Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
After two years of war, Israel is stronger—and more isolated—than ever IDF says it killed key Hezbollah air defense operative in south Lebanon strike Author of Hostage Eli Sharabi: What my captivity taught me about Hamas and its hateful ideology NYT’s Bret Stephens: Lessons from a long war Two revolutionary guards killed in attack in western Iran, state media say Sanctioned, Iran says it won’t resume nuclear talks with Europeans ‘at this stage’ WINEP’s Holly Dagres: Iranians are not rallying behind the Islamic Republic Trump says he would want to know Ukraine's plans for Tomahawk missiles Syria chooses a parliament of revolutionaries Nine more UN staff detained by Houthis in Yemen, UN spokesperson says China's Premier Li Qiang to visit North Korea in highest-level visit since 2019 UN rights body orders probe into human rights in Afghanistan, with a focus on women and girlsIn The News
Israel
Two years after deadly Hamas attacks triggered wars across the Middle East, negotiators are gathering in Egypt to try to end the bloodshed with a hostage deal and an Israeli pullback from the devastated Gaza Strip. – Wall Street Journal
Israel said on Monday that an additional 171 activists from the Gaza aid flotilla, including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, were deported to Greece and Slovakia. – Reuters
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday that ongoing attempts to end the Gaza war were the most promising since the beginning of the conflict two years ago. – Reuters
The United States under the Biden and Trump administrations has provided at least $21.7 billion in military assistance to Israel since the start of the Gaza war two years ago, according to a new academic study published Tuesday, the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel that provoked the conflict. – Associated Press
Palestinians in Gaza were following the latest effort to stop the war there and release the hostages with a mix of anticipation, cautious optimism and skepticism as Israeli and Hamas officials met Monday for indirect talks in Egypt. – Associated Press
One week after US President Donald Trump, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side, announced a breakthrough in efforts to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, there is still no ceasefire. – Jerusalem Post
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed current developments in the Middle East during a phone call on Monday, the Kremlin stated. – Jerusalem Post
Following sirens in moshav Netiv Ha’Asara, the IDF confirmed on Tuesday morning that a rocket was fired from northern Gaza into Israeli territory. – Jerusalem Post
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that negotiations to free the hostages held by Hamas are “the closest we’ve come” to securing their release, though he cautioned that multiple hurdles remain before an agreement can be finalized. – Jerusalem Post
A prominent Hezbollah operative in the terror group’s air defense array, who was reportedly blinded in Israel’s so-called pager attack last year, was killed in a drone strike in southern Lebanon on Monday, the military said. – Times of Israel
Families of hostages held in Gaza urged the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Monday to give the Nobel Peace Prize to United States President Donald Trump this month for his efforts to secure the release of their loved ones. – Times of Israel
Ahead of the two-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities in Israel, antisemitism shows no sign of slowing, with Jewish communities worldwide confronting rising attacks, spreading anti-Jewish hatred, and an increasingly hostile climate, according to a new report. – Algemeiner
Editorial: It’s unclear whether Netanyahu will be able to remain in power after the fighting ends, though few democratic politicians have ever displayed survival instincts as strong as his. Legislative elections for all 120 seats in the Knesset need to be scheduled by Oct. 27, 2026. As the day after war approaches, Israelis themselves will decide how best to keep the peace, rebuild their frayed relations with much of the world and ensure that nothing like Oct. 7 ever happens again. – Washington Post
Eli Sharabi writes: As the Trump administration attempts to finalize a comprehensive peace deal, I think of the Israelis still being held by Hamas and fervently hope that they will soon be freed. But it’s important for the world to know that lasting peace can only come if the murderous ideology that we witnessed in Hamas and all those associated with them is defeated. Real change will require the wholesale rejection of a culture that fetishizes death, and a reawakening of the desire to embrace and celebrate life. I’m lucky to be alive, and I appreciate that fact each and every day. And I will somehow rebuild. I hope we all can. – Washington Post
Bret Stephen writes: Liberating for Gazans who suffered under Hamas’s Stasi-like domestic apparatus and its willingness to start wars it knew would bring suffering. For Jews, within or outside of Israel, the war should also be a warning. After more than 3,000 years of history, the Jewish condition remains the same: precarious. And while friends and allies are nice, something else hasn’t changed: We are alone. Survival means learning to live with it. – New York Times
Iran
Iran and France indicated on Monday that talks on the release of two French citizens held in Iran in exchange for an Iranian national detained by France were progressing. – Reuters
