Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
New Gaza flotilla due to set sail in October in bid to break Israeli blockade Trump says renewed US campaign against Iran won't last long Iran warns US against Israeli attack on south Lebanon ridge held by Hezbollah, sources say Russia is testing NATO’s ability to hold back from a hot war Syria, eyeing role as Middle East hub, offers options to bypass Hormuz Saudi nuclear agreement could open a path to 20% enrichment WSJ Editorial: The fight to get the U.N. out of Lebanon Himalayan disaster tests China's clout as regional leader Chinese warships are cruising too close for comfort off Japan's shores Taiwan proposes extra $4.6 billion in defence spending for this year EU to hit back at Russia after drone attack as Germany probes new sabotage cases Hegseth extends Mideast deployments into 2027, escalating strain on troopsIn The News
Israel
Settler violence in the West Bank is causing diplomatic damage to Israel but has declined in recent months, while an Israeli attempt to reach a security agreement with Syria has failed, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) is cutting in half the number of Palestinians it can support with food assistance in the West Bank due to funding shortfalls. – Jerusalem Post
Israel Police announced that it had killed three terrorists during operations by Jerusalem’s Border Police in the village of Bayt Rima, West Bank. – Jerusalem Post
US President Donald Trump said that Israel should not worry about the ongoing escalation with Iran, and that he doesn’t expect the conflict with the Islamic Republic to last much longer, in a series of comments on Wednesday. – Times of Israel
A new flotilla is expected to depart Europe next month and set sail on the Mediterranean in the latest bid by anti-Israel activists to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, according to reports Wednesday. – Times of Israel
Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that plans to facilitate the mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza remain under discussion and were merely “frozen” by US President Donald Trump, not taken off the table entirely. – Times of Israel
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel was prepared to respond “with great force” if attacked by Iran during the upcoming Jewish holiday period, after the largest exchange of fire between Washington and Tehran since July. – Times of Israel
A former IDF soldier was charged on Wednesday with training to fight abroad with the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group, the Israel Police and Shin Bet security agency said. – Times of Israel
Dr. Michael Mirilashvili writes: Israel has answered questions about its conduct for decades, and it must continue to answer legitimate ones. But after decades of exceptional institutional scrutiny, Israel is entitled to ask questions of the United Nations as well. If the answers are convincing and followed by genuine reform, cooperation can be restored. If they are not, Israel should continue building other mechanisms for international engagement. Israel is not refusing accountability. It is refusing to accept a system in which Israel is perpetually required to answer, while the institutions judging it consider themselves exempt from answering in return. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
Last week, the Trump administration unveiled what it billed as an “Economic D-Day” aimed at forcing Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and return to the negotiating table. – Wall Street Journal
The sudden recent escalation of the Iran war has cast renewed attention on its civilian toll after Iran reported 18 dead in the last U.S. assault, including four killed and dozens wounded at a wedding. – Reuters
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the renewed U.S. campaign against Iran would not continue for “too long” after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July. – Reuters
Iran has added more ships it deems as non-compliant and subject to fines, confiscation or detention if they try to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a government website. – Reuters
Iran has warned the United States that it would respond forcefully to an Israeli offensive on a mountainous ridge in southern Lebanon where Iranian military personnel are holed up alongside Hezbollah fighters, three officials briefed on the message told Reuters. – Reuters
Brent crude prices settled 1% higher in a volatile session on Wednesday, driven by renewed military strikes between the U.S. and Iran that have restricted world oil supply. – Reuters
The relationship between Iran and Russia is growing as both sides “need each other desperately,” an expert told Fox News Digital on Wednesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced support for the regime in Tehran. – Fox News
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres came under fire from watchdogs after he failed to publicly address the killing of protesters in January and executions carried out by the Iranian regime during a meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier this week. – Jerusalem Post
