling party and become the next prime minister. – Reuters
Britain is concerned by China’s “dangerous and destabilising” activity in the South China Sea, British foreign minister David Lammy said on Monday. – Reuters
Every year in early March, China’s rubber-stamp legislature and its advisory body gather to hear speeches and hold discussions in the capital, Beijing. – Associated Press
Sebastien Lai writes: To many in Hong Kong and around the world, my father is a hero. He symbolizes the struggle for freedom and the sacrifices it too often requires. But to me, he is above all my dad. He turns 78 in December. Unless something changes, he will die in prison. After the government-appointed national-security judges shouted at him in a recent court hearing, my father replied, “In the end of the day the truth will come out in the kingdom of God, and that is good enough for me.” We must make sure he doesn’t need to wait that long. – New York Post
South Asia
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Mauritius on Tuesday for talks on upgrading strategic ties, days after U.S. President Donald Trump signalled support for a deal between Mauritius and Britain over the future of a U.S.-British military base. – Reuters
The Dalai Lama’s successor will be born outside China, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism says in a new book, raising the stakes in a dispute with Beijing over control of the Himalayan region he fled more than six decades ago. – Reuters
India has brought home nearly 300 of its nationals who were lured to various southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, with fake job offers and made to engage in cybercrime and other fraudulent activities in scam compounds, the government said. – Reuters
Dozens of Tibetan protesters clashed with police outside the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi on Monday as Tibetans living in exile marked the 66th anniversary of their uprising against China that was crushed by Chinese forces. – Associated Press
Asia
The Philippines said Tuesday it arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte on a warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity during his bloody “war on drugs.” – Wall Street Journal
Japan’s trade minister said he had asked the United States not to impose trade tariffs on his country, but did not win any assurance that Japan would be exempt, including from a 25% steel and aluminium duty set to start on Wednesday. – Reuters
Waiting to break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, clerics in the Indonesian town of Majalengka gathered for an unusual briefing on the subject of inflation, led by the country’s central bank. – Reuters
A fake plan to attack on a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives was fabricated by an organised crime network in order to divert police resources, Australian police said on Monday. – Reuters
Malaysia has warned its citizens against travelling to southern Thailand after bombings and shootings by suspected insurgents killed five people and injured 13 others at the weekend. – Reuters
Singapore is processing its first ever extradition request from neighbouring Indonesia for a businessman accused of corruption in a government project, the city-state’s law ministry said on Monday. – Reuters
Vietnam expects to sign pacts with the United States this week after its trade minister meets U.S. trade and energy officials, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters. – Reuters
A former Australian prime minster said the Trump administration’s treatment of longtime allies was providing an opportunity for China, in remarks that came shortly before the US president delivered a personal rebuff. – Bloomberg
The US is trying to speed up arms shipments to Taiwan, according to the de facto ambassador to Taipei, comments likely to reassure officials in Taipei worried about the Trump administration pausing military aid for Ukraine. – Bloomberg
Gearoid Reidy writes: I don’t expect Ishiba, a weak leader in a minority government, to show this leadership, and judging by his responses to Trump’s criticism last week, he still wants to play it safe. But many of the old apparatuses of global security are rapidly breaking down. Trump might be just the bogeyman the country needs. – Bloomberg
Europe
Poland’s prime minister on Monday called on “friends” to respect their allies and not be arrogant, in a post on X which mentioned no-one by name but came a day after an extraordinary social media spat between top U.S. and Polish officials over Starlink. – Reuters
Germany’s Greens vowed to block plans by likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz for a massive increase in state borrowing to revamp the military and revive growth but forwarded rival proposals on Monday in a bid for compromise. – Reuters
Moldova and the French Development Agency signed a 30 million-euro ($32.5 million) deal on Monday to improve the post-Soviet state’s energy efficiency, President Maia Sandu said after meeting French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris. – Reuters
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday he hoped talks in Saudi Arabia this week would have a positive outcome and enable Washington to end its pause of U.S. aid and intelligence to Ukraine, his spokesperson said. – Reuters
NATO will not let a security vacuum develop in Bosnia and Herzegovina at this time of crisis but political leaders should work together to resolve problems, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Monday. – Reuters