Two security personnel from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were killed in what state media said was “an anti-revolutionary attack” in the western district of Sarvabad on Tuesday. – Reuters
Northern Iran’s wetlands are collapsing, leaving once-thriving bird habitats eerily silent. In Golestan province, hundreds of thousands of migratory birds failed to arrive this autumn, with drought and upstream dams pushing the region toward ecological collapse. – Newsweek
Alleged leaks from Rostec, Russia’s state defense conglomerate, suggest that Iran may be preparing to acquire dozens of Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets in a landmark deal with Moscow—potentially marking one of Russia’s largest arms exports since its invasion of Ukraine. – Newsweek
Iran does not plan to immediately resume nuclear talks with European nations after they reimposed sanctions, its foreign ministry said on Monday. – Agence France-Presse
An Iranian court on Monday announced the acquittal of Lennart Monterlos, a French-German national accused of espionage and arrested in June during the war between Israel and Iran. – Agence France-Presse
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday that Iran is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles that could “put New York City, Boston, Washington, or Miami under their atomic guns,” during an interview with Ben Shapiro. – Jerusalem Post
Holly Dagres writes: Indeed, the Islamic Republic has never looked more fragile, and the country’s future is now largely up for grabs—shaped by Israeli and U.S. pressure, the eventual post-Khamenei succession, the actions of the IRGC, or some combination of these factors. “The Islamic Republic as a political system,” said Ansari, “is dying a death by a thousand cuts, any one of which could prove fatal.” In recent weeks, memes and videos of the Titanic have gone viral among Iranians, a reflection of the widening view that the Islamic Republic is taking on water. – Washington Institute
Russia and Ukraine
Ukraine has built a defense industry stamping out thousands of artillery shells, armored vehicles and drones in a dizzying array of models and capabilities. It is broadly seen as a key success in fighting the Russian invasion. – New York Times
The Kremlin on Monday said it welcomed President Trump’s stated willingness to extend mutual caps on long-range nuclear weapons, demarcating an area where negotiations between Russia and the United States could proceed despite stalled talks on ending the war in Ukraine. – New York Times
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would want to know what Ukraine planned to do with U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles before agreeing to supply them because he does not want to escalate Russia’s war against Ukraine. – Reuters
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that it remained a mystery who was behind a wave of drone disruption in various European countries, but that the incidents served as a useful reminder to Europeans of the dangers of war. – Reuters
Long-range Ukrainian drones and missiles hit a major Russian ammunition plant, a key oil terminal and an important weapons depot behind the front line, Ukraine’s president and military said Monday, as Kyiv cranked up pressure on Moscow’s military logistics. – Associated Press
Russia’s FSB detained three men who were planning attacks on synagogues across Russia in a counter-terrorism operation, state media reported on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
Samuel Charap and Jeremy Shapiro write: These measures, by contrast, are credible precisely because NATO has already demonstrated its willingness to take them. They can, in other words, give Ukraine confidence that it will not be abandoned—without inspiring false hope. They can make clear to Russia that an attack will bring automatic punishment. And together with Ukraine’s own formidable armed forces (and peacetime provisions of military aid), they can deter the Kremlin and ensure an enduring peace. – Foreign Affairs
Syria
The public was not allowed to vote. Women and minorities fared poorly. But Syria’s first elections since the Assad dictatorship was ousted 10 months ago still generated excitement in the country, where some saw it as another step toward shaking off decades of authoritarian rule. – New York Times
The Syrian army and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reached a ceasefire deal in two districts of Aleppo city, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday, following a spike in tensions between the two sides. – Reuters
The Syrian army has redeployed along several frontlines with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria, the Defense Ministry said on Monday, following a spike in tensions between the two sides. – Jerusalem Post
IDF observers of the 595th Battalion on Monday identified two suspects attempting to smuggle five firearms from Syrian territory into Israeli territory, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement. – Arutz Sheva
Yemen
Nine more United Nations personnel have been detained by Yemen’s Houthi authorities, bringing the total number of arbitrarily held U.N. staff to 53 since 2021, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday. – Reuters
Yemeni forces seized a vessel off the coast of Aden filled with drone components and military gear destined for the Houthis, London-based Arab media site Asharq Al-Aswat reported on Tuesday. The shipment had allegedly originated from Iran. – Jerusalem Post
