Fdd's overnight brief

Hezbollah

A woman who worked as a contract linguist for the U.S. military in Iraq pleaded guilty Friday to sharing classified information with a romantic interest linked to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. – Associated Press

Defending the border from Hezbollah infiltration, destroying anti-tank missile infrastructures and maneuvering inside enemy territory are just some of the skills that were exercised in the 188th Armored Brigade drill that was completed on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post

Udi Shaham writes: The IDF Intelligence Directorate believes that the Lebanese front is the most sensitive among all of the current threats to Israel. It said in its recent annual assessment that Hezbollah is still seeking to avenge the death of an operative who was killed in an attack attributed to the Israel Air Force in Damascus last July. […]Hezbollah sees the situation as an account that needs to be settled and according to Nasrallah’s remarks, it is believed that it will try to kill an Israeli soldier in order to maintain the “equation.” – Jerusalem Post

Turkey

Several thousand women took to the streets in Istanbul on Saturday to demand Turkey reverses its decision to withdraw from an international treaty against domestic abuse which it once championed. – Reuters

Turkey has approved development plans for a huge canal on the edge of Istanbul, Environment Minister Murat Kurum said on Saturday, advancing a project which has attracted criticism over its cost and environmental impact. – Reuters

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed on Thursday Ankara’s change in stance on the eastern Mediterranean, but said the relationship between the bloc and aspiring member Turkey was still fragile. – Reuters

Iraq

Along Iraq’s borders, a corrupt customs-evasion cartel is diverting billions of dollars away from state coffers to line the pockets of armed groups, political parties and crooked officials. – Agence France-Presse

Hassanein Mohsen spent months protesting against corruption in Iraq. He also lodged complaints against officials. But now he is shunned as a whistleblower and sees only one way out: emigration. – Agence France-Presse

Alfadhel Ahmad writes: There is now a seven-month window for Iraqis and the international community to provide Iraq with an environment that will allow free and fair elections. […]And if the early elections fail, another choice for the global community is to invest in Iraqi people and educating a new political elite. Investing in Iraqi people is much more important for the global community than investing in the Iraqi government. – Washington Institute

Egypt

The giant cargo carrier blocking the Suez Canal was partly refloated early Monday morning, nearly a week after it wedged sideways threatening the world’s global economy, according to the canal’s service provider and sources inside the canal. – Washington Post

Pentagon officials confirmed Sunday that the ongoing stoppage of traffic caused by a grounded container ship in the Suez Canal would affect the movement of U.S. military vessels, but stressed that the Defense Department had alternative means of supporting operations in the area. – The Hill

The U.S. Navy has offered to help Egyptian officials to clear the Suez Canal, where a cargo ship has been stuck and blocking all traffic for days, a spokesperson said on Friday. – Politico

Egypt’s Suez Canal chief said Saturday that “technical or human errors” could be behind the grounding of a huge container ship blocking the vital waterway, causing a backlog of over 300 vessels. – Agence France-Presse

Yemen

Six years after Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen, booby-trapped drones have made the Huthi rebels a potent threat, enabling them to target distant Saudi cities and heavily guarded oil facilities. – Agence France-Presse

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Friday they had attacked Saudi energy and military sites with 18 armed drones, and the kingdom’s energy ministry reported that a projectile had struck a petroleum products distribution station, causing a fire. – Reuters

Daniel Egel and Trevor Johnston write: While the international community, led by the U.N. Special Envoy, remains critical to resolving the conflict and bringing an enduring peace to Yemen, U.S. leadership is essential and has been sorely missed over the last few years. The U.S. Congress has the tools to help shape this effort and could play an important role in ending the conflict and bringing stability to Yemen. – The Hill

Middle East & North Africa

Libyan authorities Saturday announced increased security measures in second city Benghazi and the arrest of two suspects in connection with the killing of a militia leader wanted by the International Criminal Court. – Agence France-Presse

Lev Stesin writes: As the internal crisis in the US deepens and the country’s foreign policy becomes more chaotic and less predictable and as China keeps its relatively low profile in the region, the Middle East starts resembling Europe after the wars of the Reformation. It allows for the emergence of strong durable alliances and stable nation-states pursuing their own interests based on the realpolitik of the region. […]It takes a clever intellect to stay away, and that, unfortunately, is in much deficit these days. – Jerusalem Post