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host a virtual meeting of world leaders to discuss Ukraine on Saturday, building on a summit in London this month when the British leader announced the formation of a “coalition of the willing” to support Kyiv. – Reuters
Romanian far-right presidential contender Calin Georgescu said on Monday he would challenge a decision to bar him from taking part in an election rerun in May, but analysts said his chances of standing were slim amid fears of Russian meddling. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump has not treated Greenlanders with respect since expressing his renewed interest in acquiring the vast, mineral-rich Arctic island, Greenland’s prime minister was quoted on Monday as saying. – Reuters
European Union finance ministers on Monday began discussing how to pay for defence through new joint borrowing, existing EU funds and a greater role for the European Investment Bank, with a view to taking decisions in June. – Reuters
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala called on the opposition to support higher defense spending as geopolitical risks become a contentious campaign issue before parliamentary elections. – Bloomberg
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is targeting people with dual citizenship as part of a broadening crackdown ahead of elections next year. – Bloomberg
Africa
Mercenaries with Russia’s Wagner Group, fighting alongside Malian soldiers, have assaulted women, massacred civilians and burned villages in Mali, the displaced say — a campaign of wanton violence that is fueling a rapidly growing refugee crisis to the west in neighboring Mauritania. – Washington Post
Since an armed rebel group backed by Rwandan troops launched a major offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo, professional cyclists have raced on lush Rwandan hills, John Legend performed a sold-out concert in the capital, Kigali, and entrepreneurs have gathered at a conference center for a financial technology convention. – New York Times
Officials from the party of Democratic Republic of Congo’s former President Joseph Kabila appeared before a military prosecutor on Monday in a sign of political tensions over advances by Rwanda-backed rebels in the east. – Reuters
The Africa Finance Corporation said it is accelerating efforts to mobilise the continent’s own money for investments, and tapping investors in the Middle East and Asia, as developing nations grapple with seismic shifts in geopolitics and funding flows. – Reuters
Nigeria’s economic crimes commission said it recovered nearly $500 million in proceeds of crime last year and secured more than 4,000 criminal convictions, its highest since the agency’s inception more than two decades ago. – Reuters
Uganda’s military chief said Tuesday his country had deployed special forces in South Sudan’s capital Juba to “secure it” as tensions between President Salva Kiir and his First Vice President Riek Machar stoke fears of a return to civil war. – Reuters
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s legal team is set to begin negotiations to settle a lawsuit filed against him and several government agencies by families of the victims of apartheid-era crimes, who say the state has stymied their attempts to get justice. – Bloomberg
Nearly 400,000 Sudanese have returned to their homes over the past two and a half months after being displaced by the ongoing conflict, the United Nations migration agency said on Monday. – Agence France Presse
The Americas
Cuba’s top tribunal said late on Monday 553 prisoners had been released following a deal brokered by the Vatican that seemed in limbo after U.S. President Donald Trump reversed a Biden administration pledge to ease sanctions on the country. – Reuters
A Guatemalan judge ordered prominent journalist Jose Zamora back to jail on Monday in a case that stems from money laundering charges he has dismissed as a political persecution. – Reuters
The Organization of American States on Monday elected Surinamese Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin as its new secretary general through 2030, taking over from Uruguayan diplomat Luis Almagro and marking the body’s first Caribbean leader. – Reuters
Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo said Monday that he was beginning a hunger strike in protest of the start of an oral trial against him for the alleged crime of rebellion. The prosecution has requested 34 years in prison for the former president. – Associated Press
Chilean center-left presidential hopeful Carolina Toha rose in two polls conducted immediately after her formal announcement last week that she’ll compete in this year’s election. – Bloomberg
North America
Mark Carney represents a lot of the things President Trump and his supporters dislike. He is a card-carrying member of the global technocratic elite, and he has led not one but two central banks—Britain’s and Canada’s. He is a regular at Davos, where the World Economic Forum meets, and has been heavily involved in tackling climate change. – Wall Street Journal
Former central banker Mark Carney, fresh from a landslide victory to become the leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party and the country’s next prime minister, met Justin Trudeau on Monday and said the formal handover of power would be quick. – Reuters