The Houthis have woven a complex network of connections to other terrorist and militia groups in the Middle Eastern region. A new article at Al-Ain Arabic media, which is usually based on good sources, reveals the role of one of the key figures in the Iranian-backed regime. – Jerusalem Post
Middle East & North Africa
The United Nations’ cultural agency is set to select Egypt’s Khaled El-Enany as its new director general, two diplomatic sources said on Monday. – Reuters
The World Bank has lifted its growth outlook for the region encompassing the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan for 2025, though trimmed its forecast for next year, citing conflict and lower oil production in Iran and Libya. – Reuters
Algeria will invest $60 billion in energy projects between 2025 and 2029 as part of a large-scale strategy to boost oil, gas and hydrogen development, Energy and Mines Minister Mohamed Arkab said on Monday. – Reuters
Turkey has made contact with two Hamas groups holding hostages with whom there has been no communication until now, a source told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
Elie Podeh writes: UNESCO’s charter, which also deals with textbook revisions, states that since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. Accordingly, revising textbooks in Jordan – or elsewhere in the Middle East – aimed at eliminating biased and stereotypical depictions of Jews and Israel is essential for building peace between peoples, even if such peace currently seems distant. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
South Korea’s foreign minister said on Tuesday he hoped that relations between North Korea and China develop in a way that contributes to denuclearisation and peace on the Korean peninsula. – Reuters
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country’s alliance with Russia would continue to develop, in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulating him on his birthday with praises of his leadership. – Reuters
South Korea’s next-generation airborne early warning and control – or AEW&C – aircraft will be based on Bombardier’s Global 6500 airframe, with L3Harris Technologies acting as lead integrator. – Defense News
Victor Cha writes: As noted above, shipbuilding is an area of real mutual gains for the two allies, and Trump would not necessarily be constrained by long-standing guidelines limiting the U.S. partnerships with foreign shipbuilders. The allies also share a mutual interest in reducing South Korea’s dependence on politically unstable supplies of energy from Russia and the Middle East. The commitments made during the August 2025 summit for South Korean purchases of U.S. energy (specifically liquefied natural gas) constitute important steps in this direction, provided the details can be successfully negotiated between the two sides. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
China
China’s Premier Li Qiang will go to North Korea this week in the highest-level visit by a Chinese leader since 2019. – Washington Post
The United Nations resolution that led to Beijing assuming China’s seat from Taipei was about switching representation and did not mention Taiwan, the EU said, commenting on an escalating dispute over the interpretation of the key document. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump should get the Nobel Peace Prize should he be able to convince Chinese President Xi Jinping to abandon the use of force against Taiwan, President Lai Ching-te told a conservative U.S. radio show and podcast in an interview. – Reuters
Thomas J. Christensen, Jeannette Chu, Brian Hart, Scott Kennedy, Henrietta Levin, and Ilaria Mazzocco write: If allies see that Washington is willing to compromise on its own national interest to achieve a détente with Beijing, they can hardly expect the United States to push back on Chinese aggression to defend the national interests of allies. In response, some allies would feel they have no choice but to bandwagon with China. One bad deal would open the door to countless others. President Trump’s planned travel to Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo, before attending APEC in Gyeongju, will provide an excellent opportunity to reassure allies that U.S. national security will remain nonnegotiable in his upcoming talks with Xi. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Graham Allison writes: Trump has signaled his desire for a more ambitious, positive partnership with China. But achieving this will require that the United States remain competitive in what will continue to be an intense, structural rivalry. In the ongoing game of supply chain poker, the United States still holds two unrivaled advantages. The first is an ability to attract the most talented individuals from among the 8 billion inhabitants of Earth and allowing them to realize their dreams in a free society. The second is a network of strong alliances that sustain a balance of power that favors freedom. These are the United States’ pocket aces. Washington should not throw them away. – Foreign Policy
South Asia
Hundreds of hikers were stranded on the lower slopes of the world’s tallest mountain and the surrounding area during a weekend of heavy snowfall, as a holiday week brought many Chinese tourists to the area. At least 350 hikers had been rescued from the Mount Everest snowstorm by noon Monday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. – Washington Post
In the rugged mountains of Pakistan, the resurgent Pakistani Taliban are waging a relentless and deadly guerrilla war against Pakistani security forces, in the biggest terrorism threat the South Asian nation has faced in a dozen years. – New York Times