Barton Swaim writes: Now, with an angry population and a government deprived of money, a bit of Reaganesque rhetoric might have a powerful effect. And shelve the objection that Iran aggressively censors what its citizens can view online. If Ronald Reagan’s anticommunist speeches found their way into the dark cells of Siberian gulags, Mr. Trump can speak to the Islamic Republic’s domestic foes and know he’ll be heard. “How difficult it is,” wrote the great Polish poet and dissident Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004), “for totalitarian systems to combat the word, which slips over borders more rapidly and more effectively than people on the outside imagine.” – Wall Street Journal
Eric Wargotz writes: Jordan and Gulf partners saved American lives by intercepting missiles. Still, defensive shield tactics eventually drain ammunition supplies. Allies must share real-time radar data and deploy electronic jamming to kill drone signals at the launch pads. Finally, European and Asian nations must deploy warships. These countries rely heavily on Gulf oil. They must provide direct naval escorts to secure the shipping channels. The Larak Island strike was a necessary defensive action. Reactive bombing is not enough. America and its allies must permanently neutralize Iran’s island fortresses to secure lasting peace. – Washington Examiner
James F. Jeffrey writes: Washington thus should play to a stalemate but be ready to respond with a truly devastating counteroffensive if Iran raises the stakes. With the U.S. position getting stronger over time, Iran’s only real advantages lie in pushing back just enough to avoid triggering such a U.S. response. A stalemate accompanied by the right threats can be a strategy for not only winning the war but also for solidifying and building on the essential gains Washington has made in its larger three-year conflict with Iran and its proxies. It will not transform the Middle East on its own, but by putting Iran in a weaker position, it could encourage much-needed restraint from Tehran. – Foreign Affairs
Russia and Ukraine
Russia’s increasingly brazen string of small-scale attacks in Europe creates a dilemma for the continent’s leaders: Are they ready to respond to Moscow with more than sanctions and diplomatic wrist-slaps? The answer is not yet. – Wall Street Journal
A shootout in downtown Kyiv between rival Ukrainian units has exposed a festering feud between two powerful intelligence agencies that are competing for influence and resources in the war against Russia. – Wall Street Journal
Russian President Vladimir Putin showered praise on U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner early Wednesday, saying they were “always welcome” in Moscow, but accused Ukraine of “state terrorism,” adding that “one does not negotiate with terrorists.” – Washington Post
It was a bumper harvest this year and barns in southern Ukraine are filled with great golden mounds of grain. Yet farmers in Ukraine’s prime agricultural belt say they are facing ruin, and experts warn the world may be staring at another global food shock as Russia and Ukraine, both major exporters of grain, intensify attacks on ports and shipping in the Black Sea. – New York Times
Russia will close Germany’s Goethe-Institut cultural centres, Russian newswires quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Thursday, after Germany blamed Russia for a drone incident at the Leipzig/Halle Airport. – Reuters
Russian drones tore into central Kyiv on Wednesday morning, wounding 11 people and damaging residential and university buildings on the seventh day of nearly round-the-clock attacks that have upended daily life in Ukraine’s capital. – Reuters
Russia vowed to head off any disruption to civil aviation on Wednesday after a warning by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that its drones had made Russian airspace dangerous to use. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin has renamed the planned “Power of Siberia 2” gas pipeline to China to the “Power of Baikal” pipeline, Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Germany was displaying an inconsistent and absurd position by choosing to shutter the Russian consulate in Bonn, a decision Berlin took after a drone incident at the Leipzig/Halle Airport. – Reuters
Ani Chkhikvadze writes: After the case returned to public attention in 2023, Budanov and then-SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk met and publicly rejected the idea of a conflict between their agencies. Both men later portrayed the competition between the services as healthy. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the SBU and HUR have acquired weapons, combat formations, and broad freedom to conduct operations. Both services have conducted front-line missions, long-range drone attacks, and sabotage operations. Their competition has helped produce some of Ukraine’s most audacious wartime operations, but it has also encouraged struggles over personnel, resources, and public credit. The Kyiv shootout showed the danger of rivalry between heavily armed agencies turning into disruption. – Washington Examiner