Tilak K. Doshi writes: It is no surprise that the Israeli defense minister said recently that the country intends to develop a “special security arrangement” with new Gulf Arab allies who share common concerns about Iran. It is even less of a surprise that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended Mossad chief Yossi Cohen’s term through June 2021. Cohen is a frequent traveler to Arab countries with which Israel had (or has after the Abraham Accords) no formal diplomatic relations over the past years. No doubt he will continue in his quest of being a key broker for Israeli relations with the Sunni states in the region, this time without the might of the US covering his back. – Jerusalem Post

China

In recent days, Beijing got a taste of President Biden’s new China strategy: First came the dressing-down over human rights by Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a meeting in Alaska. Days later, the European Union, Britain, Canada and the United States joined to censure China’s abuses in Xinjiang with coordinated sanctions. Australia and New Zealand chimed in with statements of condemnation. – Washington Post

The U.S. isn’t ready to lift tariffs on Chinese imports in the near future, but might be open to trade negotiations with Beijing, according to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. – Wall Street Journal

While the couple and many other locals bemoan the arrival of the miners, the Serbian government has enthusiastically welcomed Chinese companies like Zijin, despite their record of flouting environmental rules. – New York Times

At the end of a winding answer on Thursday about competing with China and about his relationship with Xi Jinping, a man he said does not have a democratic “bone in his body,” President Biden offered up a revealing assessment of one of America’s most pressing challenges. – New York Times

China has placed sanctions on a handful of U.S. and Canadian officials in a tit for tat response amid growing tensions over the suppression of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang province. – The Hill

Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement late Saturday condemning China for sanctioning U.S. and Canadian officials amid simmering tensions over the way China treats Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang province. – The Hill

A U.S. religious-rights official said she was “flattered” to be the target of Chinese government sanctions stemming from a dispute between the two countries over Beijing’s treatment of Uighur Muslims, which Washington has described as genocide. – Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday he sees “increasingly adversarial” aspects to the United States’ relationship with China. – Reuters

The United Nations is holding “serious negotiations” with China for unfettered access to the Xinjiang region to verify reports that Muslim Uighurs are being persecuted, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a CBC interview broadcast on Sunday. – Reuters

China’s top ride-hailing app dropped Swedish fashion retailer H&M from its listings as Chinese celebrities stopped endorsing foreign labels in a growing uproar over Western accusations of forced labour in Xinjiang. – Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden said he suggested to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a phone call on Friday that democratic countries should have an infrastructure plan to rival China’s Belt and Road initiative. – Reuters

The White House on Friday criticized China for profiting from human rights abuses and said it was watching the issue of forced labor closely after U.S. and other international companies came under attack from Chinese consumers for committing not to use cotton from China’s Xinjiang region. – Reuters

The United States will have to reach an understanding with China on a new global order to ensure stability or the world will face a dangerous period like the one which preceded World War One, veteran U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger said. – Reuters

China stepped up pressure Monday on foreign shoe and clothing brands to reject reports of abuses in Xinjiang, telling companies that are targeted by Beijing for boycotts to look more closely and pointing to a statement by one that it found no forced labor. – Associated Press

A March 17, 2021 article in the Xinjiang Daily, the official publication of the CCP Xinjiang Committee, criticized both former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and German academic Adrian Zenz, who exposed CCP human rights violations in Xinjiang through his extensive research. – Middle East Media Research Institute 

In an opinion piece in Rosbalt titled ” When Will Beijing Cast a Hungry Glance at Moscow?”, senior journalist Alexander Zhelenin comments on the alliance between Russia and China that was on display in Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Beijing, where the two countries produced a joint document on international issues. Zhelenin agrees that the congruence between the regimes and their mutual annoyance with Western criticism is driving Russia and China together. – Middle East Media Research Institute

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Sunday sidestepped the issue of whether the US should punish China for its handling of the coronavirus. – New York Post

Editorial: We agree that corporations pursuing profits typically improves the welfare of society — we wouldn’t have the baker’s bread, as Adam Smith reminds us, if he wasn’t trying to make money. But we have long maintained that a market needs moral guardrails. China’s treatment of the Uyghurs is out of bounds. Participating in Xinjiang’s cotton economy is direct cooperation in evil. – Washington Examiner

Editorial: Now Beijing is canceling H&M and Nike within its borders for issuing statements decrying the use of forced labor to produce cotton in Xinjiang. H&M has been pulled from major e-commerce stores in China and blocked by several major navigation, review and rating apps; Chinese celebrities have cut ties with Nike. The West does its best not to overly offend the architects of atrocity; the CCP aims to crush those who cross it. No wonder they call us “decadent.” – New York Post