Eleven people died and at least 12 were injured in southern Mexico on Monday morning after the bus transporting them flipped over, authorities in the state of Oaxaca said. – Reuters
Editorial: As one of the founders in 2021 of the trendy Net-Zero Banking Alliance, lately deserted by U.S. banks, Mr. Carney explained, “The companies, and those who invest and lend in them, who are part of the solution, will be rewarded. Those that are lagging behind, and are still part of the problem, will be punished.” He meant punished by government, or by investors operating under state-imposed mandates. Which is to say that Mr. Carney doesn’t offer Canada a break from Trudeauism. No wonder he’d rather talk Trump and hockey. – Wall Street Journal
United States
U.S. DOGE Service leader Elon Musk on Monday called Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) — a decorated Navy pilot and former NASA astronaut — a traitor in a post on X after the senator visited Ukraine and expressed his support for the country in its war with Russia. – Washington Post
President Donald Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler’s direct meetings with Palestinian militant group Hamas on the release of hostages in Gaza was a “one-off situation” and as of now “hasn’t borne fruit,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday. – Reuters
A U.S. judge on Monday ordered that Palestinian Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil not be deported for now as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on some anti-Israel protesters, and set a court hearing in the case for Wednesday. – Reuters
The U.S. opposes language that could harm its efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday, as Washington wrangled with G7 allies ahead of a meeting this week, further alarming them. – Reuters
U.S. immigration and military authorities disclosed Monday that immigrants from 27 countries were being held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba, while revealing new details of conditions of confinement and defending the government’s authority to transfer and hold immigrants at the military base. – Associated Press
Editorial: It’s not our purpose here to disparage Mr. Boehler. He “was given permission and encouraged” to negotiate, Mr. Rubio says. Raising the terrorists’ stature was never the idea. Meanwhile it is unacceptable that the hostages are being held in any circumstances. On Friday Mr. Trump demanded an immediate release of all of them, or there will be “hell to pay.” We hope that Hamas is heeding the threats, rather than basking in Mr. Boehler’s glow. – New York Sun
William McGurn writes: These “protests” weren’t really about speech. If all the “protesters” had done was stand outside waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Israel slogans, no one would be talking about deportation. Mr. Trump laid out his rationale on Truth Social: “We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.” – Wall Street Journal
Cybersecurity
Keir Starmer’s government is pinning hopes for closer economic ties with the United States on a trade pact that talks up the West winning the technology race — and avoids awkward chat about regulations. – Politico
Pro-Palestinian cyberhacking group Dark Storm claimed that it hacked X/Twitter on Monday. This comes after X CEO Elon Musk claimed that the social media platform experienced a massive cyberattack that “was done with a lot of resources,” he wrote. “Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved.” – Jerusalem Post
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is making a concerted effort to accelerate its artificial intelligence efforts over the next year, creating new AI leadership roles and pushing more resources toward its computing infrastructure. – Defense News
U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence would be compromised by cuts to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, top tech trade associations warned in a letter sent Monday to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. – Fedscoop
David Gerard writes: LLMs are not economically sustainable—OpenAI spends $2.35 for each $1 of revenue. The AI bubble is propped up by billions in venture capital with nowhere else to go, trying to hype a market into existence, and corporations desperate to increase enterprise spend. The purpose of the U.K. government’s plan is to pump the AI bubble with public money. When the bubble bursts, the treasury will have been drained and public services will be running on AI slop generators. The potholes will remain unfilled. – Foreign Policy
Defense
U.S. Special Operations Command is pursuing a concept called “Drone in a Box” that aims to give commandos reconfigurable platforms that could serve as unmanned aerial systems or ground robots — depending on their location and operating environment. – Defensescoop
The Space Development Agency has once again pushed back the launch of its first batch of operational data transport and missile-tracking satellites, and is now targeting a date in “late summer 2025” to put the space vehicles on orbit. – Defensescoop
A stopgap federal spending bill unveiled by House Republicans this weekend would add $6 billion in new spending for the Defense Department and another $6 billion for Veterans Affairs operations this fiscal year, but it still could cause financial headaches for both agencies in the end. – Military Times