Syria
The trucks began shuttling between the refineries of southern Iraq and the Syrian port of Baniyas in April, initially as an experiment by Iraqi oil exporters seeking to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz after cargo traffic in the waterway was stopped by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. – Washington Post
Children in dusty clothes played in the rubble in Damascus’s Tadamon neighborhood, the site of repeated massacres, searching for human remains as if they were scouting for seashells on a sandy shore. – New York Times
Female Kurdish fighters who became global symbols of the fight against Islamic State are negotiating with Syria’s new authorities to retain a combat role after a government overhaul left their future uncertain. – Reuters
Egypt
When the Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Cairo, he was greeted by children wearing T-shirts emblazoned with his face. Performers staged a traditional dance. The president of Egypt himself came to the airport to receive him. – New York Times
At least 22 people were killed when a bus overturned in Egypt on Wednesday, the country’s health ministry said. The bus was traveling between Dahab and Nuweiba, popular Red Sea resort towns in the Sinai Peninsula on the Gulf of Aqaba. – New York Times
Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Middle Eastern nations to oppose external interference and consider reshaping the region’s security order during a visit to Egypt on Wednesday, as Beijing seeks to expand its influence amid the U.S. war against Iran. – Reuters
Gulf States
New details of the Trump administration’s agreement to provide Saudi Arabia with a civilian nuclear program are spurring criticism that the landmark deal doesn’t do enough to head off the risk of nuclear proliferation. – Wall Street Journal
Three liquefied natural gas cargoes loaded in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been transferred between ships outside the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks for delivery to India and Japan, according to ship-tracking firms. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, said on Wednesday that an Iranian attack on an oil tanker owned by its national shipping company had killed two Filipino seafarers. Sidr, owned by Bahri, was one of two supertankers carrying Saudi oil reported to have been hit late on Monday while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
NATO member Turkey would consider taking its relations with the China and Russia-led security bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to a higher level, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Officials are urging Americans to steer clear of a Middle Eastern destination known for its dramatic desert landscapes, rugged mountains and picturesque coastline. The U.S. State Department updated its “Level 3: Reconsider Travel” travel advisory for Oman on Aug. 30. – Fox News
The IDF struck Hezbollah infrastructure near Nabatiya, southern Lebanon, on Wednesday, after terrorists launched two explosive drones towards soldiers operating in the Ali al-Taher Ridge, the military said. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: This mocks the intent of the push to end Unifil, given force by the U.N. Security Council. President Trump may be good at killing bad ideas, but Europe is good at reviving them. “We’d like to keep the French as far away as possible,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said in April. “They’re not needed. They’re not a positive influence, particularly not in Lebanon.” European efforts to push Israel out of Lebanon before Beirut has disarmed Hezbollah will prepare the conditions for another war. France may come to a bilateral agreement with Lebanon, and if it wants to help train the military, that could be an improvement. But the Trump Administration is right to say no to U.N. peacekeepers and no to an international force in Southern Lebanon, where they help rather than hinder Hezbollah. – Wall Street Journal
Korean Peninsula
North Korea’s revision of rules governing the Workers’ Party lays the groundwork for more centralised control under the reclusive state’s leader Kim Jong Un, a South Korean security institute report said on Thursday. – Reuters
South Korea and Japan held their first meeting on implementing a supply chain partnership in Tokyo, discussing ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation, Seoul’s Industry Ministry said on Wednesday. – Reuters
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Wednesday that conditions should be created to resume dialogue between the United States and North Korea, according to the presidential Blue House. – Reuters
South Korea’s government said on Thursday it would establish a presidential office in the administrative city of Sejong by August 2029 and relocate about 350 more public institutions from the Seoul metropolitan region, as part of a drive to curb the capital’s dominance. – Reuters