The World Bank on Tuesday said higher tariffs on Indian goods exported to the U.S. will drag the South Asian growth rate in 2026, even as the current year remains shielded by government spending. – Reuters
A Saudi business delegation is due in Pakistan this week to kick off what Islamabad hopes is a program of investment following a mutual defence agreement though major investments may be dependent on reforms, officials and experts said. – Reuters
The U.N.’s top human rights body agreed Monday to set up an ongoing probe of human rights violations in Afghanistan under the Taliban, including against women and girls, in a measure pushed for by the European Union. – Associated Press
The United Kingdom and India conducted their first-ever dual aircraft carrier operation during a bilateral military exercise in the Indian Ocean this week, as both nations have been alarmed by China’s increasingly assertive behavior across the Indo-Pacific region. – Newsweek
Asia
Japan’s embattled governing party has a new leader: former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi , a hard-line conservative who is poised to become the country’s first female prime minister. – Washington Post
Australia has signed a new defence agreement with Papua New Guinea, its first in more than 70 years, as Canberra seeks to block China from expanding its security presence in the Pacific. – Reuters
Australia’s most populous state criticised a pro-Palestine group’s plan to stage a protest event in Sydney on Tuesday, the second anniversary of the attacks by militant group Hamas that killed 1,200 Israelis and triggered a deadly war in Gaza. – Reuters
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te urged Donald Trump to continue supporting Taiwan, amid mounting concerns over whether the US president could sacrifice the self-governing democracy’s interests in order to engage with Beijing. – Bloomberg
Japan is set to institutionalize coast guard training with neighboring Taiwan amid simmering territorial tensions with China, which has stepped up its presence in disputed waters. – Newsweek
Walter Russell Mead writes: Japan’s aging population and its resistance to immigration are driving the country to automate as much routine work as possible everywhere from automobile factories to retirement homes. Put that trend together with the capabilities a tech-driven defense sector can generate, and Japan could again stun the world with new products, as it did during the 1970s and ’80s […] The country needs another such miracle today. We should all hope that Ms. Takaichi can deliver. – Wall Street Journal
Roger Wicker and Deb Fischer write: A strategy based on peace through strength is the best approach for deterring China, Russia and Iran—the axis of aggression. It requires sustained defense spending that equals 5% of gross domestic product. Some have said this is too costly—but we can’t afford an underresourced military. We don’t get to pick the threats we face, only how to respond. The axis requires a comprehensive strategy that accounts for the contributions of our partners and is backed by the resources necessary to execute it. – Wall Street Journal
Mackenzie Eaglen writes: Passing the Pentagon review was necessary, but it was only step one. Success will depend on execution. To succeed, the administration must treat AUKUS not as a talking point or symbolic gesture, but as a real-world test of whether the United States can still deliver capabilities at the speed of relevance. The Davidson Window is approaching fast. Beijing is racing ahead. Washington must prove it can keep up. – American Enterprise Institute
Europe
French President Emmanuel Macron has lost his fourth prime minister in just over a year, a sign of how the country’s political crisis has engulfed his ranks and constrained his options for pulling France out of a fiscal spiral. – Wall Street Journal
European Union governments have agreed to limit the travel of Russian diplomats within the bloc, the Financial Times said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Hungary should not adopt the euro currency as the European Union is “disintegrating” and Hungary should not tie its fate closer to the bloc, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday in an interview with economic news site EconomX. – Reuters
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday that the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to halt the war in Gaza must be achieved by the start of next week at the latest but added that all the other issues would need time. – Reuters
A Polish court ruled on Monday that the Ukrainian diver wanted by Germany over his alleged involvement in explosions which damaged the Nord Stream gas pipeline must remain in custody for another 40 days, his lawyer said. – Reuters
Authorities in the northern Italian city of Bologna have banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration planned for Tuesday, citing the risk of unrest, following days of protests and clashes with police across Italy, a local representative of the Interior Minister said. – Reuters
The European Union’s top official on Monday warned lawmakers not to fall for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to divide Europe and urged them to work together for the bloc’s 450 million citizens, ahead of two no confidence votes this week. – Associated Press