Steven Lee Myers writes: Although officials denied the timing was intentional, the message clearly was. China hopes to position itself as the main challenger to an international order, led by the United States, that is generally guided by principles of democracy, respect for human rights and adherence to rule of law. – New York Times

Matt Pottinger writes: Beijing is trying to engineer victory from the mind of a single leader; free societies like ours harness the human spirit. Therein lies our ultimate advantage. The Communist Party’s leaders are right about one thing: American CEOs, their boards and their investors have to decide which side they want to help win. – Wall Street Journal

Robert Hormats writes: Rather than seeking the support of friends and allies for trade battles with China based on tariffs and similar measures, we can work together on several more positive initiatives where we have common interests relating to competition with China or even finding common ground with Beijing where interests converge. The goal is to present other countries with 21st century options that serve as sound alternatives to China in some areas of advanced technologies. – The Hill

Lawrence J. Haas writes: The United States and China show growing signs of entering a long-term cold war, strikingly similar to the U.S.-Soviet cold war of decades past and demanding the same dogged determination that Washington displayed during that earlier conflict to protect its interests and defend its allies. – The Hill

Edward Luce writes: He has also said that lack of domestic investment is a “bigger threat to national security than the US national debt”. The key to US fortunes lies in how skilfully Biden can do two things at once: bolster America’s middle class while outflanking China on the global economic stage. – Financial Times

Andreas Kluth writes: Germany and the rest of Europe should remember what’s at stake: a conflict between value systems pitting Western notions about rule of law and open societies (however imperfectly those may often be observed in practice) against a Chinese model of overt autocracy. Europe cannot pretend to remain neutral in this contest. A good way to explain this to Beijing is for the EU to hold the investment deal to ransom. – Bloomberg

Clara Ferreira Marques writes: Such policies are already producing avoidable pain and loss of identity, not to mention the missed political opportunity to build the stability that comes with fair representation and diversity. It’s not too late to consider other models. […]This is often favored in developing economies where people are otherwise disadvantaged. Unfortunately, in Russia and China, the trend is still in the opposite direction, toward homogeneity. – Bloomberg

Scott Kennedy, Bonnie S. Glaser, Jude Blanchette, and Matthew P. Goodman write: Needless to say—but apparently necessary to say—the blacklisting of MERICS along with other organizations and scholars, the gross mistreatment of fellow think-tanker Michael Kovrig, and the other recent restrictions are producing all too predictable negative consequences for China. […]If China’s precondition for stable relations with the West is that scholars all agree with Beijing’s position on Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, other “red lines,” and its broader narrative—regardless of where or in which language the opinions are shared—then China is unfortunately choosing to close the door to genuine scholarly exchange. – Center for Strategic and International Studies

South Asia

At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in protests against a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India to Bangladesh as part of celebrations for the country’s 50th anniversary. – New York Times

Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has cultivated and cowed large parts of the country’s normally raucous news media in recent years as part of a broader campaign against dissent. – New York Times

Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday described his Saudi counterpart’s advice to reduce oil stores to tackle high crude prices as “undiplomatic”. – Reuters

Chris Alexander writes: After 20 years of hard effort, the path to a ceasefire and enduring peace in Afghanistan requires collective action, by the U.S. and its allies, to end Pakistan’s proxy war. – The Hill

Russia

The most cutting blow lately against Russian President Vladimir Putin was not President Biden’s recent “killer” ­epithet but the taunt from jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny calling him “grandpa in his ­bunker.” – Washington Post

The United States has invited the leaders of China and Russia to participate in a global summit on climate change in April, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday. – Reuters

Dov S. Zakheim writes: Russia and China do not yet have a formal military alliance. Nevertheless, Washington would do well to plan as if they have one. Because in practice, they already are acting as if they do. – The Hill

Peter Brookes writes: Not only are these weapons potential threats, they also are arguably a signal of Russia’s continuing commitment to the primacy of its nuclear forces as an element of its defense policy, its ongoing drive for military innovation, as well as an effort at diversifying and deepening its strategic forces and military threat. – Heritage Foundation

Samuel Ramani writes: While Russia’s relationships with Iran-aligned militia groups vary in depth, Moscow’s patterns of diplomatic engagement with these organizations deserve more attention. As Russia’s economic interests in Iraq and Lebanon grow, and the Yemen conflict transits toward a peace settlement, Moscow’s relationships with Hashd al-Shaabi, Hezbollah, and the Houthis will continue to strengthen for the foreseeable future. – Middle East Institute