South Korea will merge a string of state-run energy and transport companies as part of a broader overhaul of public institutions that is aimed at cutting costs and strengthening the country’s competitiveness at a time of rising power demand. – Bloomberg
Editorial: By contrast, the US might be able to contemplate some limited troop drawdowns — one of Kim’s central demands — if they’re tightly coordinated with South Korea and part of a wider plan to reposition US forces to deter China. Closer ties would also help mitigate risks, whether an agreement is struck or not. The three allies should be knitting together their missile defenses more seamlessly, perhaps even discussing a three-way mutual-defense pledge. An interim deal might help keep Kim in check; a resolute and well-resourced alliance certainly will. – Bloomberg
China
China has spent years building a relationship with Nepal, boosting trade and gaining influence with its small Himalayan neighbor. After deadly mudslides and flooding raged through part of their shared border last week, China is now under pressure to show its growing embrace can help Nepal, too. – Wall Street Journal
China’s Ministry of Natural Resources conducted a survey of waters east of Taiwan last month that it said would help it create “one map” for territorial planning and resource management, state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday. – Reuters
China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang told Russian President Vladimir Putin that prospects were “broad and promising” to strengthen cooperation on development in the far east, the official news agency Xinhua said on Thursday. – Reuters
China’s navy has introduced a new guided-missile frigate designed for coastal as well as open-sea attacks after 20 years in the making, according to Chinese state media. – Defense News
Andreas Kluth writes: It would be disastrous if this understanding got lost again in today’s world of increasing great-power rivalry, disorder and strife. Adding tactical nukes back into the arsenals and war plans of the US or any power, in the Taiwan Strait or anywhere, is the wrong answer to today’s conflicts. The only way to step back from the brink is to get the leaders of the main nuclear powers — and at a minimum the big three in Washington, Moscow and Beijing — to address the danger openly and cooperate in managing it, with new arms-control talks. Trump and Xi must make a start when they next meet. – Bloomberg
Michael Sobolik and Olivia Enos write: Trump should move securing the release of Gulshan Abbas to the top of his list when Xi meets with him in Washington. It’s a powerful pressure point for the president to leverage, and it is the only right response to Beijing’s unacceptable efforts to silence American citizens. The president should also consider the numerous other political prisoners in China: U.S. citizen Min Zin (whom Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently determined is wrongfully detained in China), the eight remaining Zion Church leaders, and Jimmy Lai. As long as the CCP rules China, human rights concerns will continue to pervade Washington’s diplomatic relations with Beijing. Better to elevate them and exploit a key weakness for Xi than to ignore them and leave leverage on the table. – Washington Examiner
South Asia
Russia and India, the second-largest importer of Russian oil, have built a functioning payments infrastructure using roubles and rupees, which now account for 96% of bilateral trade, a senior Russian banker said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Rescue teams raced on Wednesday to reach dozens of workers believed to be trapped inside hydropower tunnels in Nepal’s mountains, offering one of the last hopes of finding survivors a week after a Himalayan flood killed more than 1,200 people. – Reuters
Nepal plans to rebuild an early-warning system for landslides on part of its border with China, installing seismic sensors, cameras and a satellite link, two Nepali government sources told Reuters, a week after a glacial flood killed more than 1,000. – Reuters
India plans to seal free trade agreements with the Gulf Cooperation Council and Israel once conditions in the region improve, the South Asian nation’s commerce minister said, as New Delhi seeks to diversify its export markets. – Bloomberg
Asia
The Chinese warships that sail close to the Japanese island of Amami-Oshima make Naruhito Kamada nervous. A stocky former sumo wrestler, the mayor of this small city here worries there might be a collision one day in the narrow channel that connects the East China Sea with the Pacific Ocean. – Wall Street Journal
Australia and the United States said they would boost their defence ties in a move that could expand the U.S. military presence in Australia, while strengthening deterrence across the Pacific, where China has been expanding its influence. – Reuters
The chair of the regional Pacific Islands Forum said on Thursday he was hoping to gain consensus from member nations to condemn a Chinese missile test in the region, on the final day of a summit dominated by a dispute between Beijing and Taiwan. – Reuters