Leaders of the Western Balkan countries on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to a joint European future, pledging to deepen cooperation and accelerate reforms that would bring the region closer to the European Union. – Associated Press
European defense companies may grow their revenue from European customers by an average 10.5% to 11.5% a year for the next decade, as most countries commit to NATO’s 2035 spending targets, financial research firm Rothschild & Co. Redburn said. – DefenseNews
Africa
The International Criminal Court found a Sudanese militia leader guilty of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur two decades ago, a rare conviction for an institution whose international standing is under threat from U.S. sanctions and sexual assault allegations against its chief prosecutor. – Wall Street Journal
Protesters returned to the streets of cities in Madagascar on Monday for a third week of anti-government demonstrations that are now demanding President Andry Rajoelina’s resignation. – Reuters
The African Development Bank (AfDB) will lend Nigeria $500 million this year as part of a $1 billion budget support programme, following economic reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu, an executive director of the bank said on Monday. – Reuters
Announcing his bid for an eighth term in July, Paul Biya, Cameroon’s 92-year-old president, said he was heeding “numerous and insistent” calls to stay in office, but this year’s election cycle has also featured striking appeals for him to step aside. – Reuters
The Democratic Republic of Congo will permanently ban cobalt exporters that violate its new quota system, President Felix Tshisekedi has warned, as the world’s top producer tightens controls to curb fraud and stabilize prices. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration sent another third-country deportation flight to the small African nation of Eswatini on Monday, officials from both countries said, the second in recent months despite objections from lawyers for the migrants. – Reuters
Oge Onubogu writes: In an era in which Africa is being courted by other major countries, including U.S. allies such as Japan, with offers of free trade zones and immigration to foster cultural exchange, the United States must make clear what makes it different—and better. Only then can the Trump administration’s commercial diplomacy reap the benefits it claims, for the United States as well as for Africa. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Americas
A South American trade bloc ruled Monday that Peru is failing to meet its commitments to curb illegal gold mining and mercury trafficking, siding with Indigenous groups who say their Amazon rivers and food supply are being poisoned. – Washington Post
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday said he has asked Pope Leo XIV to help maintain peace in the South American country. – Washington Post
Former Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes said on Monday that the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had lifted sanctions imposed on him two years ago for his involvement in acts of alleged corruption. – Reuters
The World Bank nudged up its estimate for economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean next year, though the region remains the world’s slowest-growing due to stubborn inflation, high debt and rising uncertainties due to U.S. tariff policies. – Reuters
Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said on Sunday that Washington had been warned of a “false flag operation” by “extremist sectors of the local Venezuelan right” to plant explosives at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. – Reuters
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asked U.S. President Donald Trump during a phone conversation Monday to lift the 40% tariff imposed by the U.S. government on Brazilian imports. – Associated Press
Protesters both for and against Ecuador ’s President Daniel Noboa rallied in the capital Quito on Sunday after a state of emergency took effect in 10 provinces. – Associated Press
The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday sanctioned a network of companies and their affiliates that allegedly supplied precursor chemicals to make fentanyl to a faction of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. – Associated Press
United States
President Trump signaled a willingness to strike a deal on funding healthcare subsidies demanded by Democrats, putting a spotlight on nascent efforts on Capitol Hill to end the government shutdown. – Wall Street Journal
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he had signed an executive order to allow construction of an access road to the Ambler mining district in Alaska and unlock domestic supplies of copper and other minerals. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday will meet Edan Alexander, who was believed to be the last surviving U.S. hostage held by Palestinian militants in Gaza when the Israeli-American was handed over by Hamas in May, the White House said on Monday. – Reuters
Tighter U.S. immigration policies, particularly for the H-1B skilled-worker visa, are making families in India less inclined to marry their children to Indian citizens based in the United States for fear the potential partners might lose their job or immigration status, according to matchmakers, academics and prospective brides and grooms. – Reuters
Nearly two years after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and the country’s ensuing invasion of the Gaza Strip, Americans are more divided on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than they were before the war – and concerns are mounting about the safety of Jewish communities at home. – Associated Press