Africa

Insurgents seized control of much of a town in Mozambique on Saturday, after a three-day siege that has left at least several people dead and hundreds of other civilians unaccounted for as government forces try to regain control, according to private security contractors in East Africa and news reports. – New York Times

After months of denial, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia admitted this week that Eritrean troops had been fighting in Tigray, the war-torn northern Ethiopian region where the brutal conflict between pro-government and local fighters has become a byword for atrocities against civilians. – New York Times

Nearly 70,000 Tigrayans like Negusti now live in bleak refugee camps on the edge of the Sudanese desert. They have told their harrowing stories to human rights groups and diplomats who have recorded them as evidence of crimes against humanity and even ethnic cleansing allegedly perpetrated by Ethiopian troops, their Eritrean backers and ethnic militias. – Washington Post

Blinded by its fears of losing influence in Africa and by a colonial view of the continent’s people, France remained close to the “racist, corrupt and violent regime’’ responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and bears “serious and overwhelming” responsibilities, according to a report released Friday. – New York Times

A cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad — this time, its use in a British classroom — is once again stoking anger and national debates about the limits of tolerance, free speech and education. – New York Times

Local officials in northern Mali accused France’s army on Friday of killing six civilians in an airstrike, but French forces said they had hit Islamist militants. – Reuters

Somalia said Kenya is politicizing refugee camps, which have sheltered hundreds of thousands of Somali nationals for three decades, by moving to have them closed. – Bloomberg

Laird Treiber writes: The Biden administration has an opportunity to elevate the United States’ economic and commercial engagement with Africa. It is time to move beyond the unilateral trade preference program (the African Growth and Opportunity Act or AGOA) that has served as the centerpiece of the United States’ economic engagement for two decades and adopt a new approach that recognizes that African countries have evolved significantly and are ready for a more strategic partnership. – Center for Strategic and International Studies

United States

But Asian American advocates are raising alarm that the growing conflict with China is continuing to fan the flames of anti-Asian sentiments in the U.S. and could lead to more hate incidents against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. – The Hill

They are all signs that extremists could be infiltrating the military, according to internal training materials that offer a more detailed view into the array of radical groups and ideologies the Pentagon is trying to keep out of the ranks. – Politico

Hardin Lang and Victoria K. Holt write: Settling our arrears strengthens U.S. legitimacy at the U.N. and around the world. It allows us to work with our partners and allies to tackle global challenges and find opportunities with our adversaries to craft solutions to promote global security and stability. If America is going to lead again on the global stage, it is time to pay our U.N. bill. – The Hill

Max Hastings writes: Already, harsh realities are crowding the new administration. Iran, with which the U.S. hopes to resume dialogue about its nuclear program and disruptive role across the Middle East, remains intransigent. China and Russia make common cause against the West, in defiance as well as discourtesy. […]Even if a reborn American government does business more politely than its predecessor, in our chaotic new multipolar world, it may need to take its friends where it can find them. – Bloomberg

Manya Brachear Pashman writes: Like any virus, anti-Semitism mutates, making it next to impossible for lexicographers to keep up and for governments to recognize its many variants. […]A clear understanding of anti-Semitic lexicon and its history is key to recognizing and fighting the rising hatred of Jews. History has proven that we can’t always count on dictionaries. That’s OK. For the sharpest and clearest picture, anti-Semitism should be seen in higher definition anyway. – Chicago Tribune

Defense

The Pentagon’s Rapid Reaction Technology Office wants industry to pitch “highly innovative” technologies that could benefit war fighters in future wars. – C4ISRNET

The Navy still has major challenges in digging out of its longstanding submarine maintenance backlog even after growing the workforce at the public shipyards, according to a Congressional Budget Office report. – USNI News

The Navy wants to emphasize the development of enablers for unmanned systems – the common interfaces and control stations, the networks, the secure data formats, the autonomy behaviors – as it pursues a hybrid manned/unmanned fleet for the future. – USNI News

Amid growing pressure from left-leaning Democratic lawmakers to reduce and redistribute defense spending by billions of dollars a year, a top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee says his colleagues need to study the intel more closely. – Breaking Defense

Evanna Hu writes: More than simply having the right tools and processes to keep on pace with rapid technological advances, defense acquisition reforms can only be effective when the workforce is sufficiently educated and is surrounded by an empowering culture that rewards mission outcomes rather than regulation compliance. Change starts with the people first and foremost. Defense acquisition reform is not any different. – The Hill