Nearly 800 Indonesians have fallen ill in separate incidents of food poisoning linked to the government’s free meals programme, a member of a parliamentary commission overseeing health said, including more than 500 students in East Java province this week. – Reuters
A court in Vietnam sentenced 11 people to death in one of the country’s largest drug trafficking cases after an investigation that began when four flight attendants were caught carrying narcotics hidden in toothpaste tubes in 2023, state media reported on Thursday. – Reuters
Taiwan’s cabinet on Thursday proposed an additional T$145.7 billion ($4.59 billion) in defence spending for this year for systems including drones and anti-ballistic missiles. – Reuters
Husain Haqqani and Aparna Pande write: For now, the Quad, IMEC, I2U2, and AUKUS continue to exist, but Washington sees them through a purely transactional and operational prism. This transactional, mercurial approach to the Indo-Pacific is unlikely to produce a world order that is “fairer” to American interests. Without reliable and effective allies in Asia, the United States would yield the region to China’s pre-eminence. A major shift of this magnitude should not happen without adequate debate among Americans or discussions with allies. – The National Interest
Europe
Europe has put off buying natural gas for the winter in a big, potentially risky bet that the Iran war will be over soon and prices will drop. The European Union’s gas storage facilities are only 65% full, their lowest level toward the end of summer in at least 15 years. – Wall Street Journal
Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech, who was accused of commissioning the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, was acquitted on Wednesday at the end of a two-month trial. – Reuters
The suspect in a shooting that killed one person and injured six others at a rave party in Aarau, northern Switzerland, at the weekend handed himself in and admitted responsibility for the attack, Swiss police said on Wednesday. – Reuters
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Wednesday to increase pressure on Russia, including with new sanctions, after an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany that she said showed Moscow’s growing “recklessness”. – Reuters
German police were on Wednesday investigating a second sabotage attempt on the electricity grid within 24 hours, a day after Berlin blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack at an airport. – Reuters
For the first time in recent history, Danish conscripts have been deployed to Greenland, as Denmark moves to bolster its presence in the Arctic after U.S. demands to acquire the territory. – Reuters
Sweden’s ruling right-wing coalition has nearly caught up with the centre-left opposition bloc ahead of a September 13 election for parliament, a new opinion poll showed on Wednesday, pointing to a close vote in which either side could win. – Reuters
Estonia’s parliament elected constitutional lawyer Ulle Madise as the Baltic country’s next president on Wednesday, making her the second woman to hold the largely ceremonial post. – Reuters
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur resigned from government following a furor over a botched European Union-funded deal to buy artillery shells for Ukraine. – Bloomberg
Hungary started probes into the scandal that sparked the decline of former Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s regime, aiming to bring closure and support the overhaul of state institutions. – Bloomberg
Ireland needs to be prepared for a vote on whether to reunify with the UK’s Northern Ireland region, Irish foreign minister Helen McEntee said. – Bloomberg
An explosion at a train station in Germany injured two people, both Ukrainian citizens, on Wednesday. Police say they found a suspicious package following the explosion and ordered the Augsburg train station closed. – Fox News
The fire at a Polish drone factory supplying weapons to Ukraine was “deliberate arson,” and Russia is likely behind the attack, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a cabinet meeting Wednesday. – Politico
Slovenia’s parliament on Wednesday allowed prosecutors to pursue a criminal case against former Prime Minister Robert Golob over allegations that he improperly meddled in police staffing after taking office in 2022. – Politico
Lesia Bidochko writes: Germany could make an agreement on novel E.U. budget resources conditional on their being spent in ways explicitly designed to bolster E.U. autonomy, such as research, development, and procurement of “made in European Union” solutions. The build-up of German and E.U. military and technological capacities, some of which are already on the way, should not be guided by the fantasy of constructing a European power bloc on par with the United States, China, or Russia. The aim should be more modest: to avoid becoming a plaything in the games of adversarial great powers. – War on the Rocks
Africa
The head of the World Health Organization on Wednesday said the Ebola response needs to be scaled up to tackle the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with tracking the chains of transmission still posing a challenge. – Reuters
Schools reopened this week in areas of Democratic Republic of Congo hardest hit by Ebola, after authorities decided the risk of transmission was outweighed by the risk of pupils struggling with remote learning, an official told Reuters on Wednesday. – Reuters
An editor of one of Kenya’s largest media groups was abducted by armed men and released hours later at the edge of a dam more than 200 km (125 miles) away, his employer said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Uganda on Wednesday named its blended crude oil grade “Pearl Sweet”, a key step ahead of the East African country’s planned start of commercial oil production by the end of this year. – Reuters
Southern African pipeline operator CPMZ’s project to boost capacity of its 294 kilometres (around 183 miles) conduit between Mozambique and landlocked Zimbabwe by around two-thirds to cater for growing regional demand for diesel, petrol and jet fuel was officially launched on Wednesday. – Reuters
Survivors of one of the defining events of the anti-apartheid struggle, the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, and their dependents have applied for permission to institute a class action against South Africa’s government over the failure to repeal a 65-year-old law that prevents them from seeking damages. – Bloomberg
Angolan President João Lourenço overhauled the top ranks of the security establishment as he enters his final year in office. – Bloomberg
The Americas
Chevron plans to significantly expand its operations in Venezuela, the U.S. oil giant said on Wednesday, taking yet another step to broaden the U.S. sphere of influence in the South American country. – New York Times
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro urged a U.S. judge on Wednesday to dismiss criminal drug trafficking charges against him, arguing he should be immune from prosecution as the head of a sovereign country. – Reuters
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s lead over right-wing challenger Senator Flavio Bolsonaro narrowed further ahead of October’s election, a Quaest poll commissioned by Globo showed on Wednesday. – Reuters
Brazil’s Congress approved a critical minerals bill that gives the government greater scrutiny over mining deals, despite warnings from the industry that the rules risk deterring foreign investment. – Bloomberg
Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez assured citizens that a presidential election would “without a doubt” take place when the country “is ready,” but refrained from sharing a timeline. – Bloomberg
Argentine President Javier Milei wielded social media as a powerful weapon when he stormed to power in 2023. Now the online machinery is laying bare the challenges before his reelection bid next year. – Bloomberg
The U.S. military on Wednesday intercepted and sank a vessel in the Eastern Pacific that it said was supporting a “narco-terrorist” organization, according to U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). – Fox News
Editorial: Whatever happens, not a single American tax dollar should be wasted on rebuilding Venezuelan oil infrastructure. Taking on projects that sophisticated oil majors have yet to pursue smacks of a bad deal. A better path for the U.S. government would be to reduce the risk of doing business in Venezuela by securing free and fair elections as soon as possible and shoring up the rule of law. – Washington Post
Jose Lev Alvarez writes: Failing to act on this window of opportunity constitutes a catastrophic mistake. At a time when Western security demands absolute unity, European allies frequently compromise that security by indulging in commercial courtships with Beijing and thumbing their noses at American military requests. Milei offers a refreshing partnership that places American energy independence and regional security at the forefront. Washington must seize the moment, trade sentimental history for future dominance, and rewrite the geopolitical map of the Southern Hemisphere. – Washington Examiner
Gil Guerra writes: In other words, the agreement’s commercial opening is likely to survive even if its most extraordinary provisions do not. Of course, given the unreliable nature of the Venezuelan regime, it is also possible that Rodríguez reneges on the deal entirely once doing so becomes convenient. The deal’s most ironic element may be that given how long it will take to actually generate meaningful results, in the best-case scenario neither its American nor its Venezuelan architects will be in power to see it bear fruit. – The Dispatch
North America
Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard met U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday as Mexico pushed for progress on U.S. tariffs on cars and steel, a key source of friction in the countries’ trade relationship. – Reuters
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government will extend the suspension of a fuel excise tax to Jan. 31, 2027, a move that comes amid surging energy costs fueled by the war in Iran. – Bloomberg
James Stranko writes: Canada doesn’t have its own telephone country code. Someone in Vancouver is different from someone in Miami, but in the same way that someone in Seattle is different from someone in Dallas. Canada’s and America’s regional and even ethnic identities map neatly onto one another, from the Pacific Northwest and the Great Plains to the Atlantic provinces and New England. What about Quebec? Ever hear of Louisiana? What does Canada stand for? After many years of asking, I still don’t know. But Canadians need to figure it out, or they will stand to lose the custom of its largest trading partner and potentially even the territory of two of its most important provinces. No amount of nicety can get those things back. – Wall Street Journal
David Marcus writes: Both Canada and the United States have good reasons to just make a deal by the upcoming deadline and put this all behind them, at least for now. But with each side blaming the other for the breakdown in talks, it may be too heavy a lift. If talks fail, the real question won’t be how it impacts the midterms, but rather, whether it leads Canada to lean more heavily on other partners such as China, and whether Venezuela can actually be stable enough to attract oil companies away from friendly, old Canada. – Fox News
United States
A Coast Guard plane carrying Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made an emergency landing at Washington’s Reagan National Airport Wednesday afternoon after one of the plane’s engines failed and caught fire, according to a spokesman for the agency. – Wall Street Journal
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s surprise trip last week to Moscow, casting it as an effort to keep communication channels open with Russia. – Bloomberg
A disagreement between Chinese and US officials at a Group of 20 finance chiefs meeting this week mostly revolved around a dispute over one word, according to people familiar with the talks. – Bloomberg
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from carrying out for now the president’s latest effort to impose new limits on automatic birthright citizenship after losing an earlier legal fight before the US Supreme Court. – Bloomberg
The FBI said a 17-year-old from Maine is the first child federally charged and adjudicated for crimes stemming from their involvement in 764, a violent extremist collective. – Cyberscoop
Chad Wolf writes: Unlike many other policy challenges, the federal government already has many of the authorities it needs. What is missing is the muscular enforcement needed to combat the problem. The private sector must also do its part […] If tech companies can identify copyrighted music, political content and alleged “misinformation” within seconds, then they should be able to identify an illegal injectable drug. The lesson from the fentanyl crisis could not be clearer: America cannot afford to ignore foreign chemical supply chains until Americans begin to pay the price. Today, the product is Reta. Tomorrow, it will be something else. The drug is the warning. The pipeline is the treat. – Fox News
Cybersecurity
Victims from the Tumbler Ridge massacre filed 30 lawsuits against OpenAI over its failure to alert police about ChatGPT interactions with the suspect months before the February mass shooting in Canada. – Wall Street Journal
Norwegian browser maker Opera on Wednesday lost its court challenge against EU antitrust regulators’ decision to exempt Microsoft’s browser Edge from rules reining in the power of Big Tech. – Reuters
A unit of Thomson Reuters detected a cybersecurity incident in 11 U.S. states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada on June 30 involving the company’s C-Track case management platform, according to a notice from the company on Wednesday and a statement by the chief justices of three Ontario courts, which use the platform for digital court record management. – Reuters
The FBI said on Wednesday it was investigating a report that tens of millions of drivers’ licenses belonging to people in the United States and Canada were being sold on the dark web. – Reuters
Two-thirds of European Union governments have pledged money to back an EU plan to create seven large AI compute hubs, the bloc’s most significant industrial policy push in the global race for artificial intelligence infrastructure. But nine countries have refrained from committing funds at a time when national budgets are already stretched. – Politico
Federal agencies will now have to pay to use the government’s artificial intelligence platform USAi, according to an update posted to the General Services Administration’s website this week. – Fedscoop
A ransomware group believed to be linked to pro-Ukrainian hackers is targeting Russian organizations with custom malware and demanding multimillion-dollar payments, according to new research. – The Record
Hackers reportedly gained access to payment accounts used by two Russian fundraising projects supporting Ukrainians and political prisoners, exposing donor email addresses and limited payment card information. – The Record
Taylor Budowich writes: In North Dakota, households near one new data center campus are expecting their electric bills to drop by about $250 a year. Oracle’s data center in Michigan will fund 1,383 megawatts of grid batteries, and the company will make minimum payments whether it uses the energy or not. The deal is projected to save existing customers $300 million, and will allow the utility to pause rate increases for two years. In Georgia, a similar agreement will see rates frozen through 2028, at which point residential customers are expected to see $102 in annual savings. Take the concerns seriously and then show how you’re addressing them. – Washington Post
Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, (ret.) writes: But a stronger wall is not deterrence. Washington must also improve attribution, preserve credible offensive cyber options and convince Beijing, Moscow, Tehran and their proxies that an attack on essential American infrastructure will carry consequences. This is not another Silicon Valley story about the latest AI model. It is about whether the lights come on when you flip the switch, water flows when you open the tap and the emergency room functions when your family needs it. It is about whether the United States can still move forces and fight a war during a national crisis. Five warnings landed in 17 days. – Fox News
Defense
When the U.S. launched its campaign against Iran six months ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promised a quick, decisive blow that would avoid a long entanglement. Now, he is quietly extending troop deployments in a sign that the conflict could drag well into next year, according to people familiar with the matter. – Wall Street Journal
The Pentagon has pulled decades of classified documents from a secret computer system commonly used by defense officials and U.S. troops, after The Washington Post published a story detailing senior military officers’ concerns about the Iran war. – Washington Post
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told President Donald Trump last week that he was resigning, Trump suggested he could stay at least through the midterm elections, people familiar with the meeting told The Washington Post — a show of support for a top Pentagon leader who has clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. – Washington Post
The U.S. Army moved its Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) program from prototyping to production earlier this week with a combined $192 million award to Palantir Technologies and Anduril Industries. – Defense News
The Army awarded AeroVironment a $464.8 million deal for its Enduring-High Energy Laser (E-HEL) program, service and company officials announced, moving the system from a prototype to what the firm said was the first production contract for directed energy weapons in U.S. history. – Defensescoop
Editorial: Also at risk is money for the Pentagon’s drone dominance program and homeland missile defense. The President asked for about $17 billion for his Golden Dome air defense next year, nearly all in reconciliation. […] Yet around Washington the word is that the defense money has no chance until the lame-duck session—and maybe not then. Color us skeptical the GOP will rally after an electoral drubbing. The better answer is for Republicans to pass as much of this funding as possible in one budget bill before the elections. The Ukraine war appears to be entering an ugly new phase, and the U.S. had to divert its forward-deployed Pacific carrier to the Middle East. On present trend Congress is defunding the military, and Republicans should be making Democrats pay a political price for it. – Wall Street Journal
Kate B. Odell writes: The carrier “is not more uniquely vulnerable to the PRC,” as Adm. Paparo told Congress. “It is more uniquely threatening to the PRC, which is why they are working so hard to strike it.” The carrier is not a sitting duck “but a moving duck with the ability to defend itself.” The USS Abraham Lincoln will soon return from its deployment. Expect many homecoming speeches about an excellent performance in Iran. The crew deserves the valedictory. But behind the celebrations is a warning that a crucial element of U.S. national power is in trouble. President Trump could do worse than attend the homecoming and vow to spend the last two-plus years of his presidency passing and sustaining his $1.5 trillion defense budget. He has few better legacy causes than making sure the fleet is ready, and today it isn’t. – Wall Street Journal
Daryl Caudle writes: Directed energy will not independently redefine naval warfare. But fleets that master it technically, tactically and industrially will gain a major advantage when confronting large numbers of simultaneous incoming threats — a challenge increasingly likely to define modern combat at sea. The future advantage may belong not simply to the fleet with the most advanced weapons, but to the fleet that can absorb attacks, preserve its firepower and keep fighting. Directed energy can help give our sailors that advantage. And in a prolonged fight at sea, endurance is combat power. – Washington Post