President Donald Trump’s latest bid to deploy the military on U.S. soil over local opposition is triggering a new conflict with blue state governors that is playing out in the courts as Trump envisages a country where armed soldiers patrol U.S. streets. – Associated Press
American Jews are installing security systems and buying guns in large numbers, according to survey data released nearly two years into the war in Gaza. – Jerusalem Post
Gordon Crovitz writes: The U.S. government should restore efforts by its intelligence agencies to discover and alert Americans and our allies to false claims spread by enemies of the West. Social media platforms should disclose to their users when it’s hostile governments or their agents making propaganda claims in posts. AI models should disinfect themselves by relying on quality journalism, not foreign propaganda, and by refusing to spread false claims when people ask about topics in the news. One truth Americans might keep in mind: Unilateral disarmament never defeats the enemy. – Washington Post
Cybersecurity
Alphabet Inc.’s Google lost a US Supreme Court bid to pause major changes to its Google Play app store in an antitrust case filed by Fortnite-maker Epic Games Inc. – Bloomberg
White House AI czar David Sacks defended the Trump administration’s approach to China and said it was essential for the US to dominate artificial intelligence, seeking to rebuff criticism from advocates of a harder line with Beijing. – Bloomberg
Tech experts and companies offering encrypted messaging services are warning that pending European regulation, which would grant governments broad authority to scan messages and content on personal devices for criminal activity, could spell “the end” of privacy in Europe. – Cyberscoop
Three House Democrats questioned the Department of Homeland Security on Monday over a reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract with a spyware provider that they warn potentially “threatens Americans’ freedom of movement and freedom of speech.” – Cyberscoop
Federal cyber authorities and threat hunters are on edge following Oracle’s Saturday disclosure of an actively exploited zero-day vulnerability the Clop ransomware group used to initiate a widespread data theft and extortion campaign researchers initially warned about last week. – Cyberscoop
A suspected China-linked cyber-espionage campaign has targeted a Serbian government department overseeing aviation, as well as other European institutions, according to new research from the cybersecurity firm StrikeReady. – The Record
Editorial: Who knows if OpenAI and other developers will be able to generate the revenue to pay for their massive investments. And some companies might fail. But as the Amazon founder noted, “when the dust settles and you see who are the winners, society benefits from those inventions.” It’s far better that private markets drive investment than government, as was the case with the electric-vehicle bubble created during the Biden years. – Wall Street Journal
Defense
As a result of the ongoing government shutdown, the U.S. Army canceled an annual, service-wide competition that rewards military teamwork. – DefenseNews
From the shores of Grenada to the deserts of Iraq, the Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) shielded and carried Marines from ship to sea to shore for over 50 years. Now, after a Sept. 26 ceremony, the famous “workhorse” has been officially decommissioned. – DefenseNews
The U.S. Navy is looking for an American shipbuilder to establish a Singapore-based lead maintenance activity in the Southeast Asian city-state to support the fleet’s regional repair operations by partnering with shipyards across the Indo-Pacific by 2027. – USNI News
Korean-owned Hanwha has hired a former U.S. Navy admiral to lead the company’s new shipbuilding enterprise in the United States. – USNI News
The U.S. Navy recently deployed Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC), as well as several other unmanned systems, to train against swarms of enemy drones during two multinational exercises held in the North Atlantic. – USNI News
Edward Blum writes: Remove barriers that block opportunity. Widen recruitment. Provide financial resources where needed. The more the country’s policies reward achievement, character and service, the more Americans of all backgrounds will embrace them. The Coast Guard’s motto is “Semper Paratus”—Always Ready. A student who wants to stand midwatch in rough seas or fly into a hurricane shouldn’t be told to first check the racial demographics of his university for a scholarship. The Coast Guard must do what our Constitution already requires: Open the door to all who are qualified and willing to serve. – Wall Street Journal
Henry Sokolski writes: The president has taken the first step with his insistence that Iran abandon its uranium enrichment program. He needs to follow through by insisting that future US deals with non-nuclear weapons states require that they steer clear of nuclear fuel-making as well. Enforcing the NPT beyond bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities would help, too. America believes laws are meant to be broken. But, many important states—including Japan and Germany—think just the opposite, that laws are meant to be followed, unless they’ve been generally renounced. Doubling down on the NPT would strengthen this point and keep the current nuclear club from growing into a crowd. – National